@Night: Joshua Tree National Park #2 !!!

During this weekend, had the opportunity to participate and enjoy a Night Sky Photography session at Joshua Tree National Park ( JT website ) with Dennis Mammana (Dennis' website ). This is the third time I am attending Dennis' session and second time at Joshua Tree NP. Pretty much everything I know about Night Sky Photography, I have learned from Dennis.

Living closer to a big city with plenty of light pollution, almost all of us don't get the chance to feel and experience the real and true night sky. Whenever I get a chance, I don't miss opportunities like this. Usually, all visitors must exit the national parks by sunset (unless staying overnight in camp sites). For these special night sky sessions,  the park rangers escort us in and out and they stay with us all the time.

Some of my favorite shots from this weekend. Click on the photo and watch it on full screen.

The path to Mars,  shining between the the branches of the Joshua Tree.

The leaning Joshua Tree is  pointing towards Big Dipper (aka Subtharishi).
The two stars at the bowl of the Big Dipper (pointer stars) point towards the Polaris (aka Stella Maris)

Dennis informed us that around 8:47 pm, the International Space Station (ISS) is going to pass over head
from Southwest to North. All of us turned our cameras towards North and were waiting for the ISS.
I took this shot right at that moment when ISS blocked Polaris / Stella Maris.

The ISS doesn't have any lights as the planes do :) It is basically reflecting the Sunlight.
At its highest elevation, it reflects the maximum Sunlight and then fades away, as in this shot.
The  Polaris / Stella Maris is unblocked now!

@Night: Stella Maris !!!

Those of you, residents of Chennai or who went to college in Chennai, I know I got your attention. ;) I have come across the name Stella Maris, so many times while living in India but never thought of associating it with Astronomy. As a student in Chennai, Stella Maris had only one meaning for me ;) 

Few years ago, while volunteering as the Science Olympiad Astronomy coach at Swetha and Shreya's middle school, stumbled upon the Latin meaning of "Stella Maris" and was pleasantly surprised! The real meaning of "Stella Maris" is "Star of the Sea" and it refers to the star, Polaris aka North Star aka Pole Star. Since Stella Maris lies very close to earth's spinning axis, it is almost motionless in the night sky.  No wonder, ancient mariners used Stella Maris as a fixed guiding star for navigating the oceans.

Why is all this story for a Star trails photo? When you look at this photo, the star at the center of the concentric circles is Stella Maris. As earth rotates, all the stars seem to revolve around Stella Maris.

This is a series of 93 photos taken in quick succession and put together. Each photo was exposed for 30 seconds.  The long exposure time, camera settings and processing makes the sky look more bluish. The crescent moon was shining little bit reducing the number of stars visible. Otherwise, the concentric trails will be much denser and closer together.

Moonrise !!!

The almost full moon, on March 15th, rises over the neighborhood houses.

Sunset @ Newport Beach

Last Saturday, after a busy week at school and work, spent a nice, relaxing day at Newport Beach, yet another beautiful Pacific Coastal town.  Really loving these day trips to places within a 2 hour driving radius. While driving,  the 4 of us are in the cozy confines of the car having lively conversations about school, people and life!!! 

Lookout Point, Corona del Mar, Newport Beach.

Panoramic view of sunset from Inspiration Point.

The reddish-golden-yellow glow of the setting Sun beautifully brings out the brilliant colors of these houses on the cliff.

VIBGYOR !!!

Last weekend, along with the much needed rain, San Diego received a beautiful rainbow too!!!

Slow Motion !!!

When I got these flowers from the shop, they were little lifeless and hanging their head due to lack of water.

Within a day of drinking enough water, they all perked up, resisting the gravity :)

Running On Water !!!

During the holidays, spent a lot of time at warm and sunny San Diego beaches :)

A bunch of birds were quietly strolling along the shore on Mission Bay beach, San Diego.

Suddenly, a dog being walked by a boy escaped the leash and started chasing the birds!

Pure pandemonium erupted and the birds went berserk.

It looked as if these birds were really running on water :)

  

Walking On Water ???

Never getting tired of watching the golden yellow San Diego sunsets. This is from Torrey Pines Beach. With Boston getting 24 inches of Snow, hopefully, this photo will warm up friends and families in the east coast :)

Bye, Bye ISON!!! Rest In Peace!

Comet ISON is history now! Sadly, ISON didn't survive the Perihelion on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28th).
Please refer my previous post about ISON  here .

Just like thousands of people, I was disappointed by the demise of Comet ISON.  Comets are remnants of the Solar System's formation that  happened 4.5 billion years ago. This is believed to be ISON's  first visit to the Sun and also happened to be the last. ISON went too close to the Sun and has been smoked by our star.

In recent history, ISON has been the most observed comet. It generated a lot of interest among the scientific and amateur astronomy communities. On the day ISON was flying around the Sun (Nov. 28, Perihelion), I was watching the updates on Twitter. NASA had organized a Google+ hangout for ISON updates and around 32,000 interested folks participated from all over the world.


NASA had directed 2 of its Sun studying satellites SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) to track ISON's journey around the Sun. The following Photo and Video are possible because of these 2 satellites.

Courtesy: spaceweathergallery.com
The yellow circle shows the remnants of ISON.

"Not-to-be-missed", time-lapse video of ISON going around the Sun. Watch it in "full screen" mode.

I am turning my attention to the next Comet coming up - Comet Lovejoy!!! They don't name comets just like they do for the storms :)  Terry LoveJoy, an Amateur Astronomer from Australia discovered this comet and so it has been named after him.

As I always say, on every night, the Universe is putting on an excellent show. All you have to do is look up and enjoy :)

@Night: Chasing ISON !!!

Right from the beginning of this year, there is a lot of hype about Comet ISON. I was patiently waiting for October (when the comet eventually arrives closer to Mars)  for a chance to view and photograph ISON. ISON is approaching the Sun rapidly. It is just travelling at 150,000 miles per hour now and is expected to reach an astonishing ~425,000 miles per hour as it whips around the Sun on November 28th (perihelion).

Since mid-October, at least few times a week, I have been waking up around 4:30. If it turns out to be cloudy, I go right back to sleep.  If not, I step out to the backyard or front yard,  use the star maps and my Binoculars to capture ISON. The problem with doing this from home is the light pollution caused by the street lights.  Now I have started going to couple of dark locations within 30 minutes from home where there is no light pollution.

I was able to take some photos but I really want to lower your expectation. ISON is not very bright yet and barely visible to the naked eye. In these photos,  ISON has a slight greenish tinge and the red arrow points to ISON.

October 16th, Wednesday, 4:30 AM.
On October 16th, Mars(middle), Regulus(right) and ISON aligned up in a straight line.
As I was taking this photo from the backyard, a bright meteor streaked through the sky and
drew a line between Mars and ISON.
I took it as a gift from the Universe for looking up the sky in awe and wonder :) 

November 17th, Sunday, 4:59 AM.
After a month of chasing ISON, I think it is slowly getting brighter.
Through Binoculars, the distinct green tinge was clearly visible.
The star below ISON is Spica.

November 17th, Sunday, 4:59 AM.
This is a cropped close up of the previous photo.

This is a Sun-grazing comet and one of 2 things will happen:
              1) ISON survives the perihelion on Nov. 28th and brightens up.
              2) ISON breaks up due to the gravitational pull of the Sun.

I am hoping for 1).

The famous comet hunter David H. Levy once said: “Comets are like cats: they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.”

If ISON is alive after November 28th, I should be able to watch its return, back to the outer space all the way in to late January, 2014.

My Own Miramar Air Show !

One of the iconic, annual San Diego events is the Miramar Air Show. The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) is located in Miramar, which is very close to the Qualcomm campus. For the last 6 years, around October 1st week, some time during the afternoon, I step out on the 11th floor balcony of my office building to watch the Miramar Air Show.

Thanks to the US Government shutdown, this year the Miramar Air show was cancelled. Many San Diegans are angry and upset over the cancellation of the Air Show!

I took these photos last year and never posted them. Here is my own Miramar Air Show!!!

Balcony from where I took these photos on October 2012.

C-130 Cargo plane, fondly nicknamed as the "Fat Albert".

Blue Angels (F/A-18 Hornet) flying in very close formation over the beautiful San Diego mountains!

The pyramid is a furniture shopping complex.

These 2 Blue Angels buzzed right over my head !!!

Beautiful Bath !!!

One of the many reasons I enjoy traveling is, invariably I end up learning at least a teeny bit of the history and the culture of the place and the country I visit.  On the short 3 days trip to UK (on the way to India), we spent a day visiting Stonehenge and Bath. I was surprised to know that Bath is a Roman town!!! Built in the 7th century, the Bath Abbey stands majestically at the center of the town. The Abbey has a long history, had been rebuilt few times and displays some very unique architectural features. 

Bath Abbey

The Abbey: Take a closer look. On either side of the entrance, angles climb the Jacob's Ladder!

Angels climbing the Jacob's Ladder. I have heard the phrase Jacob's Ladder many times!
There is a movie by that name, a toy and even a flower.
Though it is a biblical reference, this is the first time I am seeing it built like this.

The Abbey's Nave.

The ceiling of the Bath Abbey is very unique with its fan-like structure. I thought it is for aesthetics but learned that it is an architecture to support heavy ceilings.

 Closeup of the Fan ceiling.

                                    
It was fascinating to learn that Julius Cesar had invaded Britain twice and the Romans had occupied Britain from 43 AD until 410 AD. Once the Romans found out about the natural hot springs in the area, they built a bath house around it. The Bath house building has a museum and many artifacts from the Roman era.

Roman Bath House.

Bath is also the town where the famous author Jane Austen lived. Some of her novels feature Bath and its famous land marks. There is a Jane Austen Center and Museum located within 5 minutes of walking from the Abbey. A bunch of ladies dressed up as Jane Austen characters were crossing the street. As I waved at them with my camera in my hand, they stopped and posed for this shot :)















With the Abbey on one side, the Roman Bath house on the other and surrounded by cafes, restaurants, and shops, the Town Square is the perfect place to take a break, have an ice cream and watch people.

Live music and singing at the Town Square!

The Pulteney Bridge across the Avon river in Bath.

This bridge reminded me of the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge in  Florence, Italy. You can see a photo of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in this post. Just 90 miles west, Bath is a very unique town, steeped in history and provided a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of London.

@Night: Idyllwild

Idyllwild is a quaint, little mountain town less than 2 hours drive north of San Diego. Located in the San Bernardino National Forest at an elevation of around 6000 feet, Idyllwild offers the perfect getaway for one and all. Idyllwild boasts a nice creek running through the town, many hiking trails, art galleries and excellent restaurants for foodies.

For 2 days during the Labor day weekend, I enjoyed the pristine Idyllwild night skies. There was absolutely no light pollution and millions of stars were winking back at me. For the first time ever, I was able to see the Milky Way with my naked eyes :).

Of course, my camera saw better than me!  Enjoy these photos in full screen mode.

Bridge over the tall Pines!!!
The Summer Triangle, Brocchi's cluster, the Scutum Star Cloud, Messier 24, Delphinus and many other constellations
are visible in this single frame.  When you look at the right side bottom corner of this photo,
you are looking towards the center of our Galaxy.

The "Great Rift" of the milky Way is visible at the center of this shot.