Sky Circles

While driving down the road the other day I, not surprisingly, looked up in the sky

And saw some circles.

Like the circle in the Yet Another Lunar Halo post, these circles are the result of water in the atmosphere, in this case contrails. Contrails of planes likely circling the Philadelphia airport.

This second image shows a pale Sundog, the bright spot in the upper center, to the right of the overexposed Sun. And the bright spot on the contrail circle, below the Sundog, is a fragment of the 22° Halo, the type of halo shown around the Moon.

Yet Another Lunar Halo

I can't get enough of these things.

And despite the folklore, there were no storms the next day.

The Sky Was Angry This Morning ...

But it didn't last.

And the impending ice storm passed us by.

It was pretty cool looking though.

It Is Balloon!

I had to take my car in for service today, to get the electronic system upgraded. The STARLINK system uses the 3G cellular network and that network is being retired.

But this post is not about car service issues that didn't exist when I got my first car. Which for the record was a Chevy Chevette that did not come with a radio. 

No, it is about what I saw as I was retuning the loaner car.

This:

It Is Balloon!

I would occasionally see these floating in the distance out my kitchen window when I lived in my condo. Now I occasionally see them form the other side when I'm out and about, although I've not seen them from our place ... yet. Maybe someday one will float over while I'm sitting out on the deck.

Pretty cool to see.

🎈 🎈 🎈 🎈 🎈

The title is from an episode of a TV show that I watched over and over as a kid, as it was shown over and over on channel 11, and I, and my siblings, would often watch TV when we got home from school. The show was F Troop. And this was the scene from the episode. I have no idea why this bit stuck in my memory. But it did.

Leonard In The Sky ...

... with astronomy friends.

This past Sunday, I woke up in the middle of the night, got dressed, grabbed my gear, and went out in to cold. And it was cold. I drove down Route 206 to Atsion Field. There I met a fellow astronomy club member Joe, who had arrived sufficiently earlier to set up his scope and find the comet. Later another club member, Steve, would join us. It was very nice to be out with like minded folks under the stars.

We were there to see Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1), to be specific. The first comet found in 2021.

I had set up everything the evening prior. And was ready to go. 

The best laid plans ...

This is the first shot after I achieved focus. Note the pinpoint(-ish) stars. (Bigificaiton is suggested for all the images in this post.)

Finally, I found it (the green fuzzy bit). But the stars ...

No longer points. Nope, a bit on blobish side.  Grrr ...

It seems that I mounted the camera "backwards" on the ballhead. And thus the knob for the ballhead was hitting the mounting plate release lever. As Joe can attest, it took awhile for me to figure this out. Somewhere along the way I tweaked the focus. Of course, it looked fine on the small screen of the camera.

Note the location of the comet relative to the stars. In the time we observed it moved a noticeable amount. Very cool to see.

If you look closely at this image, you'll see a meteor trail or satellite track just to the left of the comet. It is very faint in the image. We saw several meteors in the two plus hours we were there. And one rather bright satellite as we were preparing to depart.

We observed until it got too cold (my hands were actually in pain, as I had to take my gloves off to futz with the mount) and the Sun began to intrude on the night.

☄️  💫  ⭐️  💫  ☄️

This comet was discovered on January 3, 2021. And it was expected to be the 'best' comet of 2021. And it was. Although for small values of best. It may become a naked eye object, barely, before it disappears in the glow of the sun. It will then become an evening object. albeit low in the sky, for northern hemisphere observes, once it reappears.

I had not been thinking of this comet until the last meeting of my astronomy club, when Joe mentioned plans to go out Sunday morning. I'm glad he did. 

Sunset

The lack of clear views of the horizon is one of the few drawbacks of our place. It limits star gazing opportunities. As well as sunrise and sunset viewing.

But when the trees are bare we do get the occasional sky show.

This was the view from my desk as I shut my laptop for the day this past Thursday, facing west.

I finished up for the day, went out on the deck, and walked around to take in the view to the east.

I used my iPhone as these moments are fleeting. No time to get a different, perhaps more appropriate, camera lens combination.

In a matter of minutes the show was over.

Another reason I enjoy this season.

Look, Up In The Sky ...

... There be stars! (You may need to bigafy the images.)

Usually when there is a pesky full moon the stars are hidden by its brilliance.

But tonight, the Earth conspired to hide the moon, and the stars were there for all to see!

🌕  ⭐️  🌕  ⭐️  🌕

Last week my friend Jerry asked what I was doing for the upcoming Lunar Eclipse. "Probably sleeping" I said. At that time the forecast called for rain. 

And even when I went to bed Thursday night, the forecast was still calling for cloudy skies. The forecast was wrong.

So Patty and I woke up just before 4 am Friday morning. But I had screwed up the time. I had read 4:03 am as 4:30 am. And thus I was scrambling to get set up and get some pics as I had missed the point of maximum eclipse. 

I did see it. I did not photograph it. The two shots above were taken around 4:15 am. The first an exposure of .25 sec, the second of 2 sec. Taken from my deck. We watched a bit more and then went back inside to sleep some more. I was tired when I woke up and I'm still tired now.

But I was worth it.

More Migration

Not every migrating bird pays a visit to our yard. Some just cruise by overhead. Like these Canada Geese (you'll need to bigafy the image to see them, and even then ...).

Heard before seen, it was the call that told me the species.

I've seen multiple flocks pass overhead while sitting on the deck, relaxing after a hard day at 'work'.

Not Nice Ms Nature!

The other day I had finished work and instead of sitting in traffic I was sitting on my deck, enjoying an adult beverage when the wind picked up and the sky behind me became very dark and threatening.

A gathered up my stuff and covered up the chair as the rain (and leaves) came down.

Stopping only to snap a few pics.

It sure does look like Ma Nature is giving me the finger ...

Crepuscular Ray

My astronomy club recently had its first observing session at our exclusive 'dark' sky observing site (scare quotes as this is New Jersey and there are no true dark sky sites in NJ), a mere 15 mile form our place.

And while we were waiting for darkness to fall I noticed this rather large Crepuscular Ray.

Just another reason to keep looking up.

Good Bugs

The Pinelands Preservation Alliance had the land that surrounded their headquarters donated to them. There was just one catch, it was a preserved farm, and thus it had to be farmed.

And thus was the Rancocas Creek Farm, and the associated CSA born.

We signed up for a share, which we split with our friends Karen and Bull.

This is the farm. I was out picking string beans. (Yep, you pay for the privilege of working in the fields.)

I got done before the rains came.

This week's haul. Sadly, they ran out of carrots (Patty makes an awesome carrot cake).

And just inside the deer fence was this sign. Alas, visiting the website via the QR code did not give any insight to exactly what bugs were at work.

But it was nice to know I wasn't the only one working in the fields.

Frist World Problems

In the Almost Back post I discussed my travails with electronic versus lightning.

One problem I had was that for reasons that are still not clear, Apple thought my computer wasn't my computer, and that it was actually owned by a company, in that there was MDM (Mobile Device Management) software installed on it. 

Now why there would be Mobile Device Management software on a desktop computer never seemed to cross the mind of the 'genius' at the Apple store, they told me I needed to provide proof, such as a receipt, that the computer was mine.

There were several problems with this.

First, the receipt was on the hard drive of the computer that I did not have. Second, Apple keeps eighteen months of purchase history online and available to customers; I bought this computer nineteen months prior to the incident. Third, I had no connectivity at my place to contact Apple support (recall my modem and router were also fried) and thus to contact them I needed to venture out to where a signal could be had.

So I did. And while I was on the phone with an Apple support rep, one who tried very hard to be helpful, for over an hour (!!!) I was getting more and more frustrated at this whole Catch-22 situation, this appeared in the sky out my car windshield.

And while on hold for the n-teenth time I snapped this image. And calmed down a bit.

Eventually the rep told me that she was unable to get a receipt, but that she had ordered one on my behalf from somewhere else inside Apple, and cautions that it might take several days to arrive (It arrived that evening). 

And it turned out I didn't need it anyway. Some other 'genius' at the Apple store (a super genius perhaps?) figured out that the MDM issue was all a mistake. 

All that stress and frustration for nothing. 

I really needed that vacation ...

Adventuring in New England

As our Madagascar trip was again postponed (maybe next summer?) we looked for something else to do this instead. 

And as Patty needed to visit New Hampshire to scratch it off on her map, that's where we went. For the first week of our adventure.

Our accommodations for our first three nights.

And the associated dining area. We are minimalist campers. Just a cooler of preprepared food. No stove or dealing with messy cookware for us.

Our first night was a drippy one. And we were caught by the rain before we had stowed everything in the car. But the tent held and we had a dry if noisy (rain and thunder) night. It would rain the second afternoon and evening as well.

That's Franconia Ridge up in the clouds ...

... seen a bit better in this image at the entrance to the camp ground, is the reason we are at this camp ground, and our destination on our third day, which was supposed to be rain free (spoiler alert, it was).

Eclipse

There was an Annular Solar Eclipse today, although I was not on the path of annularity. So for me, it would be a partial eclipse. If I got to see it at all.

The eclipse would be in progress at sunrise. And this was the view around dawn in the direction the sun would be rising. Not a promising sight.

But the clouds were kinda cool looking in the morning light.

And in addition to the clouds ...

... we had fog to deal with.

It was a pretty morning. But I didn't get up at 4:00 am for a pretty morning.

Luckily for us, the sun was rising in a notch in the clouds. We could only hope it would rise faster than the clouds were moving.

The 'beam of light' above the rising sun is a solar pillar, a side effect of the clouds.

It did.

And we were happy.

Eventually it rose about the clouds, although the eclipse was also nearing its end.

It would have been nice to see the sun as it rose, the 'horns' facing up. But I as I didn't think we'd see it at all I'm quite happy with what we did see.

Including this sundog. Another side effect of the clouds.

Solar Halos?

This past Saturday while sitting on the deck taking a break from yard work, (installing a deer fence around the other half plus of our yard), I looked up (I know, right?). And I saw a ring around the sun. So I took some pictures. As I didn't think it was all that spectacular a display, I used my iPhone, and didn't bother to go get a 'real' camera. Too lazy and too dirty to go inside.

The bright outer ring is the plain old 22° Halo, seen on this blog on multiple occasions.

It is the ring closer to the Sun that has me wishing I had gone and gotten my 'real' camera. It is a 9° Halo? Is it an artifact of the iPhone optical system?

The display lasted for quite a while. I took this image more than two and a half hours after the first (I did some yard work in-between, I'm not that lazy!). And while the 22° Halo is still quite prominent, the inner ring is barely there if it is at all (there are camera artifacts though). This actually makes me more confident the 9° Halo is real.

Next time I'm gonna get up off my lazy *** and get a camera more suited to this subject.

Until then, keep looking up!

Pink Sky At Night ...

While doing the Compost Mouse post I chanced to look out the window to the west. And I grabbed a camera and headed outside. 

Living as we do, surrounded by trees, we don't get many good sunsets. Only when the leaves are off do we have a chance at something worth seeing.

Ten minutes, from when I spotted it until it was gone. And as my tripod is off vacationing without me, all but these two shots were blurry.

But I got to see it. And that's a good thing.

~~~~~~~~~~

And why exactly is it "A Sailor's delight"?

Halo Fragments

While out by the back pond, listening to frogs, checking for tiny turtles, I, as I am want to do, looked up at the sky.

And saw part of the 22° Halo.

And maybe part of the Cricumscribed Halo.

I think it's cool. And it's my blog.