Nacreous Clouds at sunset

In the Sky


For all the meteorological and astronomical shots I take from time to time.

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12 Dec 2005

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Returning through the fog

The fog continued to thicken as we returned to the ship in the zodiacs. When I took this, we were awaiting the preceding zodiac unloading its passengers up the ship's gangway. Shortly afterward, the ship took us further down the island.

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13 Dec 2005

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Farewell, Macquarie Island

As our ship sailed away southward, a patch of sunlight broke through the prevailing mist and low cloud.

04 Nov 2013

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There goes the ISS

The International Space Station put on a particularly fine showing tonight, passing right overhead. There was just a little thin broken cloud, which may explain the brightness variations.

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15 Dec 2005

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Through the Fog

I guess a ship's rail counts as a fence. Happy Fence Friday! I couldn't resist this stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald....

07 Nov 2013

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Three Satellites

I was very surprised to find that we were to experience not one, but two, Iridium satellite flares, a little over a minute apart and in almost exactly the same part of the sky. I'd always thought the Iridiums were well separated. The only problem was that it was at an ungodly hour of the morning. And that hour and slow preparation are my excuse for missing the main flaring of Iridium 94 (the centre track) - by a second or two. Not a problem though, as Iridium 23 flared at the much brighter magnitude of -7 just a little later (the lower track). I must admit that the third (top) track was a complete and unexpected bonus, found when I reviewed the photo on the camera. A quick check on the satellites at that time showed that it is the rocket body associated with the 1992 launch of Cosmos 2227. I went back to bed feeling pleased. :) Two minute exposure with 50mm lens, photo cropped. Satellite information from www.heavens-above.com

08 Oct 2014

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15 comments

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The eclipse

The media were full of hyperbole about a "blood moon" in the sky. They were referring to a lunar eclipse, where the reddish light reflected from sunsets on the earth would be the only lighting of the part of the moon in the earth's shadow. Although we were perfectly placed to see the entire show, clouds prevented a view of all but the final stage. This was taken with the Pentax and 400mm Tokina lens. A few years ago I managed to catch a full lunar eclipse sequence, with my old Lumix FZ20: you can see that in the note.

20 Jun 2015

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11 comments

621 visits

A pleasant conjunction

Early evening, and the waxing crescent moon and planets (Venus and Jupiter) made a pleasant conjunction as they set behind trees in the west. A musical link here.

21 May 2017

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10 comments

652 visits

Three satellites

From the heavens-above.com website I found that two Iridium satellites were to pass over us through the Southern Cross constellation. I wonder if this would be called a "double crossing"? :-) The third satellite was an unexpected bonus. One to view large.

28 Aug 2017

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Passing through

Taking a break in my China series to post this image from last night of the Space Station (ISS) passing directly overhead, just past the moon and through Scorpio. Best to view large on black, there's also a note.
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