Wednesday, January 31, 2018

2017 0131 Blue Moon Viewing from Southmost Observatory

Javier R. Garcia
The Brownsville Public library invited the community for a gaze at the night sky to view the blue moon which gets it's name from the rare occasion when two full moons occur within the same month.  The last major event where hundreds of people attended was last August when we had a solar eclipse.  Last night's event was well-attended by a few dozen people.  The next solar eclipse in the United States will not occur again until 2024.
The moon-rise occurred shortly after sunset.  There was plenty of librarians and assistants nearby to greet visitors and answer questions.  There was also a crossing guard by the driveway near the observatory to ensure safety.
Here's our first close up at the blue "blood" moon as it rose above the trees over the horizon.  Even though I used a gate to hold the camera still nothing can replace a good sturdy tripod but we never expect professional quality on the Bronsbil Estacion blog anyway.
Librarian Tom Robinson explained the blue moon phenomena and answered questions from visitors.  Tom took his first look at the moon at the age of 10 when his father let him look through his surveyor scope and he's been a star gazer ever since.  
 A large screen monitor was placed outside of the observatory to display video-feed from the telescope.
 Sharing fun facts about the surface and rotation of the moon.
Here's the inside of the observatory with the telescope and young astrologer who can adjust the viewer as the moon rises in the sky.  The flash from my camera lit-up the inside of the pitch-black dome.
As Mr Robinson spoke about the telescope he explained that within the scope is a large highly polished Newtonian lens made of thick curved glass mirror which makes for powerful magnified viewing.  The library intends to plan for future viewings by watching a calendar of celestial events.  Another librarian said that fall or winter seem to offer the best times and conditions for these nightly views.
The moon after it cleared the trees continued to rise but was later obscured by scattered clouds but by then the event was coming to a close so no one arrived or left disappointed.
This observatory is the fruition of a decade of funding and planning through monies that became available from community development block grants.  The observatory's grand opening was in 2017.  I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice that the trash receptacle kind of looks like a miniature observatory.
A powerful 20x-80x set of binoculars on a tripod was set-up outside with a guide to adjust its sights to follow moon as it rose in the sky.  That tiny dot above the girl's head is the moon.  While it would be great if they let people take a look through the actual telescope inside the observatory that just isn't feasible with so many people at once but maybe in the future that might be possible.  The view through the binoculars was amazing as was the screen monitor live-feed transmitted from the dome's interior.
This was my first observatory experience in Brownsville, Texas.  We can be assured that librarians at Southmost Branch Observatory will be on the lookout for the future planet gazing events to view things such as an aligning of planets, rings around Saturn, a dance of Jupiter's moons, and meteor showers which wont be cataclysmic. All we have to hope for are clear skies!  



































You can try to insert Uranus jokes in comments below if they're funny enough.  Thanks for reading.

Monday, January 29, 2018

2017 0129 San Fernando Clean-up Work with Peek at Basement

Here are a few pics I took while visiting downtown Market Square area.  
 Park Hotel building fountain getting a pressure wash.
 It looks like non-retaining walls have been removed.
 Same area to the left.  Those tin ceiling tiles which look like they have been ruined by years of paint and dirt will be preserved rather than completely ripping them out and replacing with the soft plastic reproduction "tin" ceiling tiles.  Also, there were no tiles of the exact pattern found on the market so they will remain.  How they will be "cleaned" is a mystery for now.
 Stucco is being removed to expose original brick on E Adams side

 Ancient heavy floor joists
Ricardo Carlos of Rival Builders stands over basement area.  It has long been rumored that there were tunnels beneath some Brownsville churches and buildings.  According to Ricardo - there is no trace of that to be found here.
 Here it is -- our first look at basement with no clues of sealed passageways to Market Square.  
 Since there are no official plans drawn up at this time we cannot say how the structure will be used.  For now, it is only a matter of demolishing what is not original to the building and prepping it for the next stage of restoration.  The goal is to save as much of the original building as possible to return it to a historical "look" before it was altered numerous times.  
New planks have been laid upon original ceiling joists.  There was a wood shed on the roof which was not original to the building so it was demolished and removed.  
 Temporary support posts.
The windows are almost refurbished all around the Market Square building.  The planning for the second floor galleries and archival rooms is still in development.  Because the building was completed with add-on construction through various stages of its development and some spaces do not align evenly and additional factors such as walls which can or should not be removed which make reorganizing the building spaces a difficult task.  We'll post another update when we can.  If you're on Facebook be sure to look-up Revitalize Downtown Brownsville for much more photos and frequent updates for this and other ongoing development in downtown Brownsville, Texas.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

2017 Charro Days Parade Then & Now Part 2



1955 digitized 8mm film still (BHA/James Downing)
 I hope these composite photos don't look overdone.  It was difficult deciding which photos to use after taking so many so I combined a lot rather than post 77 photos which can be overwhelming for some but hey - it's Brownsville and it's for us.  (1966 William Quinones)
 (1966 William Quinones photos)



(BHA photo - year unknown c1978)


 Gilberto Velasquez and photographers documented in 1942 by Arthur Rothstein



Downtown couple Miguel Roberts and Claudia Henry in front of Sacred Heart Church
 Find the Sacred Heart photo-bombers 

 1942 Arthur Rothstein inset of band on E Levee passing Chamber of Commerce building and Marine Military Academy band from Harlingen.  

 I bet Charlie Clark's "Green Ghost" is what the kids really like!


 Wells Fargo ladies



 I finally got a close-up photo of the H-E-B cart!  
 Thanks to all the sponsors who make our parade greater each year!
There be giants among us
 The friendliest park rangers and living historians are from Palo Alto Battlefield Park
 This was a Coca Cola float passing the Enrique Manautou house (1925) on the corner of Palm Blvd and East Elizabeth St.
 Setting his sights on the future
 Historic building restorationist Fernando Balli & Co. in front of Enrique Manautou house (1925) on the corner of Palm Blvd and East Elizabeth St.

Retired judge Ben Neece aimed for the downtown city commission seat and took it.
 Gotta love these guys for not trying this during the poorly attended Fourth of July parade every year
 Postcard photo copied of Ebay
 Mr Amigo 2016 Fernando Landeros - Grand Marshall of the parade during Charro Days 2017
 Not as cool as the original Ghost Bustermobile but the kids dont realize that so it's cool




Dance of the Veijitos (Old Men) is older then the Charro Days parade which was first done in 1938