Mine Again, and An Astronomical Opportunity

Six years ago, we took the kids to a copper mine, and they had a blast.  Heh. But that was not our first experience with mines...no indeed.  Ten years ago, I took my kids to the Herkimer Diamond Mines in upstate NY.  4 hours from NYC is another world--a world of ancient rocks and beautiful crystals.  This past weekend, I took another set of kids to the same spot.  Like prisoners on a chain gang, the kids diligently broke rocks with little pay-off.  Towards the end of the day, a mine employee came out and gave us some hints.  We were rewarded with a find of small, beautiful crystals. Here are some photos of the adventure.  (You can click on the link above and see the difference in digital photography via cell phone then, and my Nikon today.)  Mining is fun for the whole family.  It is even more fun when your group camps together at a campground with an observatory.  Yes, indeed.

The young miners hit a wall.

A careful inspection of the rocks.

Resting on the ledge.

Nursing mothers can feel right at home in the mines!

Finding her own space.

Mining in the field.

There's cell service.

Beautiful!

Sifting through the rubble.

Looking for the perfect spot.

Water break.

You keep what you find!

After a hard day in the mines, one wants to relax.  We chose the Herkimer KOA as our lodging place...Why?  This is why:

A lovely porch (I bought the books).

A gas grill...

Oh, did I mention the observatory?  We rented this lodge and had it all to ourselves.

It had plenty of seating.

Upstairs.

The master bedroom.

In the kitchen.

Bunkroom.

In the lodge for our enjoyment.

Creek.

 It was a spectacular adventure.  Sure we had to cook, but food on a stick or prepared on the grill was easy.  Had we wanted more, we had the cooking facilities to make meals to die for.  Bacon and sausage and oatmeal and pumpkin bread for breakfast...and s'mores, of course.

Some of our younger miners fell asleep early.

One stayed up until the wee hours of the night.

Big kids helped keep the fires going.

The kids camped across from us, along the creek.

We had some clouds, but the skies cleared and we had good viewing.

There was also wine.  It's not just about the kids.

Under the observatory was a hammock and picnic area.

 No visit to the Herkimer area is complete without a visit to the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal.  Unfortunately, the boat we had planned to take on the canal was undergoing maintenance, but we drove to Little Falls and walked along the canal and enjoyed the history and the scenery.  And the moms took pictures.

Kids along the Mohawk.

A waterfall.

Holy Family Parish in Little Falls.

The walk to the Lock (17).

A boat from Ontario heads east, and waits for the lock to open.

And waited...

Well, you may have to wait, but the price is right.  We had to move on.

We hiked and saw historical signs telling us about the raised canal and boat basin that used to serve the area.  Afterwards we got ice cream (moms ate free!!) and were treated to stories of the area told by the ice cream man.

Mill with shops, and ice cream.

Goodbye from along the Erie Canal!

Also:  The tale of mining from the Bonnie Blue House!

Other links:
History of the Erie Canal

Mineral Information Institute (free stuff, and stuff for sale)

Gem Clubs in the US

Mining History (worldwide)

World Museum of Mining

U. S. Geological Survey

Mineral Database

Pan for gold at Home!

Good books for young miners:

Pigeon Post
Rocks in His Head
The Practical Geologist
Rocky Road Trip
How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
Holes
Roadside Geology series


Need more books for your homeschooler?
See also:
High School Astronomy
High School Earth Science

High School Astronomy Books (because a friend asked)

Originally from MacBeth's Opinion website. 
 (Most links are to Amazon...you know the drill.  Links are for convenience.  Most books are available in the library.  Some are available on Kindle!  If you buy a book, Amazon gives me a tiny bit of dough towards books for my homeschool--no pressure, ever).

"And behold, the star that they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over the place where the child was.  And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly." (Matthew 2:9)

"At the dead of night, two noble planets, Tarva and Alambil, will pass within one degree of each other.  Such a conjunction has not occurred for two hundred years." --Dr. Cornelius in Prince Caspian

"Dear old leopard." --Lucy in Prince Caspian, admiring the Narnian constellations

As a spine:  Astronomy:  A Self-teaching Guide

365 Starry Nights : An Introduction to Astronomy for Every Night of the Year by Chet Raymo (astronomy lessons night by night) .

For the more advanced astronomy student:

With a good back yard telescope, and not too much effort, this is one fun book: The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide : With Complete Maps, Charts and Tips to Guide You to Enjoying the Most Famous List of Deep-Sky Objects by H. C. Pennington (whew!) The Messier objects (about 100 of them) were catalogued in the 1700's by Charles Messier, a comet hunter who was annoyed by "fuzzy objects" that were not comets in the sky. He catalogued them to get them out of the way! His list includes star clusters and galaxies, all fairly easy to find (even with 1700's technology).

Need information about tonight's sky??

Online, Sky and Telescope   magazine is the best source for finding out what planets can be seen from your location and when they rise and set. It also includes meteor showers, comets, etc.

And some good theory books for high school and beyond?

• Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist by Guy Consolmagno  This is such a great book!  Find out just why the Vatican keeps an astronomer in this Jesuit's biography.  Journey with him to Antarctica to hunt for meteorites.  Enlightening!  Also by Brother Consolmagno:  Turn Left at Orion will help the back-yard astronomer find 100 objects in the night sky through the year 2006.
• Seeing in the Dark The truth is out!  Most great astronomical discoveries are made by amateur astronomers!  Be inspired to join their ranks!
  
  
  Diversions for discussion:
• God and the Astronomers by Robert Jastrow delves into the design of the universe.
• The Creator and the Cosmos : How the Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God
  by Hugh Ross
• The Sun in the Church : Cathedrals As Solar Observatories by J. L. Heilbron
• Star Names Their Lore and Their Meaning by Richard Allen
  
  
  Check out NASA's Photo of the Day!

Free Science PDFs from National Academy Press

This just in:

The National Academies—National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council—are committed to distributing their reports to as wide an audience as possible. Since 1994 we have offered “Read for Free” options for almost all our titles. In addition, we have been offering free downloads of most of our titles to everyone and of all titles to readers in the developing world. We are now going one step further. Effective June 2nd, PDFs of reports that are currently for sale on the National Academies Press (NAP) Website and PDFs associated with future reports* will be offered free of charge to all Web visitors.


Check it out and see if anything will help with your homeschool!  http://www.nap.edu/

Taste Test: Civet Cat Coffee

NASA Tries To Remain Relevant

...by finding alien life on earth.

OK.  Not the best headline (that honor goes to blogger Michael at Deeps of Time, surely!), but with more interesting goals moved to the back burner, and the burden of being a government entity, a NASA press conference on astrobiology (a field, my astronomy professor told me, that was a bit limited, when I expressed an interest) caused a good deal of  speculation on the 'net.  Just google for some of the speculations...life on Titan, life on Mars (there is legitimate research going on to study both environments), and, of course, there are folks like this (youtube link) who know they are out there.

But it turns out that a bacterium in a lake on earth can use arsenic instead of phosphorus when it needs to do so.  That's interesting.  As a biologist with an interest in exobiology, I love this sort of thing.  But I also feel a bit cheated by NASA.  I mean, they let the rumors fly; it just seems a bit unprofessional.

Do read the synopsis at Deeps of Time.  It's a Catholic blog worth a book mark.

Can I possibly post on this without a few book recommendations (just for fun)?  Not likely.  ;)

Red Planet
Starman Jones
Dune
Out of the Silent Planet
Rendezvous with Rama

Earth Science and Geology in Photos (part 1)

Trip, Paul and Annika meet the Dep. of Agriculture in Bighorn


Road cut with geological reference marker (note that ubiquitous Red Bed layer in the rock common to this era)



Devil's Tower




Sulfur on the cave ceiling



Cave with molybdenum deposits




Black Hills



A long way from Sagamore Hill



Badlands


Paul hides the "E" in Butte--haha.


Park rangers share fossil digging tips


Petrified sand dunes


Learning about "big" by the Snake River


Another national park full of geology



Getting to know the former locals



Samples on display


The Great Salt Lake


Copper mining


Mining museum



Lava beds in Idaho