Tonight's stars

 

I got up to pee, and wow the stars are so brilliant tonight. Just as brilliant as the other night, yet my heart is captured as if it was the first time I've seen such a sky.

       And you know each one by name.

       This trip is my first time being able to see the milky way's brightness.

Thunder and lightning

 It's not the lighting flashing into the room itself that I find annoying, it's that I might be missing some really good cracks of lightning!

Perseid Meteor Shower Peak August 11-13, Moon-free view August 17

For a bit of light in the darkness, look up until August 24th to see the Perseid meteor shower (pronounced "per-see-id"). The peak is August 11-13, where there will be an average of 75 meteors passing overhead each hour. 

Earthsky.org highlights that while the peak understandably gets a lot of attention, because of the moonlight the best time to skywatch for this event might be August 17th, when there won't be moonlight outshining the meteors.

Also, just as with any skywatching event it can be ideal to make the most of clear skies whenever they avail themselves.

More of Earthsky.org's tips can be found here.

Happy skywatching 🌠

Sources:

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower

https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/space-stargazing/meteors-comets-asteroids/Perseid-meteor-shower

Thanks to Reddit user mudgts for the head's up. 

Sunset Progression Throwback

Two years ago:

Seven

Six for the strings on a guitar

No, seven for heart string to bring it far

A hundred thousand million colourful stars

Let's gaze up and write our stories down.

Sail across the seven seas

But oh so more than seven wonders of the Galaxy

Never stop wondering how much we do not know

Connecting the dots though they'll never complete

So keep your eyes open for this nightlight show

Sunset (Progression)

Sunset progression

Title Edited 2019-10-07

Lunar-ticks for the eclipse and a hack

Note: This post is shared between naturenimbus.blogspot.ca and lunar-winds.blogspot.ca.

Plot twist: as much as lunar eclipses are loved, this post is actually photos from the recent solar eclipse that happened on August 21, 2017. Sorry, Lunar-tick.

Hopefully you had the chance to enjoy it last Monday, though if you were not able to watch it's not too late to experience through the beautiful, non-eye-burning lens of NASA.

Seeing as we didn't have any solar-eclipse-viewing glasses, on Monday we started by making our own viewboxes for the eclipse. The longer the box, the larger the projection of the. I used a cereal box.

Here is a very not-to-scale diagram:

This image was made using Fireworks. Sorry Paint, we still love you.

It took me a moment to find the little bright smudge of the sun's image on the wall of the box and orient it so that it was in line, but soon enough lo and behold there was a little dot with a tiny bite out of it. Optics was never my strong suit, but as I peered in through the peekhole and tried to understand how this worked, it finally occurred to me that if we just poked more holes in the aluminum foil, there would be more projections in the box.

In addition to just adding a fun and potentially creative element, it also made it easier to "find" the eclipse, or aim the projected image of the sun when it was in distinct clusters.

Before, simple version (right) >

Below, decorated versions:

What happened when 3 relatively distant holes were poked in the aluminum foil.

It was much easier to aim the projection with a distinct cluster

It pays to think outside the box ;) (Pun intended)

Lunar Eclipse in Less Than 13 Hours

This is one of those special occasions when being down on Earth is one of the most inspiring places you could be. 

The next lunar eclipse visible from Earth is happening in less than thirteen hours. Click here to find out when it will be visible from your location (http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2015-april-4). 

Although most of my science and nature-related posts are published on Nature Nimbus, if not for the inspiration then for its namesake this reminder should also be here.

From either a scientific or artistic point of view, this is an exciting event that has captivated the eyes of skywatchers in different civilizations for centuries and will be the third of a tetrad (http://naturenimbus.blogspot.ca/2014/10/part-two-of-four-lunar-eclipses-in.html). This will also be the shortest lunar eclipse of the century so there's no time for a snooze if you're in an early-morning region (http://earthsky.org/tonight/shortest-total-lunar-eclipse-of-the-century-on-april-4-2015).

In some ways many of us are like the moon. We have a light side and a dark side and different faces that are different yet always our own are shown in phases. We are reflective individuals born into a world of darkness in which we have learned to travel in and often light the way for others. Though our best friend may be bright as the sun both our similar bright side and contrasting dark one are complementing and though one may be of night and another of day, we have a common goal: to light the way. Though at times we sometimes will hide our details and even our existence in solitude they can bring out the best in us. When our paths meet or even when we are blocked by "down to "earth" in an eclipse, together we can create something that makes the heartbeat of the world skip a beat