sunset sighting
The weekend presented with a dearth of cute gals or little kids to photograph, so…“Cue the western horizon!”
I knew of the plan to put an observation platform at the Flint River overlook, which is on the road to Sprewell Bluff. But it wasn’t until i went there Friday evening i realized the work is done. There’s even a little house next to it, but i digress…
The new platform should afford improved picture-taking of that marvelous scene—(or at least more enjoyment of the view, should there be one other person on the planet who doesn’t have a telephone for a camera : )
My cameras (which are useless as telephones) climbed out of their bag and went to work, snapping a setting sun from the nice new vantage point. One of them decided that would make a quaint little movie, but unfortunately the operator still has much to learn about keeping a consistent exposure level when shooting time-lapse. For those who can stand the flicker, here’s the flick:
While little brother was occupied with movie-making, the big camera was free to look around and enjoy various sights, such as a rising almost-full [super] moon:
funky clouds with lightning:
funky clouds without lightning:
and the cool funkyness of a moonlit vista—this one including several items of note…
In the shot above, one can see the fog rolling in from the left, the planet Mars (orange dot below the big cloud), and the star Spica slightly down and to the left of Mars. Also just over the horizon in about the center is an area of sky brighter than the rest. This reminds me of a phenomenon called zodiacal light or false dusk:
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-zodiacal-light-or-false-dusk
It is usually seen more often in the spring and fall, about 30 to 60 minutes after sunset. (Of course this may have simply been the city of Manchester, polluting my night sky : )
For folks with large, bright monitors, here’s a portrait of the big dipper:
The handle is on top, going to the left, and the cup part is at the bottom, facing diagonally up and to the right. As can be seen in the photo, the star in the middle of the handle is a binary (double) star. I’ve been told that in ages past, the Indians used that as a means of testing their children’s eyesight—by having them look at the middle star and telling the parent how many lights they could see. (No fair for any who try this now, you already know what to look for : )
I didn’t think to get a nice picture of the observation deck while it was light, so above is a simple shot of one corner as one is looking east, toward the rising moon.
see sweet sky shots here
So whether by sunshine or the light of the moon, i’ve observed the observation platform to perform well. My thanks to those who provided it, and to the One Who provided the creation to be observed.
king
