Saturday, January 31, 2009

Sun Dogs and Desert Glass



Was out imaging a Sunrise when a couple Sun dogs formed, very pretty and long.



I thought to myself, what a beautiful backdrop for a piece of my Libyan Desert Glass so I ran home hoping that the dogs would still be there when I got back, they were, and took a pic.


You can actually see a little of a Solar Pillar coming up through the middle of the glass. What exactly is Libyan Desert Glass?


Just back in 1998 an Italian Mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele was visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo when he happened to notice the scarab in one of King Tutankhamun's breastplates. The Egyptians said it was a semi precious stone used in some of the Egyptian's Pharaoh's jewelery back in the day. Vincenzo had his doubts and did some research on the scarab and found it to be glass. He then remembered back in 1932 when British explorer Patrick Clayton found this yellow green glass in the Sahara desert. Comparing it to some of the found pieces he concluded they were identical. So the mystery of this beautiful glass started, how was it made and where did it come from?


Further investigation and chemical analysis showed that the dark streaks in some of the collected samples and in my first image sample with the Sun dogs, were made up of Osmium and Iridium, both very rare and something you would not expect to find in surface rocks on Earth but are very common in meteorites. Long story short using computer models and simulations they found that the samples were probably created by an asteroid's or comet's arial burst around 28 million years ago. They figure an asteroid or comet, 120 meters in diameter hit our atmosphere at around 20 kms a second, broke up just before it hit the ground creating temperatures and a fire storm as hot as the surface of the Sun melting the surrounding sand, when the sand cooled quickly it formed this glass.

There is another theory as well. " The Altlantis Blueprint" puts forth the theory that the ancients, and by ancient I mean more so then the Egyptians, understood all about nuclear power and that some incident involving nuclear power or weapons created the desert glass, very interesting, not something I really go for but still cool to read.


Roger sent me his first Earthshine image of the Moon, great shot Roger!! Roger is getting all geared up for the Moon /Pleiades conjunction this coming Tuesday night. The Moon and Pleiades will be traveling together throughout the night but will be closest around 9:30 pm CST.

I'll leave you now with a YouTube video of part one of the special "Fireball of Tutankhamun"

66 comments:

RW said...

Awe inspiring dogs Bob! I am with you on the Atlantis theory, very interesting, but I'm not going for that either.

The Moon Pleiades conjunction hopefully will receive some clear sky and great photo opportunities!

S-V-H said...

Very interesting video, Bob! And the sun dog photos are impressing.

Sue's Daily Photography

kml said...

You have the most unique pieces of meteorites. You actually own them - so lucky! Thanks for sharing it and the story behind it with us.

Brian Steele said...

LTP Bob. (remember the exclamation marks embedded within the acronym).

You've brought me to a life crisis. A sky-guy having a cooler rock collection than a geologist...

'Scuse me while I go bawl in a corner.

:)

Majase Cyc said...

Love the "dogs" Bob and it's a perfect combination with that glass in the photo.

Personally, I think that stuff is from UFO's. Now stay with me here...

Ever heard of frozen toilet water falling from the sky out of airplanes?

Within the vacuum of space, who's to say what kinds of molecular transformation this stuff goes through when aliens flush their waste. It's got to go somewhere, right?

Eventually, it falls to earth, breaks apart, and voila! you got desert glass. And from the color of that stuff, I think they are probably vegetarians.

Anonymous said...

this is beautifull pictures...:-)

kRiZcPEc said...

thanks for sharing the making of that glass, cheers.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Roger, and good luck with the Moon Pleiades too.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

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

Anonymous said...

Well, Brian, you both have cooler collections than I do. I mostly have man-made bits of orbital debris.

I thought the dogs were cool but the story about the glass is even cooler. As always, Bob, a pleasure.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Kathy, I have a cool collection, I find that touching old rocks from space to be very exciting, yep, that's my life now,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, thanks Brian.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Majase Cyc, lol, ya know , that was probably my favorite explanation, especially about the vegetarian part,lol.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks MJ, and thanks again for dropping by.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks kRiZ cPEc, and cheers right back at you.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Stephanie, oooh, you got what? it sounds like something I would covet,lol, really.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Wow, that glass is really interesting. I would love to see it in person. Is it smooth? This is so interesting, did they ever decide how it was made?

Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby

Anonymous said...

Those are astounding. What a history!

I'm definitely going to need to use this in a story somewhere.

Anonymous said...

It sounds much more exciting than it actually is. All I have is a representative sample of what they shoot in the 2-stage light gas guns to simulate orbital debris at abotu 6-7 km/s. Mostly, they use tiny spheres of aluminum (which is what I have, 1mm in diameter) and shoot them at different spacecraft materials to gauge the effects.

Check out <here for cool information about the facility and here for a sample of a hypervelocity impact captured on film.

brexians said...

a very interesting and informative post...
great photos
thanks for sharing

Bob Johnson said...

Hi AngelBaby, it is very smooth in certain areas, in others it has little thumbprints caused by it falling back down to the ground after they were exploded into the air, they have a consensus it was a meteor or comet exploding in midair and melting the sand.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Cool Ravyn, let me know and I'll read it.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

That is too cool Stephanie, I will check out those sites, thanks!\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

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

Swubird said...

Bob:

That was fantastic. I remember seeing the PBS special on the Lyban Glass. an I should have known that you would have a piece. Just too funny. You are definitely on top of everything. Your house must resemble a science museum.

Happy stargazing

GagayMD said...

i like your photos here so much! awesome files you have here..happy blogging, anyway.

gagay

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, it was a great show swubird, I watched it when it first came out and a few times since, lol, I have a few displays, it kind of does look like a science museum around here.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks GAGAY, glad you like the photos.\m/\m/

Genie said...

First thing I did upon reading this entry was review your sundog photo on Stumble. Amazing capture! That's nothing new on your blog, of course.

Dang, now I have to go add Libyan Desert Glass to my wishlist. Bet I could find a nice (and pricey) bit of jewelry made with it!

I loved Roger's recent moon shots! They are gorgeous!

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

This is called being at the right place at the right time with the right equipment with the right material, and most importantly, with the right creativity.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Genie, I appreciate the stumble, and don't forget about the Moon/Pleiades Tuesday night.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Bhavesh, always appreciate your dropping by.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Very interesting to read about the desert glass and the theories behind it. In Indian mythology, there are extensive descriptions of nuclear energy and even weapons.

And Sun dogs? I hear these days about slum dogs.. ;-)

Max Coutinho said...

Hey Bob! :D

Happy Monday, my friend!

Have I told you how much I love your photos? I do; and this week you have proved, once more, to deserve the title of "Lord of the Astropics" *bowing*!

Now, what is Libyan Desert Glass? Let's read your explanation...
This is one gorgeous breastpiece...my God! Those Egyptians had good taste...
Wow...this makes sense...the way the glass was formed. But, doesn't this make it rare and thus precious (as precious as a gem)?
Aaaah, I prefer the first explanation...
The second one reminded me of the movie "Stargate"...

Congrats, Roger!! Great pic! :D

About the video: I love when scientists speak of intuition - it gives me the hope that one day, science and spirituality may hold hands and open the doors to unlimited discoveries with much more accurate explanations.
That scarab is gorgeous, isn't it?
Loved the video, Bob...thanks for sharing! :D

Have a marvellous week!

Cheers

Sherer said...

Very cool Sun Dogs! Its like Sun Month at BHAA. \m/ Anything interesting in the sky right now I should check out?

Jesse

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Priyank, and very interesting about Indian mythology about nuclear energy and weapons, I'll have to look into it.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks so much max, it is a very cool glass, nothing else lik it on Earth, very cool.

Lol, I know about the Stargate, made me think of it as well, now Priyank above stated in his comment about nuclear energy and weapons back in the day as well, then there was "Chariots of the Gods", a very cool show that hinted of aliens before, even during the time of the Egyptians, may not be true but still very interesting.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Lol, thanks Jesse, the main thing to look forward to is the major conjunction of the Moon and Pleiades tomorrow night, should be pretty cool.\m/\m/

Anonymous said...

Yeah.. I cant wait for the conjunction either.. Hope I'll get a good shot of it..

Bob Johnson said...

Good luck with your imaging of the conjunction Cashmere.\m/\m/

SEDONA said...

visiting u with a smile:-)

Bob Johnson said...

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

Anne Vis said...

Amazing pictures and great information. From what I understand there is a special energy in stones or glass formed by meteorites. Like the stories about moldavite. Thanks for sharing!

Jackie said...

I'm back to blogging Bob and oh brother am I glad to finally make it by here.

This is absolutely fascinating. I watch a lot of discovery t.v. and this is my first to hear of this.

As for the Moon Pleiades conjunction I can only cry that it will be 2 more weeks before my telephoto lens arrive.

Oh I hope it gets here sooner! I always have loved your site. I have missed you.

Happy day!
Jackie:-)

Anonymous said...

wow, great photos, i've never seen a sun dog personally, it is great you were able to experience and photograph the phenomenon.

Marvin said...

Very cool!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anne, you are so right, I will be talking about the healing power in a later post.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Shinade, good to see you back again and thanks for the great review at Entrecard!!\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks betchai, sundogs always amaze me.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Marvin the Martian.\m/\m/

Lynda Lehmann said...

Bob, I saw the Tutankamen exhibit when it was in NYC, about 30 years ago. It was interesting, but I could hear some ladies talking and what they said, in view of the historic significance of the exhibit, floored me. "Well my goodness, the color of his sandals matches exactly, the color of my kitchen wallpaper!" Hope they took more profound observations than that, home with them that day!

A great post here, very interesting. Maybe no one will ever really know where that glass comes from. I've never even heard of the two elements you mentioned. But then, chemistry class was SO long ago!

Your GIFs are just breathtaking!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Lynda, lol about the ladies at the King Tut exhibit, I really want to go see it someday. Glad you like the animations, they to me are so relaxing and cool, glad Anna told me about the site to create them.\m/\m/

Speedcat Hollydale said...

A couple of months ago I did a post on sun dogs. At 7:30 AM with an air temp of -16 and blustery winds, the most brilliant and massive sundogs formed. I had never seen any that compaired in the past. They were so incredible that they were the top story on the local Minnesota news that night.

I caught some fairly good pictures myself.

Bob Johnson said...

Hi Speedy, I remember reading your post, they were great dogs, temps for mine were -43c. \m/\m/

Dorothy said...

Fascinating I watch the whole thing.

Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com

Rose DesRochers said...

Very impressing Bob. You certainly have an eye for this stuff.

Anonymous said...

Bob, just finished watching all parts of the video with my partner. We love such stuff, please post anything you find, there is an assured audience :)

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Dorothy, it was a pretty cool show, have it saved on my pvr

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Rose.\m/\m/

Bob Johnson said...

Glad you guys liked it Priyank, I've watched it tons of times, I really want to go hunt for them in person.\m/\m/

myonlyphoto said...

Hey Bob interesting stuff about the Sun Dogs. And I throwed away all my broken glass pieces collected thinking they are all bear glasses, lol, they probably were too :))). Anna :) BTW excellent pictures as always.

Anonymous said...

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I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could post it.

Thanks,
Peter

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please reply to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could repost it.

Thanks,
Charlie

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I have a message for the webmaster/admin here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com.

Can I use part of the information from this post above if I provide a link back to this website?

Thanks,
Peter

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