Tag: mercury

Patience wins out.

I packed the tripod for our trip to the coast.  We went to the beach both mornings, while we were in Port Aransas, to once again try to capture a shot of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus together.

Yesterday clouded up just before Mercury rose.  This morning the clouds threatened again, but danced between the planets.   I took this shot looking above the south jetty on the Port Aransas end of Mustang Island.  The lowest in this shot is Mercury, just above the seeping pink glow of dawn.  Above it is the pair of reddish, smaller Mars just below and to the left of larger Jupiter.  And then above them, and the brightest, Venus.  The other stars above and to the left of the ecliptic are stars in the constellation Leo.

The red and green lights on the horizon are some of the channel markers that guide the ships through the channel between the jetties.

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Oh, Mercury, give it a rest!

I took this photo last weekend on the lake, right before the last bit of seemingly relentless rain storms passed.   It has an ominous look to it – fitting for how I’m feeling today.

IMG_8304Have you heard tales of bizarro things happening when the planet Mercury is in retrograde (which happens a couple times every year)?   If not, you can read about it here.  Well, Mercury has been in retrograde since May 18, and will be through June 11.

Here’s a short list of things I’m writing off as Mercury’s doing during this period of retrograde:

– historic flooding (since around the 18th……hmmm)
– the docks at our marina have broken in places due to the flooding and storms, so the dock our boat is on Is in limbo, unable to be brought back to shore for the time being
– our anchor rode snapped unexpectedly while pulling up the hook 2 weeks ago
– I found a bat in my office at work yesterday (the Mexican freetail kind, not the Louisville slugger kind)
– the sewer drain at the house up and died last night (freakiest – and grossest – of all)

And we still have almost another week of this.  Have you any bizarre happenings to share?

Getting ready for Mercury.

According to Sky and Telescope, Mercury is at its highest tonight, and reportedly the best view of it, all year. So, after sunset, I toodled over to my favorite nearby west-facing vantage point and caught this shot of it to the top left of the crescent moon.

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For those of you that are inclined to look towards the stars for influence on our day-to-day lives, be warned that Mercury will enter retrograde from Feb 6 to Feb 28. Get ready for some weird happenings and funky vibes. More background here. And you may want to bookmark this link for future reference.

And, let me wish everyone a happy Chinese new year. 2014 is supposed to be the year of the horse. But let me just add….. GO HAWKS!!!!!

Mercurial Mercury.

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Last night Mercury was at the farthest distance from the sun that it so quickly follows over the horizon.  It is usually not visible; its glow being washed out by the sun.  But for the next few nights you can catch a glimpse of Mercury low in the west, just before it sets about an hour after the sun.

This is a shot I took as we were leaving the marina tonight.  It’s hard to see.  Look left of center above the horizon.