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lvlyhao · 3 years

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「PART THREE: FAMILIARITY」

HUMANITY SERIES; Q.K

A/N: guess who forgot to update lol they’re whipped i just— also two surprise appearances hehfjfhsjh

important: i can’t think of anything??? the general warnings are in the masterlist if you wanna be sure none of them is a trigger for you!

word count: 2.8K

pairing: qian kun x reader

disclaimer: the characters in the story below do not reflect real people or present real facts. this is purely fictional, and you may not copy, change, translate or repost my work in any way. all rights reserved © cherry-hyejin 2021.

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Cussing like a sailor, you trudge towards the man, who's catching his breath by the sidewalk. His glance instantly darts to your face, about to say something. You cut him short, though, too disturbed by the fear that still clouds your every action.

“We have to leave while we can. Like right now.”

“H-how do you know I’m not infected?”, he asks, abruptly realizing something even more critical. "How do I know you are not infected?"

He backs away, then, gorgeous features closing off in hesitance. While he stares at you, you think his voice is much, much more angelic than you thought. It drips with uncertainty but is beautiful enough to make you forget how to speak for a minute.

"Uhm”, you clear your throat, now looking for your weapons. It's a good attempt at escaping his piercing eyes, but it dawns on you. He has quite literally no reasons to agree with what you were planning.

"I'm immune, actually. My DNA has some mutation that I honestly cannot explain that well. You", you pause, scanning his defensive form before going back to putting away your knives. "You are definitely clean. It's been over 15 minutes since I arrived: no walker bit you or you would have, at least, screamed. If by some chance it happened and I was not aware of it, I would have seen it in your eyes by now. It's the first part of the process", you grimace.

The guy stays silent while you speak, taking everything you say into consideration. You find it makes sense to him if his relaxed posture is anything to go by.

Finishing up with your arrows, you promptly head back to where you came from, assuming your companion is close behind.

“Wait!”, he trots, halting in front of you. “I… I don’t think I can go with you.”

You could say it's the dumbest thing you have ever heard, but your yell from earlier begs to differ.

“I can see you don't trust me, and you have no reasons to, but this is how rescue missions go. I see someone in danger, I do my best to get them away, and we go to my settlement, where we can hopefully be stronger by numbers. We can get there if we run." Your voice is borderline dull, almost like you have made that same speech 500 times in the past few days. It would have made him laugh, under different circumstances. Yet, he plainly breathes, running a grimy hand through his hair.

“It’s not that”, he peers around, lost. “I came to the pharmacy for medical supplies for one boy in my own settlement. He needs them as soon as possible, or I’m not sure I’ll be able to help him at all. Besides”, he tentatively lifts your dominant arm by the sleeve of your jacket, careful not to touch you. “We should clean that and put some bandages around it, even if I don’t have the time to stitch it up.”

You are not sure what part of his speech you should pay attention to first.

“You have a settlement?” The question bursts its way out of your mouth before you can think better, but he doesn't seem to mind. Lips curling into a proud smile, he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

“Yeah, I’m currently the father of 6 children from the college I used to attend”, he snorts.

“That’s amazing! I’ve been mapping this area for some weeks now, and I never found anyone”, you smile. “I’m currently the parent of”, stopping, you count the names in your not-chewed fingers. “16 children? Around that. I swear there's a new name every time we make the roll call."

Studying his kind expression, warm under the red sunlight, you feel as if you could talk to him for hours. I'd never get bored. Your situation seems small, squeezed all the way in the back of your mind. It's clearly much less important than your attractive stranger.

Gasping quietly in realization, he sobers up. He pulls you by your jacket once more, just as delicately, and keeps you close.

“Listen, I understand you have people to take care of, but you said you could get there in time if you run. My boys are not too far from here. I think it would be safer for you to come with me for now, at least wait until morning. Otherwise", he gulps, "we will both be in more danger."

You reflect his words guardedly. You are painfully aware that the clock is ticking and each second spent here makes it a bit worse. When the sun goes down is when things get seriously nasty. The night would swallow you whole before you could get to the campus, and then your eyes would be useless. You wouldn't be able to see any walkers or even traps you came across. You'd be a sitting duck.

Sighing, you know your decision has been made.

I can only hope Taeyong forgives me for this.

With a curt nod, your free hand gestures for him to lead the way. He seems awed by how fast you agreed but decides against mentioning it. Instead, he gives you a gracious smile and goes on. He stands just past the crushed glass, where you can now see a coffee-coloured messenger bag on the once-white floor. Something seems to be fidgeting inside of it, and you stiffen.

Before you can ask about it, he drops your wrist. Picking up the bag gently, he cradles it to his chest and looks at the inside softly. He coos, speaking in a language you know to be Mandarin. That’s when it pushes out—the little, furry snout of a puppy, licking his hand and whimpering.

It's like your systems just crashed.

“You have a dog in your bag?”

Laughing briefly, he turns to you again. Cosy inside of the leather is a tiny Beagle, looking at you with bright eyes. You can't help but think it's ridiculously adorable.

“Well, not at all times. I found her wandering around here, but one of her ears was bleeding and she’s limping”, his voice lowers to a whisper, watching her with concern. “One of my boys is a vet student. I thought maybe we could help her.”

Choosing not to question it, you simply nod. The bleeding ear would explain why she stayed here even with the noise. Her hearing must be quite damaged.

“And I’m assuming the medicine or whatever you needed is also in there?”

He's serious once again, reminded of the primary reason for his trip.

“Yes, I placed it in separate pockets and smaller bags. We are good to go.”

A breeze swiftly races inside the barely lit building. It’s a warning of how fast the twilight is coming, and he takes it. His quick steps sound first, light on the ground, and he checks to see if you are coming. Understanding of his rush, you jog along.

“I didn’t forget about your hand, by the way. I know a safe spot close to here where we can stop for me to treat it.”

Staring at his broad shoulders, your breathing hitches as the throbbing in your fingers come back. Treatment would be useful before you have to amputate it, but...

“Do you know how to do that? Not to doubt your capacities or anything, but I can just clean it with some water later.”

Running to come up to his side, he playfully eyes you. He is moving so naturally along the streets you imagine he must know this route well.

“I am a med student. Uh, was, I guess.”

His striking traits are highlighted by the blue hour, hues of periwinkle ghosting over his nose, forehead, cheekbones and lips. He chuckles airily, and you are conscious of how surprised you must look.

“A med student. That’s pretty helpful, huh? I’m sure you care very well for your friends."

From the corner of your eye, you see pink spread over his face. He glances up to the sky, lost in his own head.

“I try to. Our youngest has just turned 20. I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through this at that age.”

You hum.

“I know how you feel. I’m watching over an 18-year-old”, sighing, you think back to the freshman dance student at the settlement. You pray he doesn't feel your absence so strongly, familiar to his tendency to cry.

Comfort sparks in the way your companion bumps his shoulders into yours, drawing you out of foggy thoughts. When your heart suddenly tries to break free from your ribcage, you swallow dry. Could I not find a worse moment to develop a crush?

Beating yourself over your feelings, you travel silently, sometimes admiring the starry skies. It feels nice to be like this, almost… at peace. Funny how you can feel that way around someone you barely know while touring a town full of bloodthirsty beasts.

“Ah”, he breaks the silence awkwardly. “I still don’t know your name.”

You wince at that, realizing you were forgetting about it. It's like I've known him for ages.

“Sorry. I’m Y/N”, your voice is soft, rivalling the autumn winds.

“Y/N... That’s a beautiful name”, he compliments, eyes finding yours. “You can call me Kun.”

You say his name out loud, testing it, and giggle. It feels nice in your lips.

---

The trip to the first hiding spot was fast, just a matter of minutes cruising under the starlight. The place is a dainty, small wooden cabin, right at the foot of the mountains that surround the city. All around you are bushes and fireflies, that blink over stray pieces of cars. How they got to here, in the forest, is a mystery to you, but then again, a lot of things do not make sense anymore. It's simpler to overlook it and get inside, plopping down on a rusty chair as Kun grabs a flashlight from a corner.

His hands work quickly, and with confidence, like medicine is in his blood. It's impressive, but, most of all, painless. His touch is even gentler than Tyong’s and feels warm against your cool skin. A tiny smile plays on your lips the entire time, watching him and the sleeping puppy discreetly.

After that, your wounded hand is snug against the white bandages and the sting lessened. You feel like you could go on for miles, but Kun only laughs and tells you to calm down. No way you two are running uphill to his house.

“Wait, you mean you guys live… up there?”, you point, and he follows your finger, contemplating the towering trees of the forest nonchalantly.

Seeing your dubious expression makes his heart crack a little. He understands how intimidating it is: the dark, unknown forest. Who could guess what lurks between the twigs, spying on the few, brave souls that dare cross their territory?

“I know hiding from zombies in the woods sounds a bit weird, but I promise it’s safe. They have a hard time traversing the trees because they’re so closely set. Also”, he studies the grass beneath his feet, feeling a mix of shame and hesitance himself. “We might have planted a few landmines around the perimeter.”

The sound you make then is something between a wheeze and a gasp.

“How did you…?”

“I preferred to not question when Yukhei showed up with them”, he breathes, sounding like a tired father. “There’s a protected path we’ll follow, though!” He makes a face at how he saved the most important detail for last. I have no idea what is wrong with me today.

But, Kun thinks, secretly relishing on the way you shine under the moon, if you’re scared, I’ll hold your hand.

---

The journey to his house is more serene than you guessed. There are no walkers you perceive. It's almost like this place is completely cut off from the world, far away from real danger. Although maybe that is just Kun's effect on you. You have not failed to notice how tranquillity seems to flow out of him in waves, wordlessly comforting your wild heart. It's nothing like you have ever felt.

I met him two hours ago.

Once again shaking off your feelings, you try to focus on the other things that surround you. The crickets, the faint crunch of the grass and fallen leaves, an owl, how smooth his skin could feel under your fingertips...

Oh my god, you cringe.

As you steady yourself against the trunk of an oak, your shoulders finally loosen. Not too far ahead, you can see something that resembles a ski cabin, surrounded by barbed wire, and with orange light pouring from the windows. The path you walk on is surrounded by sharp wooden stakes from both sides, but the place still feels homier than the campus.

You don't notice your grin until he smiles back, taking your hand in his and continuing the walk. You remain quiet until the ground changes from grass, pebbles and mud to beaten earth, and you stand right outside the fence. It's far taller than you, with the metal glittering intimidatingly. If the landmines had not made you feel safe, this definitely has.

Kun, still grasping your hand delicately, surrounds the house with an attentive look. He searches for something and stops a few meters from where you were. It’s always simple to find—the crossing point—and he spins to face you.

“If you don’t mind holding the bag, I can cross over first and then help you. Is that okay?”, he asks, looking for approval in your eyes.

Warmth takes over your heart at his caring nature, knowing he could have just gotten in and expected you to not hurt yourself.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

With no other words, you reach for the bag, and hug it against your chest, observing the sleeping dog in your arms. While you are distracted, Kun steps on the lower row of wire and carefully places his hands on the upper one, creating a space he can shimmy through.

He pays close attention to where the barbs were, but does it calmly, and gets to the other side with a small sigh. He then gestures to the bag, stepping on the wire once again, and passing it over with even more care than he had for himself.

The moment he takes the bag from you, you feel your fingers brushing. While you both pretend not to notice, the heat rushing to your cheeks speaks for itself. Neither one of you mention it.

Then, it's time for you to get in. You can admit you are a bit apprehensive. Kun’s frame is sturdier than yours, in general, and he was just fine, but the idea of sneaking through sharp thorns is not exactly exciting.

Kun seems to know what you feel, and gives you a sweet smile, hoping to calm your nerves. He places the bag on the ground gently, trying to keep the puppy asleep. The process, then, starts over.

One foot over the first wire, a hand on the upper one and the other stretched out for you to grab. The wind picks up abruptly, and you can't tell if you shiver from it or from the grip of his fingers on yours.

“No need to hurry”, Kun whispers, eyes trained on where your body is concerning the barbs. He, time or another, tells you to bend a little lower or higher, and pulls more at the cable. To your relief, though, all is well. After a minute of wiggling, you touch the other side of the fence and allow yourself to rest.

“You did good”, he praises, patting your hair kindly. You sort of feel like a kid, but maybe not in an unpleasant way.

Tardily letting the tiredness from the day catch up to you, your brain slows down, and your limbs ache. You had not noticed Kun was already up on his feet with the bag until a hand shows up before your eyes, a silent offer. You take it without a second thought, letting him pull you up.

From then on, your mind gave up on processing a lot of what you did. You were nearly sure you went up a row of stairs to a wooden deck, the floor squeaking under your boots. Your new friend still holds your hand securely, which you are thankful for when you trip on a loose board. His eyes examine you for a second, making sure you're alright before he turns to the door.

It is also made of wood but painted red and unyielding. Letting go of your fingers, he knocks 3 times, waits a couple seconds, and then 4 others. The house, so far still, erupts into hushed cheers and shouts. Kun can only shake his head, holding in a smile, and look up when the door flies open, candlelight spilling out. The slim figure that appears nearly throws himself in Kun’s arms, but freezes when he sees you and the bag.

“Y/N?!”

“Hendery?!”

“...You two know each other?”

---

final notes: don’t question the way the virus works. just don’t, ok

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dxitydoo · 4 years

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So... the iPhone SE...

Alright this one is gonna be a long one so scroll on past if you’re not interested. If you are, then buckle up because here’s a multi-part essay about my opinions on the new SE.

For anyone that saw my post about getting a new phone and wondered what phone I got, I got the new iPhone SE (yes, I’m an Apple person. Don’t come for me).

At first, I was seeing videos of people getting excited over the phone but now, as time has gone on, those same people are now making videos criticising the phone.

Admittedly, they have some good points to bring up. The battery of the new SE is not amazing. It doesn’t outlast my dad’s XR which is somewhat annoying to say the least.

My counter-argument to that is that it lasted a whole day of me playing games on full brightness in the sunlight and didn’t die on me once which is honestly incredible after the last phone i had but anywho we’ll discuss this later.

My problem with a lot of those videos is that I feel like they’re getting the wrong end of the stick about what the SE is trying to be and they’re comparing it to the wrong phones.

The Original SE

The original SE’s main selling point (seriously why did Apple name them like this this is confusing) was that it had the newer internals of the 6S (so the faster processor, the better camera, etc) in the smaller body of the older 5S.

That was why I, and a lot of others I’m sure, liked it. Because it was a newer phone but in a size I preferred.

It also didn’t break the bank.

The old SE was praised for combining new and old in a way that complimented the old form-factor and rejuvenated in while also allowing people to access the newer features that were coming out in updates. At the time of writing this (27/04/2020), the old SE still supports new iOS updates and runs iOS 13 with minimal hiccups (not counting the fact that iOS 13 isn’t the most bug-free of updates).

But now, in 2020, the new SE is released and people are criticising it for the same thing they praised it for back in the day. They’re complaining that it has Touch ID, that it doesn’t have a edge-to-edge display, that it’s small, that the battery isn’t good, that the camera doesn’t stack up.

Look.

Everyone is free to have their own opinion. If you don’t like the SE, that’s fine. You don’t have to. No one is forcing you to. Just keep scrolling coz I do like the SE and I’m about to defend it til I run out of breath.

The “Old” Body

The SE combines old and new. That’s it’s schtick, that’s its gimmick. It was the thing for the 2016 SE, its the same for the 2020 SE. Although I would’ve loved to see an SE with an edge-to-edge display like any of the X or the 11 range, I’m not super surprised it hasn’t happened.

In fact, the small changes they have made, such as all colours now coming with a black bevel (and the better colour matching between the bevel and the screen), make it look really high-quality and beautiful honestly.

It has the same body as the 6, yes, but it doesn’t look like the 6 because of that colour-matching. And I appreciate that.

Oh! And the back being the non-metallic colour? God that’s sexy. The back is more reminiscent of the 11 (or the XR, I suppose, depending on what colour you got) than the 6 or 7. So it’s not unchanged?

Touch ID and Haptic Touch

Again, a controversial topic. The Touch ID in the SE is like the 3rd Gen or something?? I don’t actually know. But it’s several generations in at this point and it shows.

I came from the original SE, which had one of the first ever generations of Touch ID (if not the first) and the speed with which this new phone unlocks is incredible compared to the older model.

I tap the button once and the phone unlocks instantly. That is it.

Maybe it’s cumbersome to have Touch ID back again after all this time but if you’ve come from a Touch ID phone, especially one of the older models (which really... I think that’s probably the intended audience), it’s a big improvement.

And look no further for someone who was viscerally against the fake button Haptic Touch thing.

I hated the idea of it. My view was I either wanted the real button or no button at all. Full stop. End of story. You’d never change my mind.

Yeah... the new SE changed my mind.

I have the haptics turned up to the highest setting and it actually feels like a real button. Its less spongy than a real button, of course, and feels stiffer (kinda? Maybe just shallower) but its actually a really satisfying feature.

I remember first trying the fake button on the 7 and it vibrated at the wrong time or you’d try to press it to do one thing and it’d do another. It was confusing and made it very difficult to use.

I will say now I haven’t actually tried using an 8 so I can’t pass judgement on that but i like the SE.

And the Haptic Touch is really really nice.

I never thought I’d have a phone that has built-in rumble when playing games but here we are. This is the future.

Aside from being kinda nifty to feel the vibration in your hands when something happens on-screen, the Haptic Touch vibrates under your finger when interacting with the rotating dials to set timers or reblogging posts on tumblr. It’s a weird experience but not an unpleasant one and I like it way more than I was expecting to.

The Small Size

As for the size?

I really like it.

It’s big enough that it feels like a step-up from my old phone but not so big that I’m struggling to hold it (*cough cough* the XR *cough cough*).

Okay so my touch-typing is suffering a wee bit at the moment but tbh I started to struggle on my old phone before I upgraded coz the screen was just a little too small so it’s more a me thing than an it thing. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

The camera.

I feel the need to mention that my last phone was the 2016 SE so, maybe it’s because my standards are really low, or maybe I’ve never owned an 11 and, therefore, have no comparison for it that way? But I don’t think the camera is bad.

In fact, I would even go so far as to say the camera is really fricking good.

After using a phone with a front-facing camera that could barely shoot 480p, stepping up to 1080p on the front is Wild™. The difference between this new camera and the old one is incredible.

If you want a camera that shoots good quality photos, has good colour balance, can actually show the sky as blue when shooting through a window (yes this is how low my expectations are), then omg this phone is incredible.

Obviously, its never gonna beat the 11 with its two cameras and its not gonna be able to contend with the 11 Pro series with their three cameras but hey, the phone is like half the price so??

The Battery

Okay, so lets talk about the battery.

I know this is a bit of a sore spot with people because iPhones recently have been coming out with bigger and better batteries every year.

I did a quick check through and, according to Apple, the battery life is about the same as both the 7 and the 8, which makes sense as they all share the same body. Unfortunately, that means that its probably a size issue. As in, thats the longest a battery of that size can last in a phone. Which is kinda annoying.

But, this is a post about my experience with the SE and I haven’t ever owned a 7 or an 8. My mum owned a 7 and the battery on that was god-awful and I’ve had a much better experience with my SE than she did.

First of all: some context.

Again, a friendly reminder my last phone was a four year old SE. It was a 64GB one as well, so you know I’m being legit (they stopped selling the 64GB (in the UK at least) about a year after the phone’s initial release).

So the battery on my old phone was absolutely fine. At first. As time went on and the phone got older, it did, unfortunately, begin to struggle.

As a reference, a few months before I replaced it (given lockdown doesn’t give the most accurate overview of what it was like to use on a day-to-day basis), it wouldn’t make it through a day at school without dying at least once, sometimes twice.

I had to carry a portable charger with me everywhere I went.

I left my house when it was on 100% and, by the time I got to school after an hour on the bus, it would be on 60-70% on a good day.

Letting your battery die everyday is really not good for it but, try as I might, I couldn’t stop it from happening.

I tell you this to let you know that my criteria for a good battery is literally just “lasts me through the day”.

I’ve had my new phone for about three days now and it hasn’t died on me once.

I played games on it in bright sunlight with the phone on full brightness for several hours straight yesterday and yet it still lasted me through the day and then some. After being off charge for 11 hours, it just about hit 20% before I put it on charge.

Today, I was on social media: tumblr, instagram, youtube, for the majority of today. Both tumblr and instagram had an uncanny ability to completely decimate the battery life of my old phone. They could reduce it from 50% to 40% after 5 minutes. But, again, no problemo for my new phone.

It got to about 50% today before I put it back on charge to go have dinner.

I’d say that lasts through the day quite nicely.

Especially given it’s getting a lot more use than it would normally because a) I’m stuck inside with nothing to do and b) shiny new phone!!!

But I digress.

So, Why Does The SE Exist?

I’m gonna be real. I don’t think the iPhone SE (2020) is trying to be anything fancy. It’s not trying to be the next iPhone 11, it’s not trying to replace the XR. If anything, it’s replacing the 8.

I don’t think the SE is a bad phone. It does everything it says it does and it does it well.

I think the YouTube reviewers have it slightly wrong. I don’t think they should be comparing the SE to the 11 or the XR because, realistically, the people who own those phones aren’t gonna be buying the SE for themselves.

The people who are gonna be buying the SE are the people who have the 5s or the old SE or the 6s or even maybe the 7. (I’m not sure how noticeable the jump would be from 8 to SE, given they have very similar specs).

They’re the kind of people who want a new phone but don’t have the money to go for the more expensive XR or 11 range.

Or maybe they don’t want a giant phone because idk bout you but I have small hands and the XR is both large and heavy and that’s not practical. Plus, the XR with women’s jeans? Really? Not happening.

So, while I understand why reviewers are comparing the SE to the 11s or the XR—because the SE has the internals of those two and is closer to them in terms of release date—I don’t think it’s actually realistic.

TL;DR

YouTube reviewers are comparing the SE to the recent phones when they should be comparing it to the older ones, which is the more likely transition. The iPhone SE has a lot more going for it than people say and I really like it.

#long post #iphone SE #the new iphone #i have opinions #kinda a rant #apple #ios #apple ain’t perfect but the iphone SE is a decent phone #funny how i made that same argument bout the 2016 SE too #huh #makes ya think

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em-dashes · 4 years

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11.16.2019

WHAT’S THIS? ANOTHER WRITING UPDATE SO SOON?? MOST UNCHARACTERISTIC!!!

Anywhom, I haven’t gotten too far into Like the Sun yet. I’ve written maybe 1/3 of the first chapter, but I do like how it’s coming along so far. Here’s some new tidbits I came up with!

> Setting: the scenic tourist town of Efter, based on a city near where I live. Except Efter is, you know, futureeee.....ish. I really dig the concept of solarpunk, so I’m trying to work elements of that into the story, and so far all I’ve got is wind turbines. Lots and lots of wind turbines.

> Chapter 1 Narrator: Haly Chester, a 20-year-old art student working a retail job for the summer (I really am just drawing on all personal experiences with this story huh). Later in the story she fills the New Kid character archetype (as seen in any heist film ever) on the pirate / heist crew, but even though she’s new to the world of thieving and robbery, her sparse but useful knowledge of art history comes into play during a Very Important Heist (which I have yet to figure out).

Without further ado, excerpt time!

Chapter 1: The New Kid

Haly took the gondola to work every morning, and every morning, something vexing would happen.

It could be anything, from the gondola jolting to a stop for a few minutes, to hot coffee spilled on someone’s head, to a passenger stinking up the compartment with the smell of smoke despite the fact the gondola prohibited cigarettes. Today, it was someone stepping on someone else’s brand new shoes and the shouting match that ensued. Sometimes if the situation got unbearable enough, Haly would get off at the nearest station and hope the next gondola didn’t have it worse. But she was already running late, so she kept to the tiny corner she’d managed to secure and trained her eyes out the window.

This high up the hill, she could see the sprawling port city below, the sand crescent bordering the green-blue water, the colourful buildings like stairs crawling up the hillside, the multitude of massive wind turbines that lined the shore. The gondola began the steeper part of its descent down the slope, and Haly turned her eyes to the sky to keep from getting dizzy.

And then she frowned.

“What’s that?” she asked, mostly to herself, but the man beside her shifted and peered through the window. She didn’t know him very well, only that they were often on the same gondola and sometimes they smiled and said hello. Haly shifted to make room for him as they peered up at the strange sight in the sky—the dark, severe shape that was one of the Brigade’s aircraft carriers, and the much smaller and much faster dots that darted around it, occasionally causing bright sparks. Haly noticed the sound only now, the distant sharp pops like fireworks that came a second after each spark.

“Tien ah,” said the man. “Pirates.”

That’s right, gals. Pirates.

Taglist: @antique-symbolism (give it up for my first taglist woo!)

#em dashes #writerblr #writers on tumblr #nanowrimo #nano 2019 #writing update #like the sun #excerpts #i hope yall enjoy my collection of Very Aesthetic Fonts i've curated for my post headers #this one is called Offerings

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astrogeoguy · 5 years

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The Old Moon occults Pre-dawn Planets, and Missing Moonlight Enhances the Ice Giants and Orion’s Spectacular Sword!

(Above: Rick Foster of Markham, Ontario captured this single frame image of Orion’s sword on through a Celetron C11 Edge telescope equipped with a Hyperstar Lens and DSLR camera on January 7, 2019. The Great Orion Nebula with its central Trapezium Cluster of stars is in the middle. The blueish Running Man Nebula is at top left and the bright stars at the bottom are dominated by Nair al Saif. This photo spans about 1.5 finger widths - top to bottom.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 27th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, January 30, the RASC Toronto Centre will hold their free monthly Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre, and the public are welcome. Talks include The Sky This Month, an update on the David Dunlap Observatory, and news about a possible new planetarium for Toronto. Check here for details. Parking is free.

On Friday, February 1, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, February 2 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification.

(Above: Here’s a smartphone picture of the January 20-21, 2019 total lunar eclipse. I took this from my driveway in Thornhill at 12:44 am EST by holding my Galaxy S8 smartphone’s camera over a 40 mm eyepiece mounted in my 12.5″ Obsession Dobsonian telescope. The exposure is 1/10 second.)

The Moon and Planets

On Sunday afternoon (today), the moon reaches its Last Quarter phase, when it rises at midnight and appears half-illuminated – on its western side. For the rest of this week, the moon will be in the pre-dawn sky, leaving the night sky nice and dark for stargazing. The late rising moon will also linger to remain visible in the morning daytime sky, especially on the coming weekend.

For the second time during January, the old moon will visit Jupiter and Venus. Between about 5 am and dawn in the southeastern sky on Thursday morning, the old crescent moon will land 2.5 finger widths to the upper right of bright Venus and 5.5 finger widths to the lower left of somewhat dimmer Jupiter – making a lovely sight in binoculars and a photo opportunity. To top it off, just after 6 am local time, Saturn will rise to sit two fist diameters to the lower left of the trio.

That pretty chain of objects strung along the ecliptic should remain visible in the growing twilight until about 7 am local time. Later on Thursday, the moon’s eastward orbital motion will carry it even closer to Venus, allowing observers to find Venus in broad daylight. Folks in eastern Micronesia, Polynesia (except Hawaii), the Galapagos Islands, southern Central America, and northwestern South America will see the moon cross in front of (or occult) Venus in daylight.

Finally, on Saturday before dawn, the waning crescent moon will pass less than 3 finger widths to the lower left of Saturn. Hours earlier, centered on 19:50 GMT, skywatchers in northern and northeastern Africa, southern and central Europe, Middle East, western Asia, and parts of Southern Russia can see the moon’s orbital motion carry it in front of that planet, too!

(Above: On Thursday, January 31, 2019, the waning crescent moon will pass between Venus and Jupiter. Two days later, it will pass near Saturn. Parts of the world will see the moon occult both Venus and Saturn this week! The sky is shown at 6:35 am local time.)

Moon or not, those three bright planets will be in the same part of the sky all week. Jupiter will be rising after 4 am local time, Venus about 30 minutes later, and dimmer, yellowish Saturn last – at about 6:15 am local time, in a brightening sky. Saturn and Jupiter will be lowly moving farther from the sun every morning, but Venus will be descending toward the sun. Mercury is passing by the sun this week, and will join the evening sky next week.

Mars remains an ideal target for stargazers (or planet-gazers) this week. After dusk, the Red Planet will appear as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light halfway up the southwestern sky. It will set at about 11:30 pm local time. Mars is slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it.

Mars has been setting at about the same time all winter because it is travelling east in its orbit at about the same rate that the distant stars are migrating west due to Earth’s motion around the sun. As a result, the planet has been steadily traversing the dim water constellations. In December, Mars passed very close to distant Neptune in Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). In mid-February, Mars will pass quite close to Uranus in Pisces (the Fishes).

(Above: This week, Mars continues to sit in the southwestern evening sky, between the distant, dim planets Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius. The sky is shown at 7:40 pm local time.)

Speaking of those ice giants, the missing moonlight is a good reason to try and see those two dim and distant planets. Blue-green Uranus is about 1.25 finger widths above, and slightly to the left of the modestly bright star Torcular (or Omega Piscium). This week, Uranus will already be at its highest point, over the southern horizon (the best position for seeing it clearly) after dusk, then set after midnight. Dim, blue Neptune will set shortly after 8:30 pm local time, so look for it as soon as the sky is dark, while it’s higher. Neptune is sitting about three finger widths to the upper left of the modestly-bright star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii). Hydor, and a pair of stars to its east (upper left), form a sideways narrow triangle with Neptune inside of it.

Orion’s Spectacular Sword

This is a perfect week to grab the binoculars and check out Orion (the Hunter). The distinctive constellation will stand up over the southern horizon at 9 pm local time during late January evenings, and we can enjoy it until late March.

(Above: The eastern evening sky in late January, early February features many bright winter constellations. The Milky Way’s path through Canis Major and up through Auriga has populated this area of the sky with many deep sky star clusters and nebulas (labelled symbols). The sky is shown for 8 pm local time.)

Orion’s spectacular sword is one of winter’s true astronomical treats. The sword is a few finger widths below Orion’s distinctive three-starred belt. Unaided eyes can generally detect three patches of light in Orion’s sword, but binoculars or a telescope quickly reveal that the middle object is not a star at all, but a bright knot of glowing gas and stars known as The Orion Nebula (or the Great Nebula in Orion or Messier 42, aka M42).

The Orion Nebula is one of the brightest nebulae in the entire night sky and, at 1,400 light-years from Earth, it is one of the closest star-forming nurseries to us. It’s enormous. Under a very dark sky, the nebula can be traced over an area equivalent to four full moons!

Buried in the core of the nebula is a tight clump of stars collectively designated Theta Orionis (Orionis is Latin for “of Orion”), but better known as The Trapezium, because the brightest four stars occupy the corners of a trapezoid shape. Even a small telescope should be able to pick out this four-star asterism, but good seeing conditions and a larger aperture telescope will show another two faint stars. The trapezium stars are hot young O- and B-type stars that are emitting intense amounts of ultraviolet radiation. The radiation causes the gas they are embedded in to shine brightly, by both reflecting off gas and dust as blue light and also by energizing Hydrogen gas, which is re-emitted as red light. That is why there is so much purple and pink in colour images of the nebula.

Within the nebula, astronomers have detected many young (about 100,000 years old) concentrations of collapsing gas called proplyds that should one day form future solar systems. These objects give us a glimpse into how our sun and planets formed.

Stargazers have long known about the stars in the nebula’s core, but detection of the nebulosity around them required the invention of telescopes in the early 1600’s. In the 1700’s, Charles Messier and Edmund Halley (both famous comet observers) noted the object in their growing catalogues of “fuzzy” objects. In 1880, amateur Henry Draper imaged it through an 11-inch refractor telescope, making it the first deep sky object to be photographed.

(Above: Orion’s spectacular sword hangs vertically below his famous 3-starred belt.)

In your own small telescope, you should see the bright clump of Trapezium stars surrounded by a ghostly grey shroud, complete with bright veils and dark gaps. More photons would need to be delivered to your eye before colour would be observed, so try photographing it through your telescope or with a camera/telephoto lens on a tripod. Visually, start with low magnification and enjoy the extent of the cloud before zooming in on the tight asterism. Can you see four stars, or more? Just to the upper left of M42, you’ll find M43, a separate lobe of the nebula. It surrounds the unaided-eye star nu Orionis (ν Ori).

While you’re touring the sword, look just below the nebula for a loose group of stars, 1300 light-years away from Earth, called Nair al Saif “the Bright One of the Sword”. This main star is a hot, bright star expected to explode in a supernova one day. It is surrounded by faint nebulosity, too. Astronomers believe that this star was gravitationally kicked out of the Trapezium cluster about 2.5 million years ago.

Sweeping down the sword and to the left (east) brings us to the star named Mizan Batil ath Thaalith (aka d Orionis) at the tip of the sword. This magnitude 4.7 star is near the limit for visibility in moonless suburban skies. About two finger widths to its right is another star of similar brightness, named Thabit, "the endurer".

Moving upwards towards Orion’s belt, half a finger’s width (30 arc-minutes, or the moon’s diameter) above the Orion Nebula, you’ll find another clump of stars dominated by c Orionis and 45 Orionis. A larger telescope, or a long-exposure photograph, reveals a bluish patch of nebulosity around them that contains darker lanes forming the shape of a figure, called the Running Man Nebula. This is another case of gas reflecting light from the two stars mentioned.

Just above the Running Man sits a loose cluster of a few dozen stars best seen in binoculars. Then we jump higher – most of the way towards Alnitak (the eastern-most belt star), to check out a beautiful little grouping of stars collectively called Sigma (σ) Orionis. What makes this a special treat is that, in a small telescope, we find four or five stars crammed together. Check it out with your telescope – trust me, it’s pretty! It’s a bit more than a finger width to the lower right of Alnitak. Let me know what you see!

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#stars #constellations #Orion #Orion Nebula #Trapezium #Venus #Mars #jupiter in sagittarius #Running Man Nebula #Orion's Sword #astronomy

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bhaskareyecare · 3 years

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Best Eye Specialist in Thane | Ophthalmologist in Thane Ghodbunder

How big of a role does a bright screen play in your nightly routine?

Since the advent of handheld devices that could access the internet, a lot of us have been browsing websites late into the night, our eyes glued to a bright little screen, making sure we haven’t missed any updates before we go to sleep. As optometrists, we can’t endorse this bedtime ritual. Screens emit a lot of blue light, which affects both our internal clocks and our eye health.

The Physics of Visible Light

The range of colour we can see is known as the visible light spectrum, a tiny sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum. Red light is the lowest energy light we can see and violet light is the highest. Below red light is infrared and above violet light is ultraviolet radiation. (Fun fact: the reason the sky and ocean appear blue to us is that blue light scatters more easily than other colours.)

The Impact of Artificial Light

For most of human history, the only source of blue light on Earth was the sun. Our bodies react to it. We feel more attentive, react faster, remember things better, and feel better overall during the day. When the sun goes down, it signals our bodies that it’s time to sleep. Biologically, we aren’t used to the concept of artificial light, which can be a problem when there’s so much of it around us.

When we use our phones or computers right before bed, we’re beaming subconscious signals to our brains that it’s not time to sleep yet, no matter how late it is. Our brains respond by suppressing the release of melatonin, an important neurotransmitter that helps us sleep. The result is that it takes us longer to fall asleep than it would otherwise and lowers our overall quality of sleep, which feeds into all the negative health effects of sleep deprivation.

A great way to avoid all these sleep issues is to simply put our devices away in the hour before we go to sleep or Just Visit Best Eye Specialist In Thane.

Blue Light and Eye Health

Because blue light is so close to UV radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum, many optometrists are concerned that it could be similarly harmful to our eyes, potentially increasing the risk of conditions like age-related macular degeneration. Fortunately, the screens we use emit only a tiny fraction of the blue light the sun emits (and none of the UV light).

A more immediate concern from blue light exposure is digital eye strain. After hours and hours of looking at a bright screen, our eyes might ache or struggle to focus, and we can even get headaches. Computer glasses and screen filters help make screens easier to look at, but a great trick is the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break to focus on an object 20 feet away.

We Can Answer Your Questions About Blue Light

If you’ve been experiencing symptoms of eye strain and want recommendations or you have other questions about how blue light can impact eye health, we’d love to discuss it with you at our practice at Best Ophthalmologist In Thane. We want all of our patients to have the information they need to keep their eyes healthy.

We hope we’re a sight for your sore eyes!

#EyeSpecialistInThaneGodbunderRoad #OphthalmologistInThane #BestEyeSpecialistInThane #BestOphthalmologistInThane #BestEyeDoctorInThane

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ghezalplusmovies · 7 years

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This Week, Ryan Gosling Decides To Race His Way Into My Heart With Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive!

[Credit: FilmDistrict]

Standard: All right. So I illegally walked over to a seventeen year old girl. And I walk up and I say, “Hello, Miss. What is your name?” And she didn’t say anything. And then I said, “Well my name is Standard Gabriel.” Then what did you say? Irene: I said, “Where’s the deluxe version?”

Based on the 2005 novel by James Sallis, Drive follows the unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling), a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a criminal-for-hire-getaway driver, as he forms a bond with his neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son while her husband (Oscar Isaac) is in prison. When dangerous circumstances arise, the Driver is tasked with utilizing his talents to stay alive. The film also stars Bryan Cranston as the Driver’s well-meaning employer, Shannon, Albert Brooks & Ron Perlman as a pair of mobsters who love utilizing profamity to express themselves – I am all too familiar with that idea – and is directing by the stylistically stylish Nicolas Winding Refn (Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon).

The Driver Is A Phenomenal Character

If you are familiar with director Refn’s work, you know many of his characters are not given elaborate backstories which allows the audience to learn as much as they need to learn as the film progresses, nothing more nothing less. He is a big believer in the concept of showing and not telling. Whenever we see the Driver interact with others, he expresses himself in two or three words, maybe seven if he is feeling frisky. We know he moved to Los Angeles a few years ago and began working for Shannon at the garage, the aforementioned Shannon being one of the few in his life that he feels comfortable enough to say more than a few words to.

Irene’s son, Benicio is another person the Driver feels comfortable enough to hold an entire conversation with, particularly when discussing the moralistic aptitude of a television shark. It is because of the few tidbits we are given about the Driver that makes him such an intriguing character. We know the very basics about him and want to learn more about how he managed to perfect his driving and hammering skills.

[Credit: FilmDistrict]

He feels like a regular human yet there is something superhuman about him – if that makes sense. Refn illustrates this idea by revealing that the nature of the Driver character is meant to be more than what the surface conveys:

“… The Driver was meant to become a superhero, and he’s denied all these things—relationships, companionship. And why would he be denied that? It was because he was meant for something greater.”

There are certain moments where he manages to pull off the seemingly impossible and I genuinely wondered how the fuck did he do that?? This idea certainly lends credence to the notion that he is a powerful being in a hyper-realistic world… And that is what I love about it! Since Gosling is spectacular in the role, you want to see more of whatever it is he is doing even if that means suspending your disbelief that this man is not your regular human. His eyes speak wonders by staring at whatever he happens to be staring at; whether it be glaring into the eyes of an enemy or gazing at the ridiculously gorgeous nighttime LA roads.

I never thought I would be ecstatic at the prospect of someone being colour blind, however Refn attributes his inability to seeing mid-colours as a reason why all his films are very contrasted:

“… If it were anything else I couldn’t see it.”

The Gorgeous Cinematography of Drive:

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No Surprise Here: The Soundtrack Is A Character Itself

Refn regular, Cliff Martinez composes the synth-heavy score for Drive and the soundtrack features a number of amazing artists including Desire, my favourite track of the film (“A Real Hero”) by College and Electric Youth and, of course, the song most associated with the film: “Nightcall” by Kavinsky. For those that have never seen or heard anything about Drive, the opening title credits for the film – following a beautifully tension-filled opening sequence – will intrigue you at least a tiny bit to check out what the film is about:

Favourite Scene! (SPOILERS)

Alright, do you want to know the exact moment where I felt the most excited to see what would transpire in Drive? The first seven minutes of the movie. Refn does not waste any time in getting straight into the action and by “action,” I am not only referring to zooming car chases and destruction. Why I appreciate Drive as much as I do is because it doesn’t have to resort to the seemingly hour-long car chases to grab my attention. The film is very much a character piece, an aspect to it I’m sure a few were unfamiliar with when they initially went into it (more on that below).

[Credit: FilmDistrict]

As the beginning sequence unfolded, I expected that bombastic car chase to ensue since I have become accustomed to that occurring in virtually every car-based film I have seen. As a character piece enthusiast, imagine my surprise when the 2:30 mark happened and instead of barreling down the road to an imminent car chase, the Driver pulled off to the side and turned off the car lights.

The Subversion Of Expectation. As mentioned, I did not expect at all for the Driver to pull to the side. I fully expected some type of chase to occur since he accelerated out of the spot and headed toward the road. When they were on the bridge with the helicopter looming over them and were seemingly caught, I then said to myself “okay NOW the chase will happen…” He pulled into a garage and Grand Theft Auto-style waited until the heat wore off. Finally he exited and pulled up to a red light, cop car straight ahead waiting for his next move, “alright now that chase will happen…” The Driver pulls off his ingenious plan that made me fall in love.

The Incorporation Of The Radio. Throughout the sequence, I wondered why the shit this guy was so fixated on the Clippers game. TURN THAT DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROA– Ohhhhhhhh… Oh. That’s dirty. And great. Dirty and great all over.

The Lack Of Bitching From The Guys In The Back. The classic trope of the people who burst into the car when they are in a rush and yell at the driver to “hurry up! Go faster! Get us out of here!” Motherfucker, the person in control of the vehicle is more than aware that they need to drive. You screeching in their ear what is equivalent to saying “the sky is blue!” is not helping anyone. These guys got in the car and allowed the getaway driver to do what the getaway driver should do… Get away.

See My Favourite Scene Below:

The ‘I Have Been Duped!’ Lawsuit

Somebody on the Earth sued the distribution company behind Drive, FilmDistrict, for “[promoting] the film… as very similar to the Fast and Furious, or similar, series of movies.” In 2011, Sarah Deming of Michigan believed the film would be more in vein of Fast and the Furious instead of in the style of a fucking Nicolas Winding Refn movie and stated:

“Drive bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film… having very little driving in the motion picture…”

She was also offended by the idea that the film features a criminal Jewish mobster who utters derogatory remarks against his people because THAT IS HIS CHARACTER:

“Drive was a motion picture that substantially contained extreme gratuitous defamatory dehumanizing racism directed against members of the Jewish faith, and thereby promoted criminal violence against members of the Jewish faith.”

Deming wanted a refund for her movie ticket, in addition to halting the production of “misleading movie trailers” in the future. “The plaintiff intends to turn her individual case into a class action lawsuit, thereby allowing fellow movie-goers an opportunity to share in the settlement.”

‘Billy Madison’ [Credit: Universal Studios]

If I haven’t conveyed my opinion on this issue enough, I firmly believe this woman is a moron. Not for feeling like a trailer misled her but because she believed suing was a legitimate option. Certain trailers are misleading as fuck. Welcome to the world of the movie trailer. I was duped into thinking The Phantom Menace was the second coming of Christ and look at that shit pile.

Check Out The Trailer In Question Below, However Be Warned It’s Spoilerific:

Did the trailer of Drive make it seem like a super action-packed movie? Sure. Does that warrant suing for anything? Maybe in Fantasyland where unicorns are the authority and it rains chocolate kisses.

And don’t get me started on her claiming the film portrays Jewish people in a negative light. The film portrays criminals in a negative light… You know, BECAUSE THEY’RE CRIMINALS. I guess she also missed the whole point of Nino (Perlman) using the derogatory term to express just how shitty their family is… You know, BECAUSE OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Five Years Later Update…

This lawsuit hasn’t let up. Thankfully for the judges with common sense:

“A judge in Oakland, Mich. rejected plaintiff Sarah Deming’s putative class action in March 2012, concluding that there was no misrepresentations of material fact even assuming the trailer contained subliminal anti-Semitism.”

Apparently following the rejection, the plaintiff tried to get the judge removed from the case for allegedly being anti-Semitic himself. That dispute went to a Michigan appeals court which, on October 15th, 2013:

“… [Handed] down a decision that stated in part, ‘Any affirmative representations the trailer made about being a racing movie were not inaccurate; the movie does contain driving scenes… Moreover, plaintiff, contrary to her hyperbole, does not refer us to any actual violence against, or even criticism of, Jews that has resulted from the film being shown.’

Apparently the plaintiff’s lawyer (Martin H. Leaf) has not given up on the idea that the film contains anti-Semitic messages so this saga will continue.

‘The Happening’ [Credit: 20th Century Fox]

If you’re looking for a Fast And The Furious-esque picture, Drive that is not. If you’re interested in watching a visually pleasing character piece on a man who is so much more than just a talent behind the wheel, I highly recommend checking out Drive.

Drive receives a Matt Damon whooping it up in The Martian.

‘The Martian’ [Credit: 20th Century Fox]

Click Here For More Nostalgia’d Reviews!

featured image source: James White

Nostalgia’d Review: Drive (2011) This Week, Ryan Gosling Decides To Race His Way Into My Heart With Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive!

#carey mulligan #christina hendricks #Drive #Movies #nicolas winding refn #Nostalgia&039;d Review #Oscar Isaac #ryan gosling

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loveweddingsng · 6 years

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Catch all the wedding news you may have missed last week on LoveWeddingsNG! From the Bride Wedding Awards ceremony in Dubai, a bridal collection by Ghanaian designer, Sima Brew, the countdown to Dangote’s daughter’s wedding, Chidiogo Akunyili‘s civil wedding, Heidi Klum‘s stunning look to the amfAR Gala in New York and more.

Enjoy!

Aliko Dangote, one of the richest men in Africa, is set to give his daughter away in marriage to the pilot son of the former Inspector General (IG) of Police, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar. Fatima Dangote and Jamil Abubakar‘s wedding is set to hold at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos in March 2018 and according to Vanguard, five presidents and all the past presidents of Nigeria are expected to attend. Microsoft founder and philanthropist, Bill Gates is also expected to attend

The couple, Fatima Dangote & Jamil Abubakar

Aliko Dangote, one of Africa’s richest men

MD Abubakar, former Inspector General of Police

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and philanthropist is expected to attend

Fans are speculating that Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott might be engaged. The speculations came after the 20-year old supermodel shared an emotional 11-minute video on YouTube that shows highlights from her pregnancy with their baby, Stormi Webster. In a few clips, Kylie is spotted wearing a huge diamond ring on her wedding finger.

Chidiogo Akunyili, the daughter of late Dora Akunyili had her civil wedding ceremony to her fiance. The author, speaker and founder of She ROARs Africa, shared a post on her page on Instagram hinting that there will be more celebrations to come. The bride’s mum, Dora Akunyili was a former Director General of the National Agency for Food & Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC); she also served as a Minister of Information and Communications from 2008 to 2010.

Celebrating our civil union 🌞 Excited for all the white & colourful celebrations with friends and family to come 🙏🏾 Thank you Andrew for being a daily reminder of the miracles that exist in this world and the power we have to tap into it. On a cold February evening in Geneva, I wrote down words that I feel connected our destinies & led our paths to cross 7 months later in the deserts of Nevada. “Monday, 8 Feb 2016. Geneva – Clayton asked that I do a true exercise of what I want. Here goes. I seek a partnership with a strong man, mind, body and spirit. I seek a partnership with a man who will cherish, love and honour me & the life we build together, supporting each other through the journey with kindness, love, a smile & words that put difficulties in perspective. He will not be away from home all the time but have a career that allows for him to assist strongly and sometimes wholly in building a home for us and for the children. He will be conscious and inspire us to grow in consciousness. He will be full of kindness and have a depth of love that leaves us inspired by what two people can achieve together. He will hold me and we will give gratitude. He will be flexible. He is adventurous/open to new experiences. He is happy in himself & together we share happiness in God and Love.” 7 months later after strong guidance came to me to go to Burning Man — I met him. It was a story of the union of souls. I felt I had written him to existence and rejoiced in the connection we shared. One I know started with a decision to focus on the wholeness of my own soul — self love — & from the space of taking time for self I was ready to take time for anothers soul and him mine inturn. I was not looking for a man so save me but a man to hold me up in my own strength. Together we continue to weave a web of care, love, strength, that isn’t without its difficulties but I’m learning & growing with & from them. I say yes to a life spent together in partnership — to holding each other up outwardly and on the inside — to loving every part of ourselves and each other knowing we have the power to create and re-create from a place of peace with what is & the infinity that can be.

A post shared by Chidiogo Akunyili (@chidiogo_oo) on Feb 5, 2018 at 7:41am PST

Another man weds two women on the same day! According to online reports, a young man named Ejindu is set to marry two women, Ebere and Oyediya at the same time and at the same venue, on Sunday, the 25th of February, 2018 in Abriba, Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State. The banner advertising the wedding went viral last week.

The Bride Wedding Awards held on Saturday, the 10th of February 2018 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Congratulations to all the winners especially Katerina of Vanila Wedding Boutique / Vanila Studio who we met at the #MyWeddingDubai fair last year. She won the Bridal Designer Boutique award in the UAE.

A post shared by Vanila Wedding Boutique Dubai (@vanilastudiodubai) on Feb 10, 2018 at 9:25pm PST

Award winning fashion designer, Sima Brew has been releasing pieces from her latest bridal collection tagged ‘Dream’. The collection, inspired by the intersection fashion trends and the needs of real brides, is suited for modern brides. The photos from the collection featured Ghanaian TV presenter, Berla Addardey who looked absolutely stunning as she modelled the dresses.

The designer then released more pictures

The anticipated wedding TV show, “Our Wedding Day” by UK wedding cinematographer, Christiana Andrews premiered yesterday on Sunday, the 11th of February 2018 on Nollywood Movies TV. The show, which shows the glitz and glamour, tears and laughter and all the fun at some of the weddings we love, aired its first episode on Sky channel 329 and Virgin channel 835.

The D-Day is here #OurWedidngDay by @officialcabrand✔💯 airs on @nollywoodmoviestv tonight TUNE in Sky 329 or Virgin 835 tonight at 630pm We’ll be watching #LoveWeddingsNG #ChristianaAndrews #CABrand #OurWeddingDay #NigerianWedding #NigerianWeddingTV

A post shared by LoveweddingsNG✅ (@loveweddingsng) on Feb 11, 2018 at 2:55am PST

While everyone else talked about why supermodel, Heidi Klum tanned only one leg, we’re just drolling about the stunning gown she wore to the amfAR Gala in New York on Wednesday, the 7th of February, 2018. The supermodel wore a dress by Zuhair Murad from their Spring ’17 couture collection, which was decorated with thousands of sparkling blue crystals and silver threading. We can absolutely see a bride rocking this look to her reception.

Look out for our Red Carpet to Aise post from the amfAR Gala on Wednesday

That’s it for this week. See you next Monday for more wedding news weekly updates.

Last Week’s Hottest Wedding News #17: Dangote’s Daughter weds, Is Kylie Jenner Engaged?, Dora Akunyili’s Daughter weds & More Catch all the wedding news you may have missed last week on LoveWeddingsNG! From the Bride Wedding Awards ceremony…

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markhardycreative · 6 years

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One of the first sunny days of 2018

7:59am

The sun is here at last!!... well almost, it's just coming up and whilst I've a late start waking the dog this morning I've got a lot to cram into a very small window of sun.

9:00am

My first job is at 10am it's just exteriors as I shot the interiors yesterday in fact everything today is exterior shots! I'll be flying the drone for two in Farnham this afternoon, but more about that later right now I'm heading down past Alton and across the A3.

10:00am

The house is north facing and surrounded by tall trees which in and of itself is a difficult situation but theres a whole new dimension to this shoot. No one is home but the pipe at the side of the house is pumping out smoke which is being blown and lit up across the front . Mmm not sure how to get around this one. I decide to do the back of the house first. I explore the sloped garden before starting with the wide and pole elevated shots. I then swap to my 70-200mm lens and get some lifestyle / feature shots. As always with these it's low F stop moving as close to 200mm as I can to throw the background or foreground out of focus and create a bit of depth to the image.

I'm also trying to leave the front until the end so that the sun has some time to climb and hopefully in some way straight out of the direct view of my camera.

It's at this point I notice the pipe at the side of the house seems to stop for about a minute every 5 or so, it takes about 30 seconds for the smoke to clear and then I have a 30 or so second window to get the shots I need.

11:00am

I'm due at my next job at 12:30 so plenty of time to get over to Frensham just outside of Farnham. My sat nav decides to take me a very odd way back but I go with it I end up going down some single track country lanes and suddenly this opens up in front of me.

12:30pm

I arrive at my next job on time (I even get to stop at my favourite stop the Cookie Bar in Hindhead on the way). This was the job I shot the interiors of on Monday. I'm doing full ground level exteriors and drone photography here. I'm constantly judging the weather and I can see some cloud cover starting to roll across. The wind is a cool 18-20 mph which is still fine to fly in but it does add an extra element of stress pushing weather fronts across and moving the drone around in ways that produce audible warnings on my controller.

The sun is so incredibly low that I have to get some real height to get over the lens flare. I have a maximum operating height of 120m, though when it's windy I tend not to go that high. I'm able to get what I need however I come across an issue shooting straight down. the camera keeps flipping views up and down and when I shoot the file looks corrupted with weird colours, no matter I just won't use it but I need to look into that later and do some testing on some private land casual flights.

before I leave the owner asks me to get some shots of an area which is great for 'Hacking' across the road. I've no idea what that is but I'm guessing its horse related . He said its a few minutes walk across the road from the house and then through some wood to a big opening. I'm really quite pushed for time. The sun is getting lower all the time and the forecast has just changed leaving me a very small window of sun left and still another job to do. I literally sprint down the path in the woods, hoping that I've remembered the directions correctly. I take shots along the way. The browns, oranges, and greens of the forest look beautiful in the low sun.

So I've still no idea what Hacking is as I write this I'm about to look it up. Definition below:

"Hack within the activity of equestrianism commonly refers to one of two things: as a verb, it describes the act of riding a horse for light exercise, and as a noun, it is a type of horse used for riding out at ordinary speeds over roads and trails." - Wikipedia

Well there you have it thank you Wikipedia.

14:00

I'm seriously pushing it for time right now I've reached my final house of the day on time and another time of the year 2pm would be perfect for some high in the sky sun. However in January it's dropping and is due to set in just over an hour. Still there is always time for manners and professionalism so I ask the owner to show me around the land that I will be photographing. This one is incredible (not that the others weren't just this one is unexpected!) So we're quite close to the town of Farnham, lots of houses all over the place but at the bottom of these peoples gardens it opens out on the most gorgeous common. I take the drone up, now it's very very windy but obviously I'm still flying within legal limits. I'm having the same issue again shooting straight down from the drone, it's doing some very odd things. I recently updated the firmware and whilst I have tested it before today something is clearly not right with the signal. When testing I did find my apple watch was interfering and the drone had a weak transmission signal because of it but that is on 'airplane' mode now.

Flying around a see a little lake just sat in the middle of the common. I take some shots. Ok so... I'm going to be really honest now. I'm writing this entry the next day. The agent has already written and called to thank me for the photos. He did mention that they loved the fact I caught the lake in the shape of a heart. "oh that's ok I said" not fully processing what shot that was. After looking back at the pictures I'm sorry if he's reading this it was a complete accident. Now looking at the shot below I do see it, but it's just the angle I've taken it at as if you fly higher the curves stretch out all over the place. Still it's a very happy mistake and I'm sure I'll be plastering it everywhere come valentines day.

15:30

Home at last. I'm exhausted. I back up my pictures and spend some time with my family before heading into the bedtime routine.

20:30

My head is killing me. I suffer from migraines a few times a year. I can feel one coming on so once my son is asleep I head to bed myself I've two shoots tomorrow but I don't think I'll be blogging it.

2:00am

Ok strictly this is a new day but as I'm not covering todays shoots and this is still part of Wednesdays work I thought I'd document it. I wake up and my head feels better. I know unless I get the retouching done now I'll have a big build up tomorrow night so I get up and crack on.

I'm using Lightroom with Loupedeck tonight, just because I like working with exterior files in lightroom, I've noticed since using Capture One that Lightroom no mater what I do gives a slightly warm cast to the images that works very well with outside shots. Plus I'm super quick on it with Loupedeck.

4:30am

There are a lot of blue skies to add because of shooting towards the low sun but I get it all done. There's no point going to bed at this point my son will be up in 30 minutes so I get a coffee and wait for him before getting ready for Thursdays shoots.

As much as I'm enjoying these days in the life articles I don't think I'll be able to do every day especially as it gets busier in the year but I will be doing at least one a week so if you are finding them at all interesting do please check back again and see what I'm up to.

#Loupedeck #sun #estate #agents #Surrey #Blog #Photography #Mark Hardy #A-day-in-the-life #Exterior-photographer #Nikon #DJI #Drone #Lightroom #Adobe #Capture-One-Pro #Diary

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astrogeoguy · 5 years

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Sunday’s Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse Explained, and Venus Kisses Jupiter in the Morning!

(Above: Michael Watson of Toronto is an avid moon and eclipse imager. He captured the April 15, 2014 total lunar eclipse and assembled this beautiful composite that clearly shows Earth’s circular shadow.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 20th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

My latest column for Space.com talks about using astronomy apps to enjoy Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse. You can find it here.

(Above: Once the moon wanes and rises later towards the end of this week, enjoy the sights of the Winter Milky Way, which rises through Canis Major, Monoceros, Orion, Gemini, and Auriga.)

Public Astro-Events

If skies are clear on Sunday night, January 20, starting at 10 pm, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory will host a free public viewing session for the total lunar eclipse on top of the Arboretum Parking Garage. Parking charges will apply. Details are here.

On Friday, January 25 from 6 to 7 pm, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Canadian space Agency will hold a free session entitled Getting to Know Bennu: Updates on the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample-Return Mission. It will be held in the ROM in the Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre, Level 1B. Details and registration is here.

On Saturday, January 26, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

The Super Blood Wolf Moon (Total Lunar Eclipse)

Last week, I wrote about tonight’s (Sunday) total lunar eclipse and posted it with diagrams here. Read on for an update on that information.

You’ve probably seen references to Sunday’s lunar eclipse as a Super Blood Wolf Moon, or a permutation of those words. These dramatic terms might elicit chuckles and/or eye rolls from astronomers, but they serve a purpose – to capture the imagination of the public and get them to head outside and look up! There are valid reasons for using each part of that label. Let’s break that down.

Blood Moon - The Earth is a solid sphere. The sunlight shining on Earth casts a circular shadow into space opposite from the sun. When an object, such as the International Space Station or the moon, passes through that shadow, no direct sunlight can reach it, so the object darkens. Some of the sunlight streaming closely past Earth passes through our atmosphere. The air refracts (or bends) the rays of sunlight because it slows the light down a little, and that refraction allows a small percentage of the sunlight, bent around the Earth’s perimeter, to reach the moon and slightly illuminate it. If Earth had no atmosphere, the moon would turn completely dark during a lunar eclipse!

During totality, only red light reaches the moon because our atmosphere scatters some wavelengths of light more than others. White sunlight is composed of a rainbow of component colours. The sky is blue in daytime because the molecules in the air scatter shorter wavelength blue light and lets longer wavelength red light pass straight through. Try this experiment. Shine a flashlight through a glass of water placed near the wall in a darkened room. You’ll see a distorted beam of white light on the wall. Now put a few drops of milk in the glass and the entire liquid will glow with a bluish light! If you didn’t add too much milk, you might also see that light on the wall is a now a warmer colour because the cool, blue wavelengths have been scattered throughout the liquid rather than passing through. The same effect causes sunsets to turn red, and only that reddened light can reach the moon during totality – colouring the moon a rusty red, or blood, colour.

Wolf Moon – The moon has always shone down upon humans on Earth. Eventually, people began to seek to understand our natural environment and to take advantage of the annual variations in the seasons to schedule planting, harvesting, hunting, and to celebrate life events. The twelve (sometimes thirteen) full moons per year acted as obvious celestial markers. Full moonlight allowed people to be out at night; hunting, or working the fields for extra hours to get the harvest in.

Each society around the world has its own set of stories for the moon and every month’s full moon has one or more nick-names. The Wolf Moon term is likely derived from North American First Nations traditions, although some think it has an Anglo-Saxon origin. In either case, it’s likely that hungry wolves were calling to one another in the dead of winter, and left an impression on people before our modern era. The January full moon, eclipsed or not, is known as the Wolf Moon, Old Moon, or Moon after Yule. It always shines in or near the stars of Gemini (the Twins) or Cancer (the Crab).

Super Moon – The moon orbits Earth every 27.3 days. The shape of the orbit is an ellipse that brings the moon alternatively closer and farther from the Earth. The difference in distance between perigee, the point in the moon’s orbit when it is closest to Earth, and apogee, when the moon is farthest away, is about 50,000 km. That causes a perigee moon to appear about 14% larger than an apogee moon – about the difference between a Canadian $1 and $2 coin when held at arm’s length. It’s not that much – visually. The closer moon will also be slightly brighter.

The term supermoon was coined to describe a full moon that happens while the moon is at or near perigee. January’s eclipsed full moon will occur fifteen hours before perigee, making it appear about 7% larger than average and generating high tides globally.

The supermoon aspect of this eclipse actually works against us. When the moon is near perigee, it is moving faster in its orbit, so it will cross the Earth’s shadow in a shorter time. The closer moon is also larger, so it remains fully eclipsed for a shorter time.

(Above: NASA’s Lunar Eclipse Page lists past and future eclipses. Each event has a web page with diagrams showing the path of the moon through the Earth’s shadow, where on Earth the eclipse will be visible (white areas), and the times for each stage of the eclipse in UT (equivalent to GMT). The partial eclipse stage will begin when the moon reaches position U1, and the moon will be fully eclipsed from U2 to U3 (about one hour). The second partial eclipse stage will end when the moon reaches U4 - 3 hours and 16 minutes after it began.)

Total Lunar Eclipse Visibility and Timings - This lunar eclipse will be visible start to finish in North and South America, the eastern Pacific Ocean, and westernmost Europe. Much of the eclipse will be seen in central and eastern Europe, but observers there will miss the later stages of the eclipse because they occur after moonset. For the western Pacific region, the moon will rise after the eclipse begins.

The partial phase, when the edge of the moon begins to darken, will begin when the moon contacts the Earth’s umbra at 10:34 pm EST on Sunday evening in North America (or 7:34 pm Pacific time and 03:34 UT). Starting at that time, look for the darkness to creep over the moon, growing from along its lower left edge.

At 11:41 pm Eastern time (8:41 pm PST), the last strip of brightly lit moon will vanish as the moon finally entirely enters the Earth’s umbra. The darkened and a coppery red appearance won’t be obvious visually or in photos until the moon is well into the shadow. The moon will stay fully within the shadow (referred to as totality) for 62 minutes. It will pass deeply through the shadow, and the moon’s southern half will appear darker than its northern half.

Greatest, deepest eclipse will occur at 12:13 am EST. After this, most people will head to bed because the second half of the eclipse mirrors the first half. The total eclipse phase will end when the moon begins to leave the umbra at 12:43 am Eastern Time on Sunday. At that time, look for a growing strip of illuminated moon to appear along the moon’s lower left edge. The partial phase of the eclipse will end at 1:51 am Eastern Time.

Now you know what to look for, and when to look. If you have a telescope, of any size, hold your phone’s camera over the eyepiece and take some photographs, or prop up your tablet or phone somewhere and take a time lapse movie of the eclipse. Hopefully the skies will be clear wherever you are! Don’t let cold weather keep you indoors for this one. The next total lunar eclipse won’t occur for the GTA until May, 2022.

The Moon and Planets

After Sunday night’s total lunar eclipse, the moon will spend the week waning and rising later. On Tuesday night, the moon will pass only two finger widths to the left of the bright, white star Regulus in Leo (the Lion). After mid-week, you can look for the moon in the western morning sky on your way to school or work.

Next Sunday afternoon, the moon will reach its Last Quarter phase, when it will rise at midnight and appear half-illuminated – on its western side. (Directions on the moon are opposite to sky directions.)

This week, Mars will shine as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light in the southwestern sky. It will set at about 11:30 pm local time. Mars is slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it.

(Above: Mars is the only bright planet in the evening sky nowadays, sitting above Neptune and below Uranus, as shown here at 8 pm local time.)

Blue-green Uranus is about 1.5 finger widths above, and slightly to the left of the modestly bright star Torcular (or Omega Piscium). This week, Uranus will be at its highest point, over the southern horizon, at about 6:30 pm local time – the best position for seeing it clearly. Dim, blue Neptune will set shortly after 9 pm local time, so look at it before 8 pm, while it’s higher. Neptune is sitting about two finger widths to the upper left of the modestly bright star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii). Hydor, and a pair of stars to its east (upper left), form a sideways narrow triangle with Neptune inside of it.

(Above: On Tuesday morning, descending Venus will pass very close to Jupiter in the southeastern pre-dawn sky, as shown here at 7 am local time. Saturn will be climbing higher every morning.)

Both Saturn and Mercury are too close to the sun to be seen this week, but next week Saturn will join the other two bright morning planets, Jupiter and Venus. Spectacularly bright Venus is now swinging back towards the sun, while not-as-bright Jupiter is being carried the other direction – west and higher. The two planets “kiss” this week. On Tuesday morning, Jupiter will be positioned only 2.5 finger widths south (to the lower right) of Venus. They will both fit within the field of view of binoculars. Look for the bright, reddish star Antares, the “rival of Mars” sitting a palm’s width to the right of Jupiter.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#space #astronomy #planets #total lunar eclipse #blood moon #supermoon #wolf moon #Orion #Winter Milky Way

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astrogeoguy · 5 years

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Maximum Mercury, and the Old Moon’s Tour of Pre-Dawn Planets gives us Dark Night Delights!

(Above: The centrepiece of Orion’s Sword is the Orion Nebula, as shown in this image captured by Rick Foster on January 7, 2019. The nebula is visible in binoculars and small telescopes.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 24th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

On Sunday afternoon, February 24 at 2 pm in the JRR Macleod Auditorium at U of T, RASC and the Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) will co-present a free public panel discussion entitled Should Humans Go to Mars? The event is waitlisted already, but you can get more details here.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, February 27, the RASC Toronto Centre will hold their free monthly Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre, and the public are welcome. Talks include The Sky This Month, an update on the David Dunlap Observatory, and a DIY project for telescope focusing. Check here for details. Parking is free.

On Friday, March 1, starting at 6:15 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled The Life and Death of Stars. Details are here.

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, March 2 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification.

On Saturday, March 2, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their free planetarium show entitled Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Details are here.

The Bright Stars of February

If you missed my story about many the bright stars you can look at with your unaided eyes on the cold clear nights of February, I posted it here.

See the “Demon” Star Brighten

The “Demon Star”, more formally known as Algol or Alpha Persei, is a star that is easy to see using unaided eyes under suburban and rural skies. Algol’s visual brightness dims noticeably for about 10 hours once every 2 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes – like clockwork. Located in Perseus (the Hero), this star is among the most accessible variable stars for beginners because the amount it varies by is large and it remains bright enough to see without optical aid when it dims.

Contrary to the gory colours that might be inspired by its nickname (it represents one glowing eye in the severed head of Medusa the Gorgon), Algol is actually a hot, white star located 92 light-years from Earth. Algol’s regular dimming happens because a dim companion star orbiting nearly edge-on to Earth crosses in front of the much brighter main star – an arrangement that is called an eclipsing binary star system. The dimming periods can fall at any time of the day or night. This week, the timing of one cycle makes watching the return to brightness a convenient project for evening observers.

(Above: The variable star Algol in Perseus will reach its minimum brightness at 8 pm EST on Friday, March 1. Over the following five hours you can watch it brighten while the Earth’s rotation carries it lower. For best results, compare the star to others nearby - at 8 pm and then later on.)

This Friday, March 1 at 8:04 pm EST, Algol will be at its minimum brightness of magnitude 3.4. At that time, the star will sit a bit more than halfway up the western sky – 2.3 fist diameters directly below the bright yellow star Capella. Over the following five hours, Algol will descend into the west while it steadily brightens. By 1 am EST, it will be low over the northwestern horizon and will have brightened to its usual magnitude of 2.1. Let me know if you track its change!

The Moon and Planets

Great news for astronomers! This week, the moon will be completely out of the evening sky, leaving it nice and dark for chasing galaxies, star clusters, and nebulas. Instead, the waning moon will be seen in the southeastern pre-dawn sky while it slides towards next week’s new moon phase. The moon will also make its monthly visit to the bright pre-dawn planets this week.

On Monday morning before sunrise, the moon will sit among the stars of Libra (the Scales). On Tuesday morning, the moon will reach its last quarter phase – when it will be illuminated from the side by the pre-dawn sun and will appear with a “half-moon” shape. At this point in the moon’s monthly cycle, it rises after midnight and lingers into the daytime morning sky.

In the southeastern pre-dawn sky on Wednesday, the waning last quarter moon will sit 2 finger widths to the upper right of the very bright planet Jupiter. Both objects will fit into the field of view of binoculars and telescopes at low magnification. Observers in western North America and the Pacific region will see the moon when it is even closer to Jupiter.

On Friday morning, the waning crescent moon will be located three finger widths to the upper right of yellowish Saturn. Both objects will fit into the field of view of binoculars. Later that same day, observers in most of Micronesia, northern Polynesia (except Hawaii), Central America, and Southern North America can see the moon cross in front of (or occult) Saturn in daylight. The following morning, between about 5 am local time and dawn, the slim crescent moon will be positioned 4.5 finger widths to the right of bright Venus. The pair will make a lovely photo opportunity when composed with a foreground landscape.

(Above: On Tuesday evening, Mercury will swing widest from the sun, allowing it to remain visible in the darkening sky after sunset. The best times to look for the planet fall between about 6:15 and 7:15 pm local time. After Tuesday, Mercury will slowly descend towards the sun.)

This week’s evenings are your absolute best chances to see elusive Mercury during 2019, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere! On Tuesday evening, Mercury will reach its widest separation from the Sun. Because Mercury will be sitting above a nearly vertical evening ecliptic, the sky will begin to darken while Mercury is still well above the western horizon – revealing the planet clearly.

The optimal viewing times fall between 6:15 and 7:15 pm local time. If you view Mercury in your small telescope, the planet will exhibit a waning half-illuminated disk. Find a viewing spot where the western horizon is low and free of foreground obstructions. Once the sun has fully set, sweep the sky with binoculars - or your own sharp eyeballs – looking for a medium bright, unmoving point of light.

(Above: As shown here at 7 pm local time on Tuesday, early evening this week offers the chance to find three planets - Mercury and Mars will be easy, while Uranus will require binoculars and star chart.)

The other easy evening planet to see this week will be Mars. When the sky begins to darken, Mars will appear as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light about halfway up the western sky. The Red Planet will set at about 11:15 pm local time. Mars has been slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it little-by-little.

Mars is still positioned less than a fist’s diameter above the much dimmer, blue-green planet Uranus. During this week, Mars will continue to climb away from Uranus. In the meantime, the distant ice giant planet can be identified by aiming binoculars about 1.6 finger widths above the modestly bright star named Torcular (or Omega Piscium). Look for Uranus right after dark - this week the planet will set at around 10:30 pm local time.

(Above: The pre-dawn sky features three bright planets, as shown here at 6 am local time. From Tuesday to Friday, the waning moon will sweep past the planets. Jupiter, Venus, and the moon should remain visible up until sunrise.)

If you are willing to venture outside on a clear morning this week, you can enjoy the spectacle of the moon plus three bright planets – Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus, appearing low in the eastern morning sky.

Bright Jupiter will rise first, at about 3 am local time. By dawn, it will be a beacon in the southern sky. Yellowish Saturn, which is twice as far away as Jupiter, is correspondingly dimmer. The ringed planet will rise at about 4:30 am local time and will be lost in the twilight by 7 am. Our sister planet Venus is only one-fifth as far from Earth as Jupiter. Venus’ blazing brilliance will grace the southeastern dawn sky after 5 am local time, and remain in view until sunrise. In a telescope, Venus will exhibit a gibbous (more than half-illuminated) phase.

Dark Night Delights

With the moon out of the evening sky this week and next, it’s time to grab your binoculars and telescopes and explore the darker sky for treasures. Deep sky objects are astronomical sights that are beyond our solar system. Here are some suggestions for viewing.

(Above: In this sky chart for late February at 9 pm local time, many of the best deep sky objects are labeled with yellow. Star clusters are indicated by yellow broken circles, nebulas by green outlines, and galaxies by red ovals. Larger symbols indicate the objects are easier to see. The bright double star Castor is out of the image at top centre.)

Double stars and multiple stars are generally positioned less than a few hundred light-years from the sun, close enough for us to see them as individual stars. Among the best and easiest ones are Sigma Orionis (a finger’s width below Orion’s leftmost belt star), many of the stars forming Taurus’ triangular face, the star Almach (which is 2 fist diameters to the left of Cassiopeia), and Castor (the higher of the Gemini twins).

Open star clusters are concentrations of tens to hundreds of stars. This class of deep sky object is farther away than double stars – from a few hundred to a thousand light years distant. The brightest and easiest cluster to see in late February is the Pleiades Cluster (Messier 45). This cluster is composed of a compact, bright group of six stars three times the diameter of the full moon and located high in the western evening sky, about 3.5 fist’s diameters to the right of Orion’s Belt.

(Above: This image of the Pleiades Cluster, or Messier 45, was taken by Stuart Norman of Toronto on October 19, 2017 from the Blue Mountains, Ontario. This large object, three times the moon’s diameter, is best viewed in binoculars or a telescope at low magnification. The blue nebulosity is foreground dust scattering the bright starlight.)

Another big cluster surrounds the bright star Mirfak in Perseus (the Hero). There’s a gorgeous, bright pair of clusters called The Double Cluster is located midway between Mirfak and Cassiopeia. Sweeping the sky with binoculars, you can find more clusters in Cassiopeia (the Queen) and Auriga (the Charioteer).

Nebulas are collections of glowing, cold interstellar hydrogen gas distributed along our galaxy’s spiral arms. Nebulas are the birthplace of star clusters, so they have to be larger in diameter than clusters. The best nebula in the winter sky is the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). It’s the central patch of light in Orion’s sword. Another, dimmer nebula named the Rosette Nebula sits between and slightly above the imaginary line connecting the star Procyon to Orion’s Belt. It’s about 5,000 light-years away!

Once we’ve left our galaxy behind, we have to look a long way away for our final type of deep sky object – the galaxies. The closest and brightest galaxy in the late winter night sky is the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31). Its light has been journeying to our eyes for 2.5 million years! The Andromeda Galaxy sits in the northwestern evening sky, 1.5 fist diameters to the lower left of Cassiopeia.

Over in the eastern evening sky, the evening constellation Leo (the Lion) hosts a tremendous number of distant, dim galaxies, too. But we’ll save them for another day. I’ll post some beautiful images and sky charts here. Good luck with your hunt!

(Above: The zodiacal light, at left, is sunlight reflecting off of interplanetary dust particles concentrated in the plane of our solar system. On moonless spring evenings, it can be seen in the west from dark sky locations after sunset. This image was captured by Bill Longo of Toronto in 2018.)

Evening Zodiacal Light

For about half an hour after dusk between today and the new moon on March 6, look west-southwest for a broad wedge of faint light rising from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic. This is the zodiacal light - reflected sunlight from interplanetary particles of matter concentrated in the plane of the solar system. The glow will be centred on the horizon directly below Mars. Try to observe from a location without light pollution, and don't confuse the zodiacal light with the brighter Milky Way to the northwest.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#astronomy #stars #planets #galaxies #zodiacal light #Mercury #the pleiades #Orion Nebula #Andromeda Galaxy #Mirfak #Castor #Deep Sky Objects #moon

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