A New York Summer Night

'Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-

There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud
And I turned away to thee....

Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.

"Evening Star" by Edgar Allan Poe

TECHNORATI TAGS: jupiter and the moon over manhattan

No Three-Way for Me

Unfortunately, the storms clouds over Toronto did not clear in time for Sunday night's three-way conjunction between Luna, Mercury and The Pleiades.... I tried to catch the left-overs of the celestial orgy tonight, but Mercury and The Pleiades had moved away from the moon and disappeared behind the horizon before it was dark enough to see them.... all I could get was the crescent moon.... which wasn't bad actually....

can't see her?.... let's get closer....

even closer....

whoaw....

you can see her pores.... Mare Crisium or the Sea of Crisis is the big crater at 4 o'clock....

I'll have to keep an eye out for more interesting shows up there, 'til then.... wishing you all clear skies ahead....

TECHNORATI TAGS: crescent moon

Eclipsis Lunae Totalis

Thank the Universe, the skies over Toronto finally cleared of the snowstorm clouds that have been looming over us for the past few weeks....It was just in time for the total lunar eclipse tonight. I have been waiting for this since the last eclipse back in August left me hanging. Viewing was optimal this time 'round, but I had to brave -12C temperatures for a couple of hours. I lit a fire in the fire-pit to keep me from getting frost-bite.... But it was all worth it because I was able to a few good shots....

Let's begin with a very bright full moon....Let's fast forward through the early parts of the eclipse (it looked the same as the last time) and get to the good stuff....

Lunartastic....
That bright star at the bottom is actually the planet Saturn, so here's a bonus shot of Saturn magnified....

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the total eclipse of the moon, if you missed it, the next one (total) will be on Dec 21, 2010.

TECHNORATI TAGS: total lunar eclipse, lunar eclipse, lunar eclipse february 20, 2008

A Stellar Earth Day

A belated Happy Earth day everyone! Yesterday's Earth Day weather for us here in Toronto was stellar... 23C, breezy, and sunny. I ended up spending the entire day outside, doing my reading under the gazebo, and cleaning up the yard and planting some vegetable seeds in between.

The evening proved to be just as stellar, not just weather-wise but astronomically speaking as well. It was the first time this year that the conditions were so favourable for stargazing; warm temperatures, clear skies, and lots of stuff to see up there.... So I ended up spending the entire night outside as well. That's a beautiful crescent moon that's joined Venus up there in the sky....

Tonight I thought I'd try an experiment.... my hypothesis was that my run-of-the-mill 5.1MP Sony Cyber-shot was totally unfit for astrophotography... I was wrong, it's not totally unfit, it actually took some pretty decent images! So maybe I can combine my hobbies of astronomy, photography, and blogging without having to buy new equipment? Here's what that beautiful crescent moon looks like through the telescope....You can see the Sea of Crisis (a.k.a. Mare Crisium - the darker circular region at approx. 4 o'clock), the Sea of Fertility (Mare Fecunditatis - left of Crisium), the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquilitatis - above Fecunditatis), and the Sea of Nectar (Mare Nectaris - to the left of the previous three) pretty well.

Here are some close-ups....

The crater left of center, is called Theophilus and is 100 km in diameter, the crater beneath it is called Cyrillus and is 98 km in diameter, the darkened crater to the right of the first two is called Catharina and is also 100 km in diameter....
Unfortunately, this is the best I could do for Saturn...can you make it out? The Cyber-shot doesn't do it justice....
At around 1AM, Jupiter popped up, but again, the camera doesn't do it justice. Through the telescope you can actually see the lines from Jupiter's clouds, and you can see Jupiter's moons as well.... the Cyber-shot doesn't pick up any of that stuff....
There was also a meteor shower going on up there tonight (Lyrid Meteor Shower), but I couldn't stay up for it anymore. You can still catch it up to April 25th, just click the above link to find out more about it....

Maybe I'll try to get some more shots of the moon when it's fuller, but as for the planets, I'll need to get some better equipment before I can really blog some decent astrophotography for y'all.... Okay, I need to sleep! Keep looking up.... zzzzzzzzz......

TECHNORATI TAGS: astronomy, moon, sony cyber-shot 5.1MP

Hobby

This week's photohunt theme inspired me to go out and do some star gazing, a favourite hobby of mine....

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.

Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

It's been a while since I've had a chance to go out since I've been busy studying stuff other than the stars, plus there hasn't been anything too stellar (pardon the pun) happening up there lately, and finally, winter weather is definitely not star gazing weather. The telescope on the left was my first telescope, I just took it out to take the picture... I never use it anymore since I got spoiled with the telescope on the right. That one has a computer that tracks the Earth's rotation depending on where you are in the world... that way, it follows the movement of the sky, and you don't have to keep making adjustments like you do with the manual telescope.

The tiny little pinpoint in the sky is the planet Venus, it's easy to find as it is the brightest thing in the western sky. Here's a star chart if you'd like to orient yourself and look for it, but you can't miss it....Venus is interesting because it also has phases like the moon, so it may look like a regular "star" but if you look at it through a telescope there are times when it appears as a crescent or a "half moon".

The most amazing heavenly body, however, would have to be Saturn. Again, to the naked eye, it appears like a regular "star". But through a telescope you'll actually see its rings, and if you've got good eyesight, even some of Saturn's moons are visible. Even if you don't have a telescope, you can find Saturn in the southern sky in between Leo and Cancer. It looks like a yellowish star that does not twinkle..... (the star charts are from Toronto around 9PM tonight, but should be similar anywhere in the northern hemisphere)
One day I'm going to combine astronomy with my other favourite hobby... photography, then I could post my own pics of Saturn's rings for y'all and further combine it with another favourite hobby.... blogging!

Happy Photohunting Folks and keep looking up!

TECHNORATI TAGS: saturday photohunt, saturday photo scavenger hunt, memes, astronomy

Friday Ponderings

I felt compelled to write something today since I have an entry every day this week, and Saturday is the photohunt, so let's make the week complete....

I received an email today updating me on Comet McNaught. I have been desperately trying to catch a glimpse of it since the beginning of January. Unfortunately the skies over Mississauga have been cloudy whenever the comet was visible. Also, the comet would appear very close to the horizon minutes after sunset or minutes before sunrise, and I just didn't have a good view from where I am. It was even visible during the daytime around Jan 12, but again I was disappointed by the clouds! Oh well, it's no longer visible here in the northern hemisphere, but if you are in the southern hemisphere, you are in luck! If you haven't seen it already, or heard about it, try to catch it in the WSWestern sky right after sunset. If you're from down under the equator and you happen upon this blog, please let me know how it looked. Here's a pic from Mark Eriksen in Merredin Western Australia that I found at skytonight.com: Awesome! Kudos to the photographer! After passing the sun, the burn-off produced that spectacular tail! Apparently, the comet's tail has gotten so large that it may be visible in the northern hemisphere tonight, but there's too much light pollution in my area, so I didn't even try. Oh well, there goes a perfectly awesome light show, I'm bummed....

I was hoping to go out with the telescope this weekend and do some last minute star gazing, but I don't think the weather will be co-operating.... I hope it clears up. On Monday, I will be going back to class for a month of intensive studying, so I'm trying to get a little more rest and relaxation activities out of the way.... this includes blogging. I've been purging myself with this blogging obsession of mine since the Christmas holidays, and at times it seemed to become like a snowball rolling down a snowy hill. I joined so many memes and it's been fun, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep up in the coming month.... I'm certainly gonna try though. I don't think I will be able to visit as many bloggers as I have been, so I hope y'all understand. I've met a lot of interesting bloggers from all over the world, with varying views and lifestyles. This blogosphere however, just emphasizes to me the fact that it's such a small world we live in.... In spite of all the cultural and ideological differences and misunderstandings rampant all over this globe, when we look up, we see the same moon and the same stars, and the same vast universe of which we are just a small and seemingly insignificant part....

One more thing, I finally got bored of my boring template.... I like simple and I like black, but every blogger I know (Ghee, Sasha, Leah, Tina, Shoshana etc.) has changed their template once or twice or more since I met them, so I decided to at least put a header :)... just a reminder that no matter where your travels, adventures, wanderings or even ponderings take you, it's a small world and an even smaller blogosphere.... Cheers bloggers, see y'all on the flip side, please wish me luck, or say a prayer for me, whatever your belief system may be.... I need all that good stuff :)

TECHNORATI TAGS: comet mcnaught, blogging

July 20, 1969 Man Lands on the Moon

Tomorrow there's a full moon.....my mother always said to watch out for me when there's a full moon:

The Moon is associated with emotions, intuition, imagination, empathy and nurturing, and also with upheaval, fluctuations and changeability. It is most closely associated with Cancer.

The intermittent effect of the Moon on the mind has been acknowledged over time and gave rise to the word 'lunacy' to describe its more extreme effects.

The Moon and Cancer: The Moon, Cancer's ruling planet, is the strongest influence, particularly heightening the proclivity to be self-protective, which can work against intimacy. The Light Moon's influence strengthens the nurturing instincts of Cancerians and this influence can extend to increase sensuality and passion and encourage more self-revelation. The changing Moon is associated with fluctuations and upheaval and may add to the Cancerian tendency to employ catastrophic thinking. The influence of the Dark Moon is strongest with the new moon and can be particularly unsettling for Cancerians.

The Moon and Leo: The Light Moon can heighten Leo's innate enthusiasm and the expression of positive energies, especially in the areas of leadership and organization and ardent sexual drive. However, the Moon is also associated with fluctuations and emotionality and during a period of insecurity, it may help spark the expression of negative energies in displays of a dogmatic mindset or arrogance. The Dark Moon's influence is strongest when the Moon is on the same side of the Earth as the Sun. This is a potent combination for the sun driven Leo, and Leo will need to guard against inappropriate self-expression.

I got this from Starscine.com.