Monday, December 8, 2008

Smiley Face and Tool Bag Conjunction


I know what you're thinking, Bob the conjunction is over........let it go." Never Give Up, Never Surrender" I always say, well ever since I heard it on Galaxy Quest.

Priyank on his awesome travels was coming down from a mountain at a height of 3900m in Paro in the Kingdom Of Bhutan when he noticed a celestial gathering and thought cool, he better take a picture, good thing. He saw it before us in the west when the Moon was below the planets making a cute smiley face. well done Priyank!! A pair of 3D glasses are on their way to you.


I was in such a funk the last couple days, what I call "Post Conjunction Syndrome". From everybody talking about the conjunction........well mostly me talking to everybody about the conjunction to nothing, plus, always being cloudy. Well my wife was going out yesterday to meet with some of her friends, I thought score!! Turn up the old Peavey Bandit, grab a guitar, add a little distortion for flavor and play some of those Twelve-bar blues, nothing like playing the blues to pull you out of em.

So I'm playing away and notice the Sun breaking through the clouds, wow, screw the blues I'm back baby!! Check out some sky charts to see if I can pull something in the way of conjunction out of my hat....hmmm......this looks good, Venus is coming within 10 degrees of 9 beta cap in Capricornus, what can I say, I was desperate, then I had a brain storm, looked at Heavens-Above and Satellite Tracking to see if there were any Iridium flares or per chance, the infamous Tool bag flying around the Venus Jupiter gathering, and score, the tool bag was making a flyby just overhead of Venus at 6:09 local time, got my gear together, only had a half hour before transit time.

Made it out to the site just in time, snapped a bunch of pics with a high ISO and short exposure to have the best chance of imaging a faint object. Turns out I actually saw it live and in person, just for an instant, probably between tumbles, Sunlight reflecting off it making it brighter, hence the above pic, the comet looking item in the middle of the picture. Next stop the Geminids meteor shower this weekend, peaking around 2:00 am Saturday December 13th. Look to the east, around 10:00 pm on the 12th. So far so good for mostly clear skies here. Update, Nite Sky Girl on her site had mentioned about the Moon and Pleiades getting together December 10, don't know how I missed that one, check out her awesome site. Look to the east after Sunset and through the rest of the night as they travel together, will be snowing here but I will post any images you may get, and hey, free 3D glasses.

I'll leave you now with an animation of the Moon taken Sunday November 30.


Crescent Moon

57 comments:

MYM said...

Smiley face eh? Is that the technical term? LOL

Naw, don't let it go - it's too phenomenal.

Just read your previous post as well, I'm gonna keep an eye out for that documentary - sounds like something I'd love! And I get that channel - so woohoo!

S-V-H said...

This is now the second blog where I have seen such a smiley face...I missed that for real..it must have been really inspiring :)

Moonshadow said...

I thought about the conjuction looking like a smiley/frowny face in some of the pics, but didn't say it outloud. Glad you were able to get a sky fix to pull you out of your funk.

Swubird said...

BOb:

I love the little specks of white light fluttering around in your page. Super cool! A great addition to an already fabulous site.

Happy stargazing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Bob! Thanks for posting my 'smiley face' pic! It looked very charming indeed (and very close if you are almost 12.7k ft. up!)

High Power Rocketry said...

: )

RW said...

Smiley face and playing the blues! Bob gotta get out more lol! Hey I see the snow from my blog blew to yours! Glad the code worked for you, it is fairly easy to install and uninstall!

Party on Bob!

Moonshadow said...

OK, no fair. In IE your blog loaded with errors and I don't get snow. I loaded your post in Firefox and the snow worked.

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, about as technical as I like to get Drowsey Monkey. I will keep you and the other Canadians that read my blog up todate on these shows, this last one was probably the best cosmos show I've seen ever, and I've seen a lot.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

You had to live in the eastern part of the world to see the smiley face Susanne,I wish I could have seen it there, my Nov 30 conjunction is a long smiley face.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, should have said something Moonshadow, me too about the funk,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks swubird, actually quite a cool and easy code to install.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Wow Priyank, that must have been sooo cool, thanks for sending it to me to post.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks R2K!\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks again for the link to the code Roger, lol about getting out, I hear ya on that one,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Moonshadow, quite frankly I can't get anything to work on IE, that's why I changed to Firefox and Chrome, with IE I couldn't even play youtube videos.\m/\m/

NiteSkyGirl said...

BEAUTIFUL writeup, enjoyed it.

Genie said...

Woo hoo!!!! I love that you caught the toolkit! And I'm glad the skies opened for you. Excellent catch! And Priyank's shot is gorgeous!

I love Galaxy Quest, bought my own dvd copy.

Hubby and I raced out tonight just before 7 p.m. CST to get into place to watch the ISS fly over. It was our first time. --insert blushing alien face here--

I didn't even try to shoot it--it moves so fast and I'm still figuring out how to tweak exposure/ISO just right for objects like that. Still, it was really cool. We had only our binoculars to watch it with but that was fine with us. Guess I'll have to see about looking for the toolkit now!

After the ISS flyby Hubby made a comment about "that chic" who lost the toolbox. I snapped, "That's astrochic, if you don't mind. And she probably wouldn't have lost it if the man who packed it for her had done it right!" He conceded that I might have had a point there.

Don said...

Love the smiley face pic!

The toolkit continues to fascinate me. Is it in a decaying orbit, or will we enjoy it for years to come?

Love your blog!

Lidian said...

Those are terrific photos. I always enjoy your blog!

Ruth said...

Don't feel like a loser, every time I see the moon and the planets now, I feel sadness that they aren't in conjunction too. So fleeting! Like a rainbow.

Admin said...

stunning pics. That animated pic looks wonderful !

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks NightSkyGirl and thanks for dropping by.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Genie Galaxy Quest was a great show, very funny.

Super you caught the ISS, you just need a long exposure say around 30 seconds to get an image of the streak, one of my goals is to set up my scope to track it with it magnified to get an actual image of it.

Lol, Astrochic and about packing it right, it was funny to watch her loose grip of it, the expression she must have had on her face,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, Don, it is in a decaying orbit, hope it makes it through the atmosphere to land in my backyard, but will probably burn up.:(

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Lidian, and thanks for stopping by.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

So well put Ruth, the good news is there will always be more conjunctions, my wife says there always seems to be a conjunction going on, I wish,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks IndianPie, and thanks for dropping by.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Bob, Smiley Face and Tool Bag Conjunction photos. What would we do without you!!!

Thanks for the Geminids tip.

I'm at a medical building and they have high speed Internet. You know I rushed right to your blog. :D

Whoo...I'm on a high speed Internet journey. :D

Hugs, JJ

Anonymous said...

I forgot to say GREAT post and photos!!! :D

Cheers! JJ

p said...

Post Conjunction Syndrome

that sounds like some sort of twin birth defect.
maybe you are really a twin and your other half is the cosmos???

Unknown said...

Wonderful shot Bob! You always amaze me with your superb camera work.

Genie said...

Sadly, my camera doesn't have that kind of exposure setting. On my digital exposure isn't about time but--well--I won't pretend to understand it exactly because I'm a camera dummy but the manual says, "+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments." Or, as one website says, it has a very narrow latitude when it comes to exposure.

Yeah, watching her lose the bag was hard, I really felt for her. It looked like she just kind of forgot she was in space and that it would move when she almost seemed to "set" it in the nothingness next to her as she dug around for something else.

But she's given amateur astronomers around the world the opportunity to track something new in our skies!

Ruth said...

Haha, that reminds me of a certain Woody Allen movie, "Annie Hall" and well the woman's perspective, and the man's. I won't say more and embarrass myself. :|

Sherer said...

Bob,

Post conjunction syndrome effects us all - admiting it is the first step to a cure. Nice quote from galaxy quest, believe it or not I believe it has inspired me through some tough times.

Jesse

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks JJ,lol, welcome to the future, high speed is nice, I remember back in the olden days with my 286 computer and dial up.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol Paula, the cosmos is my twin, ooh, I like that.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot CJ.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Hey Genie, I believe they are talking about F stops, the lower the number the bigger the aperture, letting more light in.

Yes it was hard to watch her loose control of the tool bag, kind of funny though, but like you said created something more to look for and track in the night sky. \m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, me neither Ruth.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol too funny Jesse, well I have admitted it at least, now the road to recovery. Funny how a little line in a movie can make a difference, Lots of my favorite lines are from shows and movies,lol.\m/\m/

BookishDude said...

There's an award for you at http://www.kindlelicious.com/2008/12/i-am-very-pleased.html! Thanks.

Bob Johnson said...

Hey thanks a lot for the awesome award KindleDude!\m/\m/

EspressoHead said...

Woot for the 'smiley face'! Too bad 24 hours later is was a sad face, kinda an anti-climax for me =(

Ah well =)

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, thanks for dropping by Espressohead.\m/\m/

Livingsword said...

Hi Bob….

Is that snow falling in the background of your blog or is it a sweeping view of the stars?

LOL “never give up, never Surrender” LOL LOL “Resistance is futile you will be assimilated”….LOL Surrender!!!!!! That is one of my all time fave reality TV shows…I even blogged on their last season and right now have a lot of people reading those posts! Cool Bob!

Very cool “smiley face”….

LOL You guitar maniac! LOL

Bob I haven’t seen you this excited since you had to change the warp coils while under attack by the Dominion…. LOL

Love the gif Bob….

Bob Johnson said...

Lol livingsword, changing warp coils while under attack by the Dominion, and who wouldn't be excited.

The snow does double duty, when I first saw it at Rogers daily photo blog,http://idahodailyphoto.blogspot.com/

I thought of meteors/falling stars, then I figured it out, snow,lol.

kml said...

You are too funny Bob - the toolbag? And you actually caught it! Only here on Blackholes and Astrostuff - I love it!!

Anonymous said...

Well designed site and stunning images. Excellent work here Bob, I could spend a lot of time reading and browsing, great job.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Kathy, just at the right place at the right time.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Wow, thanks for the kind words John.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Galaxy Quest = great movie. A comedy, but also with good art.

I love the moving picture at the bottom!!!

NS
http://sciencedefeated.wordpress.com/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a bunch NS.\m/\m/

Lynda Lehmann said...

So interesting, Bob. You are sounding more and more like a pro each time I visit here! And your animations are out of this world (no pun intended).

Have you ever thought of teaching astronomy at a local college? They could surely use both your knowlegde and enthusiasm!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Lynda, I haven't thought of teaching, but I have thought of taking a university course.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

very beautiful and original smiley face picture.

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