Sunday April 27th. in the early morning hours we had a Lunar, Jupiter conjunction, how early, well it started as the pair rose, around 2:47 am. That's right 2:47 am, now you'd think everyone in their right mind would probably be asleep at that time, unless and of course they knew of the conjunction, not so, it was a busy morning, all kinds of cabs driving people home from the bars, one of my spots is right across from an apartment complex, oh and there were a couple kids doing 360's in their cars behind me in the Shoppers Drug Mart parking lot, hey why not Shoppers had all their parking lot lights on through the whole night even though they close at midnight, I guess they aren't getting with the whole Earth Hour type thing.
The image above is a wide angle shot, notice the beautiful red Moon, people ask me, was the Moon really that red, yes,... yes it was, because the Moon was low on the horizon, its moonlight had to travel through more atmosphere, the atmospheric particles scatter the blues of the moonlight and allow the reds through , no photoshop adjustments, actually it was a darker red, almost couldn't see it, it is a lighter red in the image because of the 4 second exposure lightening it up some. The image below, an 8 second exposure again lightening the color.
Looking at these pictures can't convey the surrealistic feeling you have viewing it live and in person, it was unbelievable, the red Moon seemed to be floating in a sea of black, too cool.
I'm pretty excited, My wife and I will be taking a weeks vacation starting May 10th to visit my oldest daughter Amanda and boyfriend Dave in Kelowna British Columbia. They have two of the cutest, what my wife likes to call Granddogs, one being an Old English Sheepdog Great Pyrenees cross, the other a Newfoundland Great Pyrenees cross, Ill take pics and post. There should be plenty of photo ops with the beautiful weather, the mountains and since they live outside of town there will be lots of dark skies for star gazing, expect some cool photos.
A friendly reminder about the Eta Aquarids meteor shower Monday May 5th. 4 am, look to the Southeast just up from the horizon, then Tuesday May 6th look to the West-Northwest 45 minutes after Sunset for the Moon with earthshine, Mercury and Pleiades gathering.
I'll leave you now with an animated gif of one of my Moon, Jupiter pics.
40 comments:
Fantastic post & photos as always! :)
In the past couple of years I've had the opportunity to see the moon when it's huge & a golden colour ... but never red! That's amazing.
Enjoy the granddogs! Hey, someone asked me a while back if you ever got your new dog?
I know what you mean about the moon's majesty in person when it's like that. It just stuns you. If I'm driving and see it I want to pull over and just take it in. Gorgeous!
I love your humor, as always.
Have a fab trip! I envy you going to BC, where I'd love to visit some day. Can't wait to see the pics and hear your stories. The sky and life is interesting from your perspective.
Thanks drowsey, you will be the first to know when I get my poouchy, I will have pics and post about him/her and why I am calling him/her drowseymonkey,lol. My cat has still got a little life left in her yet, can't have 2 pets in the same house, she's had this house to herself for around 17 years now. lol \m/\m/
Thanks Ruth, you have had some great captures of the Moon as well, some surrealistic ones, so you know what I mean for sure. The trip will be quite fun, I got extra memory for the camera, can't remember what mountains look like, Saskatoon being quite flat and all.lol \m/
Hi! If only those kids knew what they were missing out on. Perhaps you could point out the celestial donuts in the universe next time you see them around. Looking forward to your meteor shower images from the 5th.
Take Care,
Peter
Lol Peter, too bad so sad for them, looking pretty clear for the 5th so I should get to image some meteors.\m/\m/
WAS THE MOON REALLY THAT RED
just kidding
i love that you go out there risking life and limb just to see this stuff. glad you share it so i can stay warm and cozy.
have a great vacation! look forward to seeing pics.
Stunning photography, Bob!!! Do we live on the same planet? :D You continue to amaze and instruct me on the dark heavens.
Have fun on that vacation. Can't wait for the vacation photos. :D
Hugs, JJ
Hi Bob
Beautiful shot of the red moon. For a moment I thought you captured the taillight of a truck until I read further into your post. I must say that would have been breathtaking.
Hope your upcoming trip is wonderful. I to will be taking off for 5 days around the same time to Halifax to visit family. So I'm pumped about that. I plan to take picts as well so we'll compare :-)
Take care my friend. Don't forget. I would love to see more of your stuff at the MW page. I feel your unique style is what we need to infuse diversity there. You know, we need something to make our brains work. :-)
~JD
Yes Paula, the Moon was really that red,lol, hope to get some cool shots for you all, forecast looks great, 25c. :D :-D \m/
Thanks JJ, so happy you are taking away something from the blog, I'm looking forward to the trip, except the airplane ride, hate flying with a passion :-( :(
Thanks JD, You have a good vacation as well, nice to get away and re-focus, I'm sure I will have plenty of material when I get back for a post on the MW page, unique, you're too kind. \m/\m/
Awesome pictures once again Bob. Jupiter has always been my favorite. Question for the expert: Do you think the magnetosphere(pardon my spelling?)of jupiter has an effect on our world here other than slight disturbances in radio waves?
That's very great photos Bob and interesting post - as always! I have seen once a blue moon but never a red one. It's impressive!
I'm not religious at all, but in the Bible they were talking about "end of time signs" and they say there also: the moon will turn red... and I don't hope these will be our last pictures that we are shooting now :-)
Thanks Sherer and good question, I love Jupiter too, it's pretty cool in a scope, because of it's highly unstable magnetosphere it does have highly charged particles, namely ions and electrons escaping to reach as far as Earth, having said that, we have our own magnetosphere to protect us from them and the numerous other scary cosmic particles, gamma rays, x rays ect.
Thanks Susanne, cool you've seen a blue Moon, did you get any pics of it?
No worries about the red Moon, I've seen a few of them, still no end of the world. :D :-D
Hi Bob…
As you said “everyone in their right mind would probably be asleep at that time” they were Bob they were…
Nice slap on the wrist to “Shoppers Drug Mart” lets send them to Exile Island!!!!
(Obviously only if one of us already has the Hidden Immunity Idol)
A red Moon eh?
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
- - Joel 2:31
Not so far fetched a thing to keep an eye out for in the future he says to the doubters…
Very cool images Bob…I am pleased you were there to capture these images for us…
Have a great vacation Bob, enjoy the family reunion and... If you have time get them to take you to Naramata and Oliver. Very pretty vineyard areas, of course it isn’t prime vineyard time but they will still be pretty.
If you are interested in the best fruit wines on the planet try visiting the Elephant Island Orchard Wines (in Naramata):
http://www.elephantislandwine.com/
(Another tacky product placement I get no money from LOL)
Also near Penticton (south of Kelowna) is a facility I have been privileged to tour
The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory which is the largest radio astronomy observatory in Canada!!!!:
http://astro-canada.ca/_en/a2107.html
It is quite spectacular….
Hmmm what a wild gif…
Lol livingsword, I was going to put the verse in as well but I thought I'd leave it for you,lol.
It may come to be that the end happens either during a total eclipse or at dusk or dawn when the Moon is red, maybe it's a hint.
:D :-D
Actually I think we are going to a winery the first night there, thanks for the links, I will definitely check them out especially the radio observatory:D :-D
Bob:
Great shots of the moon and Jupiter, and, of course, the water reflection.
Have fun on your two-week trip. It's always nice to get away from it all and see your favorite daughter. And I'm sure you'll see some great potential blog posts too. Fortunately, my daughter lives about thirty miles down the freeway, so we see her at least twice a week.
Have a very nice day.
Wow! That shot of the moon is something all by itself, then to add Jupiter!
Enjoy your vacation, Bob.
Thanks swubird, should have mentioned I have two daughters, so they're both my favorites,lol.
It's good you get to see your daughter as often as you do, have a great weekend.:D :-D
Thanks Will, glad you like the combo.:D :-D
Amazing photos!
Blessings,
Linda
SIMPLY SNICKERS – weekly poetry prompts
Hey Linda, glad you like the shots.:D :-D \m/\m/
Bob you always got the best moment in the sky..sometimes in Jakarta the sky is unpredictable because the pollution air.You can starting to Imagine Yourself that
you Have A Million Dollars from now :)
These are amazing shots, Bob. Should be in an art gallery. We sometimes get a massive harvest moon here and sometimes see a red one. Have got one or two technical problems this end -
needed a new external hard drive 750Gb (give you one guess why)!Hope to get round to posting one way or another next week.
Thanks Franx, I have been really lucky with the weather lately for sure, hopefully my luck continues with my vacation.:D :-D
\m/\m/
Thanks Julie, too bad about your technical problems, hope you get to posting again soon. I will be posting live from beautiful Kelowna, hope to get around 1,000 images or so,lol \m/\m/
wow! so glad I found this blog :-)
amazing pictures, and I just love your commentary too
Beautiful! Reminds me of certain scenes from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Have fun in BC!
Great job capturing this Bob. Try to stay out of the way of those 360's.
Bob, and there you go I missed another meteor shower, and by one day. Oh well. Have a good time on your trip, just in time when I am back, lol. Your moon photos are amazing, and I know what you mean, it is not the same what you can see with your naked eye. Glad to be back, Anna :)
Thanks hedgewitch, love your name, glad you like the blog, thanks for stopping by. \m/\m/
Thanks marvin, I shall have a great time in BC, thanks.:D :-D \m/\m/
Thanks oswegan, no problem there,lol. \m/\m/
Thanks Anna, so glad to see you back!! Hope everything is well with you, I will be posting from beautiful Kelowna as well.\m/\m/
Bob,
This is just amazing as always. Thank you for sharing this.
I have something for you at my site.
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Hey thanks AngelBaby, I'll be by after work.\m/\m/
I have been enjoying these posts Bob and the pics.
On my recent trip to Lesotho I was struck by the brightness of the stars, the likes of which I have not seen for a very long time.
There is no light pollution so they are all crystal clear.
I thought of your photos at the time, but my efforts at shooting the stars proved fruitless. I think my exposures were not long enough and I do not have your tenacity - I was too cold for me - of course compared with the temperatures you work in, it was probably "warm".
I must say that I felt very inadequate to the task and felt that my lack of knowledge of things astronomical was a liability.
You photograph "satellites" and name them - I see a big red dot floating across the sky and think -"That's cool, I wonder what it is?" and promptly go indoors because I am too cold :)
Lol max-e, makes a big difference when you know your way around the stars, I started by buying some star charts, and there was no looking back.
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