Solar Halo February 19 11:45 am
The day before E day (eclipse), I was outside and happened to notice a huge Solar halo starting to form, got my camera and headed just outside of town to capture the above halo, within 30 minutes it had formed a complete circle around the sun and had developed some beautiful colors. Just as fast as it had formed it disappeared as the Cirrus clouds broke apart, and it was no more, you can see it posted at Sky and Telescope website as well as one of my other halos. Solar halos are the result of the Sunlight being reflected and refracted off ice crystals high in the Cirrus clouds, wispy clouds located above 23,000 feet.
Blue Eclipsed Moon February 20, 2008I just had to post one more image of the Total Lunar eclipse. I didn't post this image initially because it looked gray and colorless except for some blues , which I thought was just wrong, very little reds, I actually thought, great I broke my camera because of the cold weather and the taking it in and out of the house and the fact it was actually starting to make strange noises, but upon further investigation I found out the blue/ greens are a result of the Sunlight passing through the ozone layer which scatters or blocks the reds of the Sun's light, making the light getting through to the Lunar surface bluer. There was only a couple out of the many shots I took that had this much blue in it, makes for a very cool and different eclipse. I did have to put it through Photo shop curves and brightness and contrasted it to bring the browns and blues out more.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter February 23, 2008There is another conjunction happening right now, Mercury and Venus are getting very close together and will be their closest February 27th. Look to the South East just before the Sun rises to see Mercury and Venus close together and Jupiter further South. I took the above image of the trio this morning around 7:14 am cst.
Don't know if you have seen this video on You Tube, it is supposed to be the actual shooting down of the US Spy Satellite, pretty cool video.
I'll leave you now with my Solar halo on reflecting water.
45 comments:
Beautiful shots Bob. The blues/greens add an artistic element (I feel) to your eclipse photo. The sun halo shot is great as well. Well done.
Thanks BTW for the video. I was wondering if they would have some footage of the missile shooting and low and behold there it was on your site. Quite amazing they pulled it off.
Anyways, take care.
~JD
I love the blue/green eclipse photo, that's beautiful. But that first one...my gosh bob..that is just FABULOUS! I really love it.
It has been a long time since I have seen a solar halo.Excellent shot!!.
Hi Bob,
What an amazing image!
Bob every time I come here I say stuff like great shot/image/photo/etc. and they truly are, but the amazing level of the images you provide will eventually crack my creativity…. I only have so many superlatives and ways to address them… LOL
Let me say I admire how you do things here….
The blue eclipse almost looks like something out of a movie…
What a beautiful prairie sunrise….
Interesting video, it would have been of far higher quality if they had just placed a “Bob cam” on it…
The gif doesn’t look real! Of course it isn’t LOL Looks like something on a si-fi novel cover… “Halo Reflections: the ongoing saga of solar dominance”.
Bob… always interesting all the time….
Some more very good solar halos. What is it that makes them form? And I wonder if the reason that the video was taken off YouTube was because it was illegally posted.
The Fool
Spectacular photo! WOW!! Awesome!! Really cool! In case I haven't made myself perfectly clear... I love the halo shot!!
geez,, you must have a really really really long tape to measure to 23,000 feet....
nice photo.......
Bob these are really cool photos, of the halo, lunar eclipse (what ISO did you use?), and the gif, and thanks for sharing the video. Two things, I remember when I was 14 and we were traveling from Europe to Canada, I saw this rainbow in the full circle, no body ever believed me until I saw the same one in the Reader's Digest. So thanks for the reminder, this is really cool photo, I think I saw something like that once, but no camera, lol. Second, I never knew that we had such a powerful guided missiles that can shot things down in space, that makes me wonder, but then I kind of feel safe too, I guess if meteor was going for Earth, they probably be able to destroy it. Great post as always. Anna :)
Bob I just realized that I forgot to ask you, is your camera okay? My was fogging up too, but was okay in terms of shooting photos. I worried a bit too, as going from cold to warm, I was getting a lot of moisture on the lens and the camera surface. Anna :)
Thanks JD, I agree, it looks very cool, actually sold a few of that one and the Solar halo. I was quite surprised they got a video of it let alone hit it in the first place.
Thanks drowseymonkey, I was very lucky I got it, only lasted for an hour, the problem with these things, they are just huge, if your not looking at them at the right angle you miss it.
Hi Andrew, thanks!
Lol, livingsword, all done now, the funny thing is I don't know where I'm getting my next idea for a post till almost the day of, I just love getting cool pics, I have the universe to work with, never a shortage of material.
I was thinking when I saw how the halo turned out how cool it would look as a gif, like you said like something out of a sci fi movie, I mean even standing in front of it was awesome, and surreal.
Hey the fool, the main ingredient is the Cirrus clouds. The sun light bounces off the ice crystals in the clouds, refraction produces the colors and straight reflection produces the whites. The halo mimics the arc of the Sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)
Shirley, what are you trying to say?, lol, thanks .
Lol, no just a real good eye for heights, thanks gt281.
Thanks Anna, the ISO was 250 on the olympus digital which are all my big images with '5 sec exposure the blue moon was ISO 250 with .5 sec exposure, with the 40D for a full moon I used an ISO of 500 and 1/40sec. on the total eclipse of my 40D shots I used ISO 320 3.2 secs.
I agree it is pretty amazing they can hit a fast moving target like the satellite, kind of makes you feel all fuzzy inside,lol.
I have had no problem so far with the weather and camera problems with the 40D, it is the Olympus that was making the strange noise, lucky it seems to be okay now. thanks for asking.
Bob:
Very cool halo pictures. I never saw anything like it. Also the blue moon was weird. I'm glad you figured it out. I would never have guessed it was connected to the ozone layer. I watched the video. It's amazing that we can shoot something that far away, moving that fast, with such accuracy. Astounding! And the reflecting water - the halo was perfect for the reflecting water GIF. Great job. I may have to rip that one off.LOL!
Have a nice evening.
Hi swubird, thanks, help yourself to anything you want, it is amazing they hit the satellite being that small and fast. Being the last eclipse till Dec 2010, I'm glad I got an odd one, very cool.
I'm so glad you posted the image showing the turquoise/blue! I looked for it at the start of the totality and didn't see it. Then I didn't stay out for the end of the totality. The solar rings are astonishing too, something I wasn't aware of. I'm so happy to be learning from you here.
Thanks Ruth, you actually jogged my memory in your eclipse post about the green, I then did some investigating and a little work in photoshop and cool moon, like I said I thought they were a fault of the camera sensor,lol. Glad you are leaning some stuff here.
That halo is huge - you were certainly in the right place at the right time for that one. Your eclipse looks almost like a rainbow - love the colors!
Fantastic shots, Bob! I can't get over the angelic solar halo. It's beautiful. And to think that the ozone layer changes the colors on the moon photo. Amazing.
You always have great content to muse over. :D
Hugs, Jj
Great stuff Bob! Can I borrow your camera just for a couple of days!!
OMG you have some awsome shots here wow.
I also remember being told long ago that a halo like that around the sun or moon meant wet weather was coming. Does not seem to always be true, though.
Thanks Kathy, yes I was totally lucky with the Halo,and also with the Blue Moon
Thanks JJ, with the Solar halo it didn't seem real even though I was right before it, I looked through all my previous Lunar eclipse shoots, no blue in any of them, I was really lucky.
Lol Roger, so happy I got this camera, it's given me something to do when I can't use the GPS telescope.
Thanks Carole, nice of you to drop by!
Hey Will not always true for sure, the Solar halo was the day before the eclipse, weather was good for the eclipse , no bad weather since. Just need cold weather and Cirrus clouds and the right place at the right time.
Wow, Great pictures and infomation. I love this site.
I have something for you at my site.
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Thanks again angelbaby, gonna have to start awarding all these award you've given me, thanks again!
Great pictures Bob!
Hi Bob,
Those are really great pictures and I must congratulate you for having your pictures being published in Sky and Telescopes, that is a great achievement, keep up your great job.
Zunnur is still away :)
Congrats, Bob, on getting your photos published!
I'm glad your camera is (apparently) okay.
If I were ever up at that hour, I would LOVE to see the morning sky!
But I could just stay here on your site, as well, and be mesmerized by your gorgous GIFs!
Thanks Mike!
Thanks Zunnur, good to hear from you again, hope everything is going good for you.
Thanks Lynda, lol, I'm an early morning person so no problem for me.
Hi Bob,
Your photos are priceless. You know my facination with the moon as I have written about it. Also, I have not seen a halo around the moon in....well, many moons! lol. I love when that happens. There is so much mystery around the moon, and so much beauty. You do well in capturing all of it. Thanks. -Mike.
Terrific shots and great info Bob. As always, your passion shines through.
Hey Mike thanks for your kind remarks.
Thanks oswegan!
Hi again,
What a gorgeous blue moon!! Well done *high five*! Picture the following: Max, a petite lady, with her head resting on her hand, gazing at your blue moon pic...looking all nostalgic and dialling her fiancé's number...that's what your beautiful caused in me: love thoughts :)!
I am speechless when it comes to the Solar halo....and the animated one....astonishing!!!
Cheers
Wow Max, I'm very happy my images have such a positive effect on you, awesome!!
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