Saturday, March 13, 2010

Mostly Images


Been quite busy taking tons of images lately and just thought I'd post some of them. The Moon and Pleiades are my favorite celestial grouping and a week from tonight, Saturday March 20 they will once again be dancing together across the night sky, look to the SW just after Sunset to see them, use binoculars if you can.

I used to think that atmospheric phenomena such as Solar and Lunar halos were rather rare,

but am finding due to the fact that I am out and about more these days, I have noticed that they come and go frequently, got 3 halos a corona and some sundogs within a time frame of just over a month.

What it is, they aren't so much rare as fleeting, caught all the events while either just leaving or coming home from some place and rushing to get my camera, which by the way I have set up and ready to go by my back door.

The Solar halo above for example, I was just pulling into my driveway from work and noticed while getting out of the car and looking up, half a solar halo, ran into the house grabbed my camera which was already set up by the back door allowing me to be out on the back deck taking images just as it was completing the arc, took a few pics and then watched it dissolve away right before my very eyes, total time..around 5 minutes.

Same with the sundogs and solar pillar, coming home for lunch noticed the dogs, got the camera and snapped the image, they lasted the longest of all the phenomena, around 15 minutes, it's all about stopping to smell the roses, look and you shall receive.


Went out with Astro-Nuts to capture the elusive zodiacal lights. They are very faint but beautiful, they mimic light pollution. The zodiacal light is a product of Sunlight being scattered by cosmic dust left behind by comets and asteroids, therefore it is most apparent right above the setting Sun, lower right in the above image. Notice as well the wasted light on the left of the image taking out part of Orion, caused by Saskatoon's famous light polluting, Co2 producing Dakota Dunes Casino, wasting energy, light and also taking away our God given beauty and wonders of the night sky......they have no shame.


And a favorite thing of mine, a morning Moon, took the above image with my telescope a week ago, woke up early morning, no wind, birds chirping. God is so good putting me at the right place at the right time, to be able to transform these temporary and fleeting moments into images to be shared and appreciated by you.

47 comments:

Moonshadow said...

Always love your pictures! Your little smileys popup seems to have a broken link. I haven't been out getting many pictures lately. I think it's cabin fever. Oddly enough the cure is getting out in the sunlight. :)

Grumpy old man said...

Brilliant photographs, really love to see these, very interesting. Keep them coming/

Have a stunning weekend.
Colin.

Unknown said...

Great shots! Thanks for sharing them with us.

Don said...

wow! I see a picture book in your future, these are beautiful

Sadia said...

A marvel to behold! Wonderful images Bob, thanks for showing the world beyond!

Ruth said...

They're all so beautiful, even if they're more "ordinary" than you thought. I especially love the cloudy one, and the morning moon with your telescope.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Moonshadow, I know about the icons, trying to remedy it. The best solution for cabin fever is warm sunny weather, which we are starting to finally get here.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Colin, nice to see you here again and have a great weekend as well, sunny and warmer here, should be great.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks FishHawk.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a bunch Don, have been looking into that very thing.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Sadia, love photographing God's work.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Ruth, God puts cool things out there for us to enjoy, love photoing and sharing.

Swubird said...

Bpb:

Very cool pictures as always. I'm glad you're back into posting this stuff. I especially like the one where the casino lights shoot upward. Very neat.

Happy trails.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks swubird, those frigging lights look pretty but do so much damage to our environment.

Stephanie Barr said...

Those are some lovely images.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Stephanie.

myonlyphoto said...

Bob beautiful images as always, the first one is amazing to capture both. I seen only one halo this year. Every night about 2 am before I go to bed, I look out the window, and there it was, beautiful one, and the straight beams of light from the ground all around (I think you told me what it was, but I don't remember). It was crispy cold too. Excellent series Bob, so glad again to see you back. Anna :)

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anna, usually don't see more than a couple a year myself but being out a lot more I am finding they do actually appear frequently just not long.

austin personal injury lawyer said...

Great photos. Enjoyed reading your blog today.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks austin personal injury lawyer.

Marvin said...

Beautimous! I like the lunarcorona.jpg. Very pretty!

Tatiana said...

Wonderful captures Bob, and I haven't seen any halo's until now, and have been lazy and inside all of the winter, longing for sunshine and spring. have a great week ahead

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot Marvin.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Tatiana, it has been great weather wise here lately so I've been out getting lucky with the halos, very sweet.

RW said...

Awesome photography there Bob!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Roger.

Nature Nut /JJ Loch said...

MAGNIFICENT POST and PHOTOS, BOB!!! You always get me sooooo excited about taking these shots. I MUST get that telescope and also check the sky for regular camera shots at night and early morn. You are having all the fun. :D

Am getting the NASA image of the day so I can learn more. Look forward to those images and have them for my desktop backgrounds. :D Right now I have the global map of Mercury.

Have a super day!

JJ/Nancy

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks JJ, love little Mercury.

Will said...

Lots of great shots there Bob. The light pollution by the casino is terrible. With all the publicity about this over the years, you would think things like that would be in the past. Even our small city here in Oregon has laws now about light pollution.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Will. The light pollution laws in Saskatchewan are nil, our local RASC is trying hard to get something going but to no avail.

I used to be able to take fairly good deep sky images from my backyard through my telescope but the last couple years is almost impossible.

It is a waste of energy and light, could be using that light to shine on the ground where it is needed for protection and safety,not the sky where it affects migrating birds to the point of them getting confused and literally dying, getting trapped in the casino lights and dying of exhaustion.

Lynda Lehmann said...

They're all great images, Bob! Having the camera ready to go, helps a lot to facilitate capturing them.

I have always noticed coronas. I was told that they mean rain is coming--that they're due to moisture in the air/atmosphere, through which you are seeing the sun's light.

As for casinos, give me the unaltered, velvet night sky and peace instead of all that clamor and gambling!

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Lynda, you are right about the Corona's, they are the result of moisture in the air which can turn into rain/snow, happens to both the Sun and Moon. It is so nice to be outside of the cities light pollution envelope which here you can still see 40 miles out, so sad.

kRiZcPEc said...

These are all winning shots, thanks for sharing. :)

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks a lot kRiZ cPEc.

Peter said...

Hi! Great shots, just like the ones on Moonshadow's new post!

Now, have you ever been able to take an image with there is no light pollution?

Take Care,
Peter

Unknown said...

Excellent photos! A very informative site. Thanks a lot for sharing...

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Peter, yes I have taken a few shots out of town, mostly of the Milky Way as you can't see it in town, can't even image it with any success.:(

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Kawaii.

Anne Vis said...

Stunning pictures, Bob!

Kevin Paquet said...

Awesome. I just can't manage to nail such beautiful pictures. I always need to Aperture them to make them look good!

Yours truly,
Kevin Paquet - pinoyteens.net
Hope you'd visit back

Max Coutinho said...

Hey Bob,

Beautiful images! God Bless you for having placed you in the right spots at the right time :D.

Halos are so gorgeous, so magical (I know I have told you this before): thanks for this wonderful gift, man!

I'm sending good vibes towards you, mate :D!

Cheers

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Anne, good to see you here again.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Kevin and thanks for dropping by.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Max, yes Halos are something special, I do remember you telling me that, oh and thanks for the great vibes.

Mike said...

Hi Bob. I have not been around in ages here. These are great pictures of the Moon.

Bob Johnson said...

Thanks Mike, good to see you again.

kc septic said...

Wow what great pictures you have. I am new to this blog, but what a great display of visions.