Sky – Page 23 – Sheila365

Jul 14, 2010

071410 — The moon, planets & stars, oh my!

You might want to go into a dark room to see this image. I follow an online sky-watching site called Sky & Telescope. Each week it points out notable things in the night sky to watch out for. This week there is a pretty cool lining up of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn, alongside the crescent moon.

So, I went out tonight on a mission to try to capture a picture of this glorious event. I had limited success. Mercury was not visible. I was able to see the others. Here is the best image I have. Not great, but kind of cool if you think about what you’re seeing. If you look diagonally from top left down to bottom right you can see: Saturn, then Mars, then Venus (brightest star to the right of the crescent moon) then below Venus to the right is Regulus.

Pretty cool, eh?!

If you look on the right side between Saturn and Mars, you’ll see the star Denebola, which is part of the constellation Leo.

This is the diagram from Sky & Telescope, if it helps.

I’m starting to look at fancy-dancy cameras now. Not sure if that was the point of this picture-a-day project, but we’ll see what develops. get it? develops? heh heh 😉

Jul 5, 2010

Whew! We’re still out here rafted up in the wee hours this Monday morning. Another night of iPod wars with friends last night has rolled right into the next morning and we’re still going! We have today off, so we can take our time getting home.

This is a shot of the waning moon rising over our marina at about 1:30 AM. It looked much bigger from my side of the viewfinder.

Next weekend should be near the new moon, so maybe I’ll try to get a nice shot of the stars.

Jul 3, 2010

This is the 3-day Fourth of July holiday weekend. We’ve packed up Cupholder for an overnight raft-up with friends in Hurst Cove. We joined Teri and Jim on Island Time, and Lori and Dave on Camelot for the night. The city of Lakeway shoots fireworks from a barge in the cove tonight and we’ll have an awesome view from about 200 feet away. Doray and Tom came out with us for the afternoon, and a bunch of other folks motored over and tied up with us to watch show as well, but didn’t stay overnight – Joe and kids on Prelude, Kurt, Barbara, Wally & Shannon, Greg and the Wiz on Dancer, and Tony & Michelle on Caribbean Run. It was quite the show, and quite the party.

It wasn’t the same without Marty & Sue to play along with us, but afterward the 3 boats that were left played iPod wars WELL into the night — lots of laughs. A good time was had by all. 🙂

Jun 26, 2010

The moon, she is full! This month’s full moon is called the Strawberry Moon, and it occurred at about 5:40 AM this morning, as the moon was setting. I was already up, so I walked outside to try to find a view not obstructed by trees (difficult to do in this neighborhood). A partial lunar eclipse was happening at the same time.

This is a shot of the full moon as the shadow of the Earth clipped the top right portion while passing between it and the sun.

I guess it just looks like an ordinary waning or waxing moon, but it’s a bit more unique than that. I’m glad I was up to see it.

Jun 19, 2010

This morning we worked slavishly in the yard – mowing, edging, weedeating, trimming shrubs and low hanging branches. Whew, it was hot! I was tuckered out by about 1pm. So, what to do? Go to the lake!

We loaded up our motor (again) for service. Then we put up the shade on the catboat, and we just sailed the slip for the rest of the afternoon.

We played with some of the usual suspects – Marty, Sue, Joe, Sonya and friend, Robert, Nick, Isabelle, Laureen, Morgan and Dimitri.

Late afternoon I noticed a skywriting plane had left some streaks in the sky. We had to step out from under the shade on the boat to see it, but someone had put a big heart up for all to see. How sweet!

I ♥ sailing

Apr 23, 2010

It has been very humid for the last few days… getting ready for a front to blow through tonight. Right around sunset this evening the clouds started building up into thunderheads ahead of the front. This is a shot of the sunlight from the setting sun coming from behind one of the clouds. We didn’t get too much rain, but got a nice lightning show after dark.

Apr 21, 2010

I’m very excited that Noreen and mom arrived last night for a week long visit. Today we spent the afternoon on the lake. Mom is a natural sailor, and Noreen quickly mastered sailing the catboat. We ended our cruise by motoring up the creek and feeding the ducks.

Afterward we went to the Oasis to experience the traditional sunset ritual. This is a shot right before the sun dipped below the hills. Windy Point is the land jutting out on the right. Some lucky soul below has the best view — all to themselves.

It was a beautiful day on the lake, one of many we’re fortunate to have. I’m happy that mom and Noreen got to share it with us today.

Apr 2, 2010

This week Venus and Mercury have been close together, setting right after sunset. It’s pretty rare to see Mercury, and together they are a pretty sight. Venus is the bright one. Mercury is below it to the right. This shot was taken 30 min after sunset about 2 miles from our house. I was glad to get a shot with all the light from the city.

A Good Friday, indeed.

Mar 28, 2010

We wrapped up a Lake Travis Trifecta this weekend – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was too windy for us to go out today, so we hung around the boat and played – a little fishing, a little kite flying, a little fending-off-boats-trying-to-dock-in-gusty-winds, and lots of fun with the other B-dockers that were out and about — Joe, Marty, Sue, Kurt, Robert, Tasha, Lori, Dave, Ann, David, Michelle and Tony.

At sunset we bundled aboard Cupholder to cruise up Hurst Creek. I think we have a new record – 9 people (and 1 dog) on-board.

This shot is of the (nearly) Full Worm Moon rising over the creek.

Mar 27, 2010

It was a beautiful day today. We made it to the lake for a sail before the winds got way too strong. We anchored up with friends, Rob and Jen, and their friends from California, Karen and Tom, in Arkansas Bend.

B-dock was lively when we got back, we saw Marty, Sue, Kurt, Wally, Nick, Ken, Mike and Kathy. Hibernation is over!

After the lake we caught up with Rob and Jen at their house for dinner for the birthday girl — had a nice time with friends, pizza and fireworks. This is a shot of one of Rob’s specials.

Mar 26, 2010

What a day. Very early day, lots of meetings. After work we headed to the lake. We saw Doc and Joe, briefly, when we arrived. We motored all the way up Hurst Cove. The lake is FULLLLL! We saw some big garr fish – 3 or more feet long; some turtles; a blue heron; and a little sparrow that had made a nest under one of the limestone ledges. We turned off the motor and let the winds blow us out all the way out of the cove out to the recently discovered mooring ball fishing grounds just beyond the marina. We tied up to the ball until sunset and Monte brought in a crappie. Very nice!

Afterward we stopped by Caribbean Run to say hello to Michelle, Tony, Robert and Tasha. I guess we missed Kurt while we were out and about. I’m itching for the next raft-up 😉

This shot was taken as we were motoring from A-dock to B-dock. Very pretty. Happy Friday!

Feb 17, 2010

Sunrise over Anagada Island, BVI

Feb 13, 2010

Our first sunset in the BVI, taken from Cooper Island.

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