..a life lived in bright light
or in deep dark shadows
lends no room for imagination
It’s on the boundary
between shadow and light
where your quest to perfection lies
that’s where you’ll meet the Terminator
and maybe one day
you’ll find the place
of the Jura Mountains
where the Golden Handle lies
-carol-
I’m not a youngster anymore and I’ve learned many lessons in life. One lesson that stands head and shoulders above the rest: learn, admire and be inspired but always nuture your inner self. With all the technology at my disposal, striving for perfection could easily become the main objective.
Since taking this image, I have updated my equipment and imaging software. I have read and learned, but when I browse through older images to the days of make believe dslr’s, I realise how powerful an honest image can be.
Technically the image may be flawed, but I gasped when I saw it after many years because I remember the moment. The Moon wasn’t even that clear, being covered by wispy clouds, but I noticed what seemed like a cluster of stars in the reflection.
Without any manipulation, I’ve recovered my sense of calmness. No matter what equipment, no matter textbooks, this was me, the Moon, vineyards and a lake.
Click on animation
Will you come? Will you come?
Will you ride so late at my side?
O, will you come?
Will you come? Will you come?
If the night has a moon, full and bright?
O, will you come?
-Edward Thomas-
During a penumbral eclipse the darkening of the Moon as it drifts into the Earths penumbral shadow is so slight that most of the times I don’t go to the trouble of taking images. However I was not going to miss a live show on Slooh.
I used my images taken through Slooh’s Canary Two telescope for the animation.
Slooh granted me permission to use their Home Page layout as a backdrop.
©2020 Slooh LLC. All rights reserved
Another Supermoon! – The third for 2019. Jan Feb March..no, not April May June July.. and NO to all, according to Neil deGrasse Tyson.
To set the record straight: Niel deGrasse Tyson is thé American astrophysicist, author and science communicator who is not related to Michael Gerard Tyson, an American former professional boxer as was suggested in the “Mike Tyson Mysteries”, which is an American adult animated television series, produced by Warner Bros
Niel deGrasse Tyson has been trying desperately to negate all supermoons by tweeting: “Supermoons are an insult to Superman or supernovas, if a 16.1 inch pizza is ‘super’ to you, compared with a 16.0 inch pizza, then we have an issue of vocabulary”
Those who are really into Astonomy, professionally or as amateurs, understand why the fullmoon appears bigger on the horizon during certain months of a year. The Moon’s orbit is not circular taking it closer or further away from Earth. This is stuff most people do not think about from day to day. The media has actually done us a huge favour by “superfying” the Moon. The hype surrounding these events has added terms like perigee, apogee, perigee-syzygy! to the vocabulary of a much wider audience while the Moon is getting the attention it deserves.
Fullmoon at perigee. Lights off!..cameras..cellphones..action.. The excitement usually starts two weeks before fullmoon when the first slither of a crescent becomes visible. Social media becomes abuzz with moon images and supermoon challenges. The frenzy is contagious and this is what we want, is it not? The whole aim is to get as many people as possible involved, inspiring them to learn more about our Moon, the workings of our solar system and our place in the universe. Three or four times a year there is this window of opportunity to reach out, especially to the younger generation, to become involved in astronomy, science, engineering or any technology that will get the human race on voyages into space. Three or four times a year writers, poets, lyricists or painters are made acutely aware of the beauty of our universe.
I beg to differ from Niel deGrasse Tyson. I will not get on his snobbish band wagon just to show that I know a bit more than meets the (Supermoon) eye. On every one of these enchanted evenings I will be outside, online or paging through a book about the Moon if the weather is unfavourable. I hope I will never become blasé and ignore a Supermoon.
Recently the online observatory, Slooh, proposed a Supermoon Challenge. The idea for my entry was sparked by watching my grandchildren at play. The brief was that we should use the online telescopes to take images of the Moon from crescent, waxing to fullmoon. Due to weather conditions in the Canary Islands, I could only capture the images that I used in the “film strip” line up at the bottom of my image. The images of the Moon that my grandchildren are playing with are my own. The backdrop is an image taken on route to a little town, Leipoldtville, in South Africa. Submissions had to be in before the special livecast which was on 20 Feb 2019
Three submissions had merit. Slooh could not decide on a definite winner. I felt greatly honoured when my submission was named joint winner.
This Supermoon Challenge went deeper than just a winning image. Every evening I took images of the Moon and thought of my four grandchildren as I remembered a song my mom used to sing to me, Que Sera Sera. I thought of my friend who invited me to Leipoldtville to witness the sodiacal light. This image became a reflection of life. Dream..catch..hold.. appreciate.. Tomorrow life may be just a slither of what it is today.
Perigee: the point in the orbit of the moon at which it is nearest to the earth
Apogee: the point in the orbit of the moon at which it is furthest from the earth
Syzygy: a (roughly) straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies in a gravitational system
Perigee- syzygy: The technical name of a Supermoon is a perigee syzygy (of the Earth–Moon–Sun system)
Apogee syzygy: The technical name of a micromoon is apogee- syzygy (of Earth-Moon-Sun system)