Merry Christmas to all my readers! My wife thought this photo looked like a “Moon bridge to the stars.” :O) So I decided to share it as part of my Christmas greeting: 7:53 AM CST 12-20-11 (13:53 UT), 8″ reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow. Click for larger view. This article was originally published in [...]
Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category
Christmas greeting, with bonus 12-20-11 Moon closeup and KJV 400th anniversary article
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Christmas, Devotional Articles, Moon photos, The Bible, West Douglas County Record on December 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Unraveling Zeitgeist, Part 1: Preliminaries and an alleged December 24th star alignment
Posted in Astronomy, Christian Apologetics, Christmas, The Bible, Theology, Zeitgeist on December 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As I promised in a post last November 8th, I am finally beginning a project of examining some of the key, convoluted arguments in Zeitgeist: the Movie. It will take awhile to unravel, but it will be unravelled indeed when I’m through with it. Please be patient, as I will be doing this in little [...]
Saturn, Moon, Bird Nest ID, Duck & Goose Tracks, Venus pulls ahead of Jupiter in the “Christmas Star” Contest 12-18-11
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Birds, Christmas, Jupiter photos, LG VX8360 cell phone camera, Moon photos, Saturn photos, Venus photos, Venus Transit 2012 on December 18, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Above: Not my most impressive Saturn photo ever, but at least you can see that it’s there & its usual self. 7:13 AM CST 12-18-11 (13:13 UT). Below: Waning crescent Moon at 7:36 AM CST 12-18-11 (13:36 UT). Both with 8″ reflector telescope and 25mm eyepiece. I tried a few photos of Mercury and Mars [...]
Venus and Christmas Lights, Jupiter and Galilean Moons December 17, 2011
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Christmas, Jupiter photos, LG VX8360 cell phone camera, Venus photos, Venus Transit 2012 on December 17, 2011 | 2 Comments »
After a week of clouds (and wind, and a little rain, and a few snow flurries), the Solar System has come into view once again, hooray! Be sure to look up to the skies after sunset these days, as Jupiter and Venus are both trying to be the “Star of Bethlehem” for this Advent & [...]
Waxing crescent moon December 1/2, 2011, with bonus “Sleigh Ride” by Amy Grant
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Christmas, LG VX8360 cell phone camera, Moon photos, Music, Music I like on December 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The skies cleared up after all! 8:05 PM CST 12-1-11 (2:05 UT 12-2-11), 8″ reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece. Below, 8:07 PM CST with the 17mm eyepiece. Just north of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity), craters Eudoxus (smaller) and Aristoteles (larger) are now in sunlight, though parts of their interiors are still shadowed. LG VX8360 cell [...]
Sugar and Salt and Christmas Lights
Posted in Cell phone photomicrography, Christmas, LG VX8360 cell phone camera on November 28, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Cell phone camera + toy microscope = a new adventure that’s only just beginning: Above: Pure Cane Sugar Below: Iodized Table Salt Both magnified 75x with Lionel toy microscope. The Christmas lights are lit on Broadway once again:
On being a small part of something big and excellent
Posted in Christmas, Devotional Articles, Music, Music I like on November 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Below: The Concordia Choir performs Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque (“Light and Gold” in Latin) at the 2005 Christmas Concert of my alma mater, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota My college and others like it are preparing now for this year’s Christmas concerts, and I love seeing and hearing each new group of young people participating in [...]
Venus Transit Countdown, with bonus ducks, geese, Christmas lights, and Jupiter 11-24-11
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Birds, Christmas, Jupiter photos, LG VX8360 cell phone camera, Venus photos, Venus Transit 2012 on November 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As of Thanksgiving night, 2011, the retirement village over yonder has their outdoor Christmas tree lit once again. With no magnification: With the 60mm refractor telescope and 25mm eyepiece (28x magnification): This morning, with the 8″ reflector telescope, 17mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow (191x): The following crowds were gathered on Thanksgiving Day, but they appeared [...]
Not quite ready for the rehearsal!
Posted in Christmas, Devotional Articles, Music, West Douglas County Record on December 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on December 9, 2010: Once when I was in college (back in the mid-1980s!), I was enjoying a mid-morning snooze at about 9:30 on Saturday morning, when the telephone rang. I sleepily got up and answered the phone. It was my cello teacher, Dr. [...]
Nearly Full Pre-Eclipse Moon; Christmas Lights!
Posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Christmas, Moon photos on December 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
9:23 PM CST 12-19-10 (3:23 UTC 12-20-10) 31.76 arc minutes angular diameter 60.27 Earth radii distant from Earth 98.3% illumination, 13 days since New Moon 8″ f8 reflector, 25mm eyepiece An encroaching winter storm is threatening to “eclipse” my view of the upcoming total lunar eclipse, but I’ll just hope for the best and learn [...]
