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Showing posts from October, 2015

Jupiter, Venus, and Mars in this morning's sky

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All photos taken with our Nikon D300 between 6:45 and 7:15 from my driveway this morning.  This exposure was about 20-seconds.  It brings stars that were not visible to the naked eye into view.  The Nikon was set to automatic aperture, manual focus.   Same basic angle but with a 4-second exposure. Just for fun.  This is Orion on the right side of the photo, the bright star Sirius on the left quadrant.  The very bright Moon is just out of the frame the the top right. Sirius is very close to us in terms of space, a mere 8.6 light years away.  The reddish bright dot in the upper right quadrant is Betelgeuse .  It is 427.47 light years away.   The three-planet alignment at 20-seconds.  So many unseen stars pop out. Obviously, I am using a tripod in all these shots. A three-planet alignment at 4-seconds. There is another, fainter star here between Venus and Jupiter.  That is Sigma Leonis , 214.02 light-years away. Again, the beautiful alignment at 7:15 this morni

Putin's Syrian Gambit

Politics has always fascinated me.  When I was younger I was idealistic about politics.  I considered political mechanics and practicality to be something akin to hypocrisy.  Now I am much more level-headed, practical - and cynical. I know perfectly well that my personal political perspective, without sufficient political power to back it up, has little effect on what is what is achievable or likely to occur. I also know that, while idealists can be inspiring, their actual practice in the art of policy usually leaves something to be desired.  Hence our gridlock in Washington , for example.  Too many idealists not enough pragmatists.  This understanding allows me the sinful pleasure of admiring politics as it unfolds even if I personally find much of what is unfolding to be abhorrent.  I admire a well-played political hand.  In my opinion, all idealism aside, Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has played his cards superbly with regard to the civil war in Syria .  In doing so he has liter

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter Rising

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I shot this quick pic of the crescent Moon over Venus and in alignment with Jupiter on a slightly diagonal line in the early morning sky.  This is looking east from my carport at about 7AM this past Wednesday morning as I left for work.