ALTHOUGH NOT THE BEST PHOTO THIS IS MY VERY FIRST ATTEMPT AT SOME NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY…..PHOTO SHOWS THE SOUTHERN SECTION OF THE MILKY WAY
Didn’t figure I would be able to hold out until midnight Tuesday before heading out to have a look for those Perseid meteors so I loaded a lawn chair into the Jeep along with Pheebs about 10 & off we went the 4 miles to our cool country road night observation spot. Ohhhhh how nice to once again be outside at night under a star studded sky. Unfortunately the sky didn’t remain star studded for long as I noticed right away a large cloud bank closing in from the East obscuring a third of the North-eastern sky & that was just the area where the meteors would be happening. Needless to say we did not see any. However I figured while there I would try my luck at taking some first time star photos.
MY SECOND STAR PHOTO SHOWS SOMETHING VERY CURIOUS…..LOOK CLOSELY TO THE FAR RIGHT SIDE JUST ABOVE CENTER…..NOTICE A DOTTED LINE & I AM GUESSING THIS MAY HAVE BEEN A SATELLITE TRAVELING THROUGH MY 1 MINUTE EXPOSURE…..I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS TO BE A METEOR…..ANY THOUGHTS??
Hauled out my Nikon D3100 which I already had on my tripod. Being new to this it took me quite a bit of fumbling around with some red night lights, dials, switches, camera menus, the self timer, a flashlight my wrist watch, tripod adjustments & half a dozen other things. Took me 8 tries before I was finally able to get myself a reasonably acceptable beginner’s star image. This morning looking at the 3 photos on my computer screen I can see where I made some of my mistakes so am hoping to improve on that. All & all for the short half hour I was out there it was a great learning experience. Pheebs of course was as good as gold staying close by & perhaps the best part was no mosquitos in the cool clear humidity free night air. I have written before many times how much I enjoy being outdoors at night & Tuesday night’s little night sky photo session has now given me more reason than ever to get myself out under that big beautiful night sky again. I was a bit disappointed in myself when I did look skywards realizing the star patterns that had once been so familiar to me now seemed a bit unfamiliar just like years ago. That tells me I have to brush up again on my sky charts & re-acquaint myself with all the constellations. But it’s OK because I enjoy that & knowing one’s way around the night sky is very rewarding.
MY THIRD PHOTO SHOWS JUST A TOUCH OF THE HORIZON AT BOTTOM RIGHT…..YEP, I’M HAVING MYSELF A FUN LEARNING EXPERIENCE HERE:))
I did have myself a couple short dizzy spells when I unthinkingly bent over once to make an adjustment to a tripod leg & another time bending low over the camera reading a dial. The dizziness lasted only a few seconds & I didn’t have any after effects except for a slight wobbliness which also lasted only a few seconds. I will be so glad to get this problem cleared up so I can bend down once again to give Pheebs a big tummy rub:))
A FEW FLOWER PHOTOS AROUND THE YARD
Some folks have inquired a couple blogs ago as to where we had those decal letters made for our Motorhome & Jeep. We are fortunate in that Kelly’s youngest son Ben in Cambridge Ontario has his own very successful sign company called, FLORENCE SIGNS & GRAPHICS. Ben also made the decal lettering for our Damon Challenger Class A years ago including a set of doggy prints. My suggestion for anyone wanting decals or lettering would be to just seek out any reputable sign company in your area & have them made.
Spent my day puttering around outside. All the usual stuff like raking up pine needles & leaves, weed whacking & edging flower beds. Cloud cover cleared about mid morning & thankfully our temperatures are still remaining right around the 70F daytime mark with cooler bug free nights. Even took Pheebs for a bug free walk this afternoon. Fall’s early rustlings seem to have come a couple weeks early this year. Bonus:)) Autumns magic approaches & it will soon be time for thinking of RV travels once again:))
I did watch 3 You Tube videos demonstrating the EPLEY MANEUVER for people suffering from Vertigo. Looks fairly simple but I’m going to wait until I have seen my Nurse Practitioner Thursday. Want to make sure I get it right because it may be something I will have to do by myself in the future.
A word of thanks for all the well wishes regarding my current Vertigo problems & kind words regarding my photos. I know I’ve said it many times before but it is you the reader folks who give me the Blogger guy inspiration to write a few words each evening & head out most every day to hunt down new photos. I sometimes think to myself if it wasn’t for you there would be no me as I know myself now to be………………………………..
GROANER’S CORNER:(( How’s about some Irish humor tonight…..
Mick and Paddy are reading head stones at a nearby cemetery.
Mick says "Crikey! There's a bloke here who was 152!"
Paddy says "What's his name?" Mick replies "Miles, from London."
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Paddy is said to be shocked at finding out all his cows have Bluetongue.
"Be Jeysus!" he said, "I didn't even know they had mobile phones!"
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Paddy and his wife are lying in bed and the neighbours' dog is barking like mad in the garden. Paddy says "To hell with this!" and storms off. He comes back upstairs 5 minutes later and his wife asks "What did you do?" They’re still barking! Paddy replies "I've put the dog in our garden. Let's see how they like it!"
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Paddy calls Easyjet to book a flight. The operator asks "How many people are flying with you?" Paddy replies "I don't know! It's your bloody plane!"
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Paddy and Murphy are working on a building site.
Paddy says to Murphy "I'm gonna have the day off.
I'm gonna pretend I'm mad!"
He climbs up the rafters, hangs upside down and shouts
"I'M A LIGHT BULB! I'M A LIGHT BULB!"
Murphy watches in amazement!
The Foreman shouts "Paddy you're mad, go home"
So he leaves the site.
Murphy starts packing his kit up to leave as well.
"Where the hell are you going?" asks the Foreman.
"I can't work in the friggin' dark!" says Murphy.
I didn't see any meteors either....they say the sky will be darker tonight, new moon I think.
ReplyDeleteWhat you're seeing is the high altitude strobes of an airplane. If you look real close you'll see light and dark light and dark that your red and green strobes
ReplyDeleteSatellites don't have lights
International space station a.k.a. I SS has an app that follows it all over the world you can download it run it for free and it'll tell you exactly where the ISS is at all times if it goes over your area you'll be able to look up and see it It is fairly bright
Deletejoy your day
Love those sky shots! They look great to me. And I tried the very same thing last night, with similar results. I'll post them tomorrow. That line does appear to be a plane. I got the very same pattern in one shot.
ReplyDeleteHi Al, I've been following along about your dizziness. Last year I began being constantly dizzy in February. I was a little more severe than you, basically no functioning. I saw almost every kind of doctor and had every kind of test. I did see an ear doctor and had a maneuver of some sort and other tests but all the things I had done to me didn't help. Here it takes many months to get to see a neurologist. By the time I got to see one in September! my dizziness was about 75% better and he was completely without an answer just as every other doctor. He did say it could have been 1. A very mini stroke that was too small to show on the MRI I'd had 2. A virus in my ears that was slowly disapating or 3. A vitamin B12 deficiency. That is not tested in a routine blood test so he tested it but mine was normal. He had no further suggestions. By November the remaining 25% was gone. It remains a mystery!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what others have suggested but thought I would mention my experience for whatever it's worth. I certainly hope yours is different than mine!!! Love your stories and photos as always! And btw I was just out tonight for a couple hours and saw 23 meteors here in Kansas!
Care to share Nikon settings for nit wits like me. I will be looking tonight. Enjoyed your pics.
ReplyDeleteWonderful night time pics.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we gonna have another bit of a heat wave soon again.
FYI - There is an app for your phone that I really enjoy, it is called "Google Sky Map". When held up to the sky it identifies the different stars, planets and constellations. You might want to look at it , it is pretty cool. It is free too! Al, as always, I really enjoy your blog and photos. I read it every day. I hope you get your vertigo problem resolved quickly so you can head to the southwest on schedule. Max from Illinois.
ReplyDeleteI went out last night and did see 4 meteors one had the orange glow behind it and the other 3 a white glow moving so fast!! I stayed out about an hr...like you say it was great to be out with the stars. Great photos for a first try!
ReplyDeleteWonderful starry skies. Haven't seen those is a very long time, makes me miss the desert! With the regular cloud cover here in the PNW, not much meteor watching where we are. I know Pheebs will be glad when that dizziness is gone :-))))
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos of the stars. I didn't go out last night, but may try it tonight. Looking forward to more star photos.
ReplyDeleteAl, you made my day with those "starry nights" photos...absolutely breathtaking..We can't get that here , being only 60 miles from Chicago, on the edge of suburbia..thanks for sharing those wonderful, magical pictures...
ReplyDeleteThe star shots are great! Not bad for a beginner. I've only accidentally captured stars but am lazy about the tripod. Sure hope I discover you've gotten this dizziness thing straightened out as I continue to catch up on your posts.
ReplyDelete