One of the fun things about going with an astronomy tour group is that I can let other people schlep their telescopes on the airplane, and I can “bum a look.” I supposed not much different then bumming for a smoke, but much healthier. Although, admittedly, it would have been fun to have my C6 with me. But it is a lot of fun comparing the various instruments side-by-side all aimed at the same target. I go with Melitatrips, based in...

Distant Sun’s Headquarters for World Domination has temporarily moved from Silicon Valley to Kona, Hawaii for five days. I am here to catch the much ballyhooed (not to be confused with Bollywood), Transit of Venus.A transit is like an eclipse, except by a planet. Venusian transits are very rare, happening only in pairs with each pair over 100 years apart. So we had one about 8 years ago, but only visible in europe, now this one visible from...