Comments | wildwose: The Lunar Eclispe and Stellar Landscape....

wildwose

The Lunar Eclispe and Stellar Landscape....

Feb 21, 2008 21:26

The Eclipse last night was lovely. My heart goes out to all those whose cloud cover prevented them from seeing it. Up here in the mountains we had a wonderful view. This one is nice because I caught Regulus, the star in the upper right, part of the constellation of Leo, and Saturn, you know, the planet with rings, is the mote of light in the lower ( Read more... )

science, photography, astronmy

Comments 19

merimask February 22 2008, 06:55:56 UTC

Lovely, lovely pictures. Yours are SO much better than mine! Really, you did an amazing job.

Carl Sagan...I will mourn his passing forever. He's one of those people that humanity needed. I wish he'd lived longer.

wildwose February 22 2008, 13:26:28 UTC

Thank you. I really don't have a great camera. Just a Kodak EasyShare Z710. Slightly above pocket digital. I made sure I bought one that I could adjust shutter speed on. Every artist should get one! ;')

faireraven February 22 2008, 07:32:59 UTC

Your pictures are SO much better than mine... If I'd thought about it, I'd've gotten film for my film camera which is a MUCH higher quality than my digital camera, but alas, all we had to take pix with was the digicam.

Beautiful pix!

wildwose February 22 2008, 13:27:38 UTC

Thank you dear. I love photography so much. But I can't play violin! Leah is learning. And I hope your feeling better.

faireraven February 23 2008, 16:19:51 UTC

Still not feeling best, but MUCH better than I was, thank you!

My dad used to be a wedding photographer. He's got glaucoma now, so I've inherited one of his good cameras (he sold the old 70mm hassleblad, dammit)!

I've learned a few tricks off of him over the years, but I'm still learning to *take the bloody camera with me and keep it stocked with real film*, because I got so used to HIM bringing the camera! :)

You take beautiful pix!

roaming February 22 2008, 07:52:33 UTC

This is gonna sound weird, but what I really like about Sagan's series is listening to his VOICE. He has a lovely voice that makes you want to sit down and listen to his story. I miss him.

Great pics, especially of your wife and Ellawyn. I love the expression of rapt awe on both their faces. :-)

wildwose February 22 2008, 21:53:21 UTC

Oh no, it's not weird at all. Carl would not have been nearly as interesting as had he had a strange whining voice. Billions of people remember that voice from their childhoods. It affected many deeply. I have found a new interest and recognition for Carl lately that is hard to explain. And that voice is remarked upon in many tributes to him. The is a growing revival of interest in his work, I think in no small part to the fact that the children who grew up with him are coming of age and middle age. There was a "new" book released last year, compiled from lectures. And the Science Channel, (curses that I don't get it!) recently reran Cosmos. There were watching parties nationwide. There may be a stamp coming out soon as well. Here he is with the Cosmos intro, this brought tear to my eyes just hearing it after all these years.

And here is a really funny tribute to his voice, in good humor, it may still be with us. It seems that he may have entered the Matrix, taken residence in Agent Smith...

And, uuuhhhh,,,weell...you may not ( ... )

roaming February 22 2008, 22:15:51 UTC

OMG, that Matrix piece is priceless! I must share it with my honey, since he's the Cosmos/Sagan fan that regularly rewatches the series.

As for maryjane -- it should be legalized. It shouldn't be illegal. When I was on grand jury duty, when someone was arrested for drugs, and they included mj, a bunch of us wouldn't vote to indict on the grounds that we believed it shouldn't be illegal. Of course, the DA would remind us that we weren't there to CHANGE law, just to uphold it. Feh. (Personally, I can't stand being stoned on anything, from legal alcohol to should-be-legal MJ to illegal angel dust, et. al. My anatomy just can't handle "high." Oh well.)

(The comment has been removed)

wildwose February 22 2008, 21:54:42 UTC

Hey, see my post to Roaming a on this thread about Carl.

And is it wonderful to feel so insignificant. I love that feeling and think it gives my life some meaning.....if ya know what I mean.

skimbells February 22 2008, 12:43:06 UTC

once again, you've captured a moment with gentleness and beauty - it is a joy to read your posts - thank you!

my husband and i only got to see a bit of the eclipse after the clouds rolled away, but loved what we got to see, and the stars were so clearly visible, it was beautiful

i've always been fascinated with stargazing... when i was in college, a friend invited me to join her astronomy class on the night of a comet - the comet didn't show as well as anticipated, but the professor used the time to show everyone other sights in the sky, and i got my first close up look at saturn through the telescope at the observatory - it was a moment i'll never forget

wildwose February 22 2008, 21:57:32 UTC

Thank you very much.

Your really should check out Stellarium. If for nothing else the cool factor of saying, "That star, oh that's Vega. It is a relatively nearby star at only 25.3 light-years from Earth, and, together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood"