Got some super cool shots of the Aquarid Meteor shower, the Milky Way and Jupiter showed up to play. The weather was perfect, no wind and around +2c. At 3:30 Sunday morning it was very quite except for a lot of critter noises, there were, ducks, frogs, crickets and even birds were starting to chirp. There was another sound, what can I compare it to? you know the sound a monkey makes , you hear it in movies when you're in the Jungle, it goes "ooh, ooh, ooh, eeh, eeh ,eeh, ah, ah, ah, well this monkey or bird because I don't think we have wild monkeys in Saskatchewan, went "ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh,ooh, over and over again, like the whatever it was forgot the words.
The Aquarids are caused by dust particles left behind by Halley's Comet hitting our atmosphere at a high rate of speed and burning up, which by the way just made an appearence back in 1986. So as you're looking at the above meteors you are looking at a piece of Halley's Comet.
My daughter sent me the above image of the landscape around Kelowna which I will be visiting starting Saturday. One thing to note when comparing it to one of my above images..... it's not FLAT, which will be a nice change. They have a lot of activities planned for us, one being a trip suggested by livingsword to the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton.
The next post I do will be from the lovely city of Kelowna, probably Sunday. I'll leave you now with an animated gif of one of my better Milky Way shots.
35 comments:
Ha! First one to comment! I didn't get to see the meteors. Love the pics. I wonder how much more you would have been able to photograph if all the lights had been off!
Thanks Bob!
Hi Bob,
Beautiful country, Kelowna, and your photos, as awlays are stunning. It must be magical to see the planets and stars the way you do. I have to get some books and start reading about astronomy. Thnaks Bob. -Mike.
ooh, ooh, ooh, eeh, eeh ,eeh, ah, ah, ah...
It took a lot of searching in my database of sounds but I do believe that is the sound of a drunken Prairie Redneck my dear Bob. A rare bird but from what I understand is making a steady comeback.
These shots of yours are great! Fantastic resolution.
I do hope you have a safe and wondrous trip at your daughter's place in Kelowna...you may fall in love with the unflatness of the place. Regardless, enjoy and relax and recharge. Take care.
~JD
Bob:
Amazing pictures of the constellations. You sure know your way around the heavens. Those super-long trails of the Aquarids are so incredible. I never saw anything like it. And that beautiful scene of the Milky Way twisting out across the sky like a gigantic silk ribbon. I haven't seen anything like that since I lived in Death Valley forty years ago. Truly fabulous work on your part.
Have a great vacation, and be sure and take lots of pictures of the radiotelesope.Ha,HA. Like I know you will.
Happy stargazing.
Wow, those are really neat shots bob.
The photos are great ... but I gotta say, I like your description of the bird forgetting the words a lot better! lmao
Lol, ya I know, people can be so inconsiderate,lol\m/\m/
Thanks Mike, give it a try, it may grow on you, before you know it you're hooked.\m/
Lol, thanks JD, really looking forward to a little time away. :-) :)
Thanks swubird, I plan on getting up close and personal with that dish,lol. \m/
Thanks oswegan.\m/\m/
Thanks drowsey, I'll never forget that sound, been thinking of it since that morning, just wish the animal/bird would have got it rght,lol.\m/
Beautiful photos and post, Bob!!! I must admit to not knowing Aquarid meteor showers existed. I've learned something once again. :D WOOT!!!
We had a bear here last night. Left a canine hole in the trash can lid - galvinized steel - and our garbage was soaked from the rain and strewn in a straight path under dead balsam fir underbranches for 40 feet. What a mess.
Hugs, JJ
Thanks JJ, hey take pics and post, you do good mystery work, I've read your piece on MWs,:blacksmile:
Hi Bob!
They are better than super cool! You know I am not one for cold showers….
I love the critter noises mixed with the shower viewing, what a wonderful combo!
Maybe it was Tarzan of Saskatoon? No I am not now going to introduce a Canadian connection for Tarzan…. LOL
Does Halley have to pay a fine for littering? Now don’t look at me like I’m crazy I know that Edmond Halley is dead so of course I am not talking about him, I mean the comet of course….
:)
LOL No BC is not flat… A few years ago my wife and I were planning to drive across a good portion of Alberta to go to the Drumheller Royal Tyrrell Museum with its fantastic dinosaur exhibit. Chocolate Girl was very excited to be driving on the prairies as she read Little House on the Prairie and is born, raised and lived on the BC coast her whole life so she has never been on the prairies…
After 4 hours of flat driving after Calgary she said to me “it sure is FLAT…how long till we get there?” LOL I said “you can see it straight ahead about 5 hours from here….” LOL
Bob have a great trip and I hope you enjoy the Observatory; it is very interesting with lots to see...Kelowna is a lovely city, one of my faves, I was there for the great fire….
Wild gif….
Do I get a finders fee for the Observatory? LOL
That is a great shot of the sky, Bob. How do you get the exposure so perfect. You must spend hours at it!
Have a good and safe trip. Your daughter looks like she lives in my kind of country, hiking terrain!
Lol, my usual intro for your comments, always a hoot to read.
Hey you and Chocolate Girl try driving from Regina to Saskatoon one time, or maybe you have, that is some of the flatest country in the world,lol, you can see Regina coming from miles away.:D :-D
I was just watching on the History channel the other day about the fire in Kelowna, you were there, wow, must have been quite the experience.
Thanks so much for suggesting the Observatory, SMSed my daughter right after she said sure lets do it, I will be taking lots of pics, up close and personal with the Dish, using the old fisheye lens, should be very cool.\m/\m/.
Thanks Will, with the exposure I take literally hundreds of shots to start with , then look at the best ones, remember the properties such as exposure , ISO, F stop, ect, then use those settings again, and very important, the weather has to be clear and no turbulence.
Will you would love this country, like you said, good hiking country.\m/\m/
Hi! Great shots! With Halley's Comet, any idea on it's lifespan and how big it is.
As for your images, did you use a fisheye lens? If so, what was the reason for using it. Please excuse my ignorance.
Take Care,
Peter
Thanks Peter, Comets usually last for thousands of years, so we have a while to view it yet.
It's length varies, average 100 million kms long but only 16x8 nucleus.
I used the fish eye for effect but also it is a great lens for astrophtography as you can get great panoramic views of the night sky, capture more meteors, deep sky objects.:D :-D \m/\m/
Cool as always Mr Johnson. Any exciting astro events coming up?
Fantastic!! The field with it's hay bales and starry night was just lovely.
Thanks sherer, this Saturday evening look at the Moon around 11:00 pm est, it will be eclipsing the beehive cluster in the constellation Cancer, look to the west. then May 21 Mars meets up with the beehive, same time same place.\m/\m/
Thanks 1st lady, glad you like the shot, one of my new faves,lol\m/\m/
Sounds like you are going to have a great adventure, Bob, going to an observatory in beautiful, hilly country. How far is that from the more flat (flatter?) terrain where you live?
You know so much about the skies, it puts the rest of us to shame!
I like your newest GIF.
Have you heard from Anna? I miss her....
PS - might that not have been an owl you heard?
Thanks Lynda, it's about 16 hours away by car, or 3 by plane, which we are taking, we will have a great time, getting more excited as the time gets closer, Hey I don't think it was an owl, it was a gruff ooh, ooh, ooh,lol \m/\m/
Have a great time and get some great photos!!! :)
Thanks again Lynda, I intend on getting lots of photos.:D :-D \m/\m/
Hey Bob, those are cool photos, as usual! My students just did reports on different owls and I remembered one that I thought at the time that it sounded like a monkey. I found a recording of it at the link below. Give it a listen and let's see if you were hearing the Barred Owl, (which lives in your area).
http://www.sapsuckerwoods.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WBUASW&Product_Code=5964&Category_Code=4150
Hey Don, thanks for the Owl sounds,the barred one is wild. Not anyone of them, That's the first thing I thought of, but it was a gruff kind of ooh, and just ooh over and over and over again.\m/\m/
I think you're thinking of the Australian kookaburra bird. How it became associated with any "jungle" scene in movies, I'm not sure, unless it was the influence of Disney theme parks. But they were using it as early as the 1930s for the Tarzan films (I think) which pre-dates Disney if I'm not mistaken. So I don't know.
http://fcfhsp.customer.netspace.
net.au/kooka.wav
Do you have a new lens, Bob? The wide angles are amazing!
Thanks for sharing the link, but unfortunately it seems to be down... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!
I would appreciate if a staff member here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com could repost it.
Thanks,
Harry
Hello there,
Thanks for sharing the link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at blackholesandastrostuff.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source?
Thanks,
Mark
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