check out this cool frog! i found it blending-in on on top of some concrete. i love how the frog looks like it has a tattoo of itself on its back. that’s one hip frog!

– ryan

here are some fun colorful photos from fernbank! based on the results, it’s kind of a ‘make-your-own indie-rock album cover’ activity!

– ryan & gub

i was messing around with a plasma ball at fernbank and took this photo. i loved these things when i was a kid! gub thinks the photo could be a journey album cover!

– ryan

clementine recently went to the fernbank museum of natural history for the first time. it’s never too early for some fun with science! we are very fortunate that this amazing museum is only a couple of miles from our house. now that we have a family membership, we will be there all the time!

fernbank has some impressive dinosaur fossils as you enter the main building. they are on par with those in jurassic park. there are also lots of amazing dioramas in the permanent exhibitions and a special exhibition area with rotating exhibits.

mythic creatures was the current special exhibit and was really awesome! it covered various mythic beings, from dragons to the lochness monster to bigfoot to unicorns, and tried to explain their possible scientific origins. although clem was probably too small to fully enjoy the exhibit, we could tell she had a blast! the bright colors on the various creatures were definitely eye candy for her.

be sure to check out our previous post on the fernbank planetarium, which is only a few streets over from the natural history museum.

– ryan & gub

fernbank museum of natural history

767 clifton rd ne
atlanta, ga 30307
404-929-6300

there will be a total lunar eclipse this evening visible to most of north america. hopefully the sky stays clear enough that we can actually see the eclipse, unlike the last one in atlanta. the eclipse also coincides with the winter solstice, something that hasn’t happened in almost 400 years. on top of that, the ursids meteor shower is expected to add some shooting stars that should be visible in the dimmed night sky. it sounds like the trifecta of celestial events!

– ryan

we recently went to the planetarium at the fernbank science center and had a ton of fun! leaning back in those angled chairs brought back memories of elementary school field trips.

the planetarium offers adult and children programs from thursday through saturday. there is also a saturday morning program called the night sky, which takes you through the current constellations, planets, etc. in the night sky. shows are $4 for adults and $3 for children, students, and seniors.

after the planetarium show, we explored the fernbank science center. it was free and totally worth a visit. the diarama’s were amazing and the highlight of the center was the real apollo 6 capsule on display. we were quite impressed!

the fernbank observatory is also free and open for public observations on thursday and friday nights from 9 to 10:30 pm. an astronomer is on hand to position the largest telescope in the southeast and to answer questions. we definitely want to check this out sometime.

for a fun, inexpensive outing, consider the fernbank planetarium, observatory, or science center.

– ryan & gub

fernbank planetarium

156 heaton park dr.
atlanta, ga 30307
678-874-7113

according to nasa, there will be a lunar eclipse tomorrow morning and it should be a big one for most of america. npr said it would be visible in atlanta from around 6:15 am until after 9 am. you’ll need to get up early though if you want to catch the eclipse, our sunrise is around 6:30 am. tomorrow also brings a full moon.

– ryan

jaxa, japans equivalent of nasa, recently had a spacecraft return to earth after being in space for 7 years. the hayabusa travelled on an asteroid during its space exploration to research and retrieve samples for further studying. landing a spacecraft on an asteroid and returning it to earth sounds so sci-fi to me.

below is a really cool video of the hayabusa re-entering earths atmosphere as it lit up the australian sky. most of the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry.

– ryan