January Moon, February Cross Quarter

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

The January 2010 full moon appears to be the largest of the year, because this moon is the closest to the earth. Mars, in opposition, actually passed by the moon on Friday night, although the appeture of my camera was not large enough to catch it.
















Moonset on January 30, 2010.
The moon appeared to be very large,
and the air was very clear. Here the moon
stands over the Sandia Mountain front, just before it slipped behind the mountains and under the western horizon.








Although frontal clouds had begun to come up from the south, indicating stormy weather tomorrow, the rising sun shows pink and orange on South Mountain, and lights up the houses on
Rancho Verde Hill.










February cross-quarter sunrise from the top of Los Pecos in the high meadow. On the Winter Solstice the sun rose about two fingers to the right, and as the Old Calendar spring progresses, the sunrise will appear further to the left on this picture.










One of the delights of living in the mountains is the opportunity to see the sun rise more than once on a single day. The Ground Hog's Day sunrise redux--from a lower point on the road at the lower end of the high mead0w. At the winter solstice, the sun rose straight above the road in this picture.

Although clouds were coming in, the Ground Hog saw his shadow, and by legend this means six more weeks of winter.


Although I saw the sunrise twice-- I said one blessing: ". . . who forms light and creates darkness, who makes wholeness and fashions all things." I am sure to the ancients, the progress of the sunrise appearing further and further north with each passing week must have been an entirely reassuring sight.

Occultation

MORE NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

This morning, as I went out to get the newspaper, I looked up to see the beginning of an occultation of Venus with the waning crescent moon. I was quite surprised, because I didn't know it was going to happen. Usually, the Engineering Geek, who is quite the amateur astronomer, keeps me apprised of these things!
I dropped the paper on the porch and ran in to grab the EG, shaving lather all over his face, as well as my camera.

I also got the Boychick up. I have learned never to say, "Hey, Boychick, do you want to see an occultation of Venus and the Moon?"

Instead, I pounded on the door and yelled, "Hey, Boychick! Hurry! You've got to see this!"

He responded, "What?"

I pretended not to hear. I yelled, banging louder, "Hurry up! You'll miss it!"

Pure curiosity thus achieved what an invitation to learning alone would not.

Here is the rare and wonderful sight

just a moment before first contact,

which is when the planet Venus

appears to just touch the bright curve

of the lunar crescent.

April 22, 2009, 6:13 AM MDT

A few minutes later we see the moment of second contact, when the planet Venus seems

to disappear behind the crescent moon!

Unfortunately, we were not able to see the end of the occultation, when Venus would appear to emerge from behind the shadowy dark of the waning moon. The sun was up by 7:05 AM, and we could scarcely see the Crescent, and we could not find Venus at all!

There are more wonders in the natural world than we can imagine. And today! Today, thank goodness I stopped to see this great sight!

For more on the occultation, check out the Sky and Tel' site.

Vernal Equinox Dawn

NEARLY WORDLESS SPECIAL

Yesterday morning, Friday 20 March, at 5:44 AM MDT, the earth passed through the equinox. In the norther hemisphere, it was the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. On this day, we experienced an equal amount of darkness and light in our day, and in our northern hemisphere, the daylight hours will increase each day through the May crossquarter and until the Summer Solstice. In our current calendar the March equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere. In the old calendar, spring began on the February 2 crossquarter, and yesterday was the midpoint of the season.

It was a fortunate day to mark the Vernal Equinox, as we had plenty of time to take our walk together, with both Lily and Shayna, and get to our fixed points for this year to take pictures of the Spring sunrise. I felt a little sad as I took these pictures, because on Ground Hog's day, Zoey was with us. The Great Wheel of Time turns, bringing each of us to the point of departure.

Sunrise, March 20, 2009, from the top of Via Sedillo.
Blessed is the One that separates light from darkness . . .



Sunrise on February 2, 2009.
Compare with the above picture to see that sun rose south of the Pinyon on Candlemas, and yesterday it was north of it.





Sunrise from Teypana and Via Sedillo (south intersection), on March 20, 2009. The sun is rising behind the left middle tree.

Sunrise on February 2, 2009. The sun is rising above the trees that are to the right and above the two trees in the center of the picture above. Again, it is rising to the north of where it did from the same fixed point at the cross-quarter.

A close-up of the Vernal Equinox dawn from the top of Via Sedillo. The sky was full of moisture and so the dawn was full of color. May the golden sunrise signal good rains, good crops and prosperity in the coming seasons.

Happy Spring!

Cross Quarter: Evidence of the Coming Spring

Groundhog's Day. Candlemas. Imbolc. Tu b'Shevat/New Year for Trees.

By whatever name we call it, today, tomorrow, and this week, we notice a subtle shift in the light. It is a lighter earlier in the morning, and a bit later in the afternoon.

It is still definitely winter here in the Sandia High Country, and snow lies under the trees, though we've had warmer days of late.

But evidence that Old Man Winter is on the way out is everywhere.

Here, the Groundhog's sunrise has shifted north, and for the next week or so, it will shift north by one solar diameter per day.

On the Winter Solstice the sunrise from this spot could be seen at the top of the road to the right of where it rose over the trees this morning.

And here, at the top of Via Sedillo, the sunrise over the Estancia basin is also north and closer to the lone Pinyon Pine than it was on the Solstice.

In the old calendar, today would have been the beginnning of spring, as the seasons were counted from the Cross-Quarters.


The European Candlemas, the American Groundhog's Day are on February 2, a fixed date on the solar calendar. But this year the Cross-Quarter Day is actually tomorrow, February 3, at 9:45 AM MST, which corresponds to 16:45 Greenwich Mean Time (UT).

Here, more evidence of the shift in the light is seen as the sunrise moves down Pinos Altos.
During the day, the slight change in the solar angle is becoming more apparent.

All of these changes tell us deep down inside our brains that, just as sap rises in the trees, the new wine of the new year for trees, so the energy that ebbed so in December begins to rise within us again.

I hear that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and retreated back to his burrow.
Winter will be prolonged according to legend.

And this indeed has been a long one already.
But the changes in the light, the return of birds here in our mountains, all are messengers that spring is coming, the tipping point has been reached, the season must change, even if the weather remains wintry for a while longer.
Even in hard times.

And in hard times, how much more needful it is that we stop and rejoice at these small signs of the coming thaw.

Winter Solstice, Stonehenge Solstice

At the moment I am writing, 10:28 AM MST, the sun at at the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice point. In the new calendar, this is the first day of winter, but in the old calendar, this is Mid-Winter's Night, when the daylight hours are the least of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The revolution of Planet Earth around our star is the Master Clock by which human beings have been counting time for millenia.


The Chemistry Geek Princess is in England right now, and she is/did go to Stonehenge today.
Although the big Stonehenge day is the Summer Solstice, I think it would be pretty cool to be at Stonehenge for the Winter Solstice as well.

This picture of Stonehenge in winter was downloaded from Google Images, because the CGP has not sent pictures yet.




Here in New Mexico, the Solstice dawned pink, as the incoming frontal clouds indicated an unsettled upper atmosphere.
The storm going through Washington State, Oregon, and northern California, will reach us tomorrow evening and Tuesday.
Our side of the Sandias are in the high-pressure cold-front side of the clouds, but behind the mountains, a warmer, wetter air mass bringing low-pressure is approaching, bringing us snow a few days hence.




We captured images of the Solstice sunrise from two new locations this year. The incoming clouds made them dramatic indeed!

Here is the Sunrise at Teypana and Via Sedillo. This corner is our Winter Solstice marker, because on this day, the sunrise is directly over the road going to the top of the ridge in front of our house.

And here is the Solstice sunrise from the top of the ridge itself. The clouds will soon cover the sun, as it rises up behind them, so we will not see the sunrise from the meadow behind our house this day.

The Winter Solstice is the astronomical event from which Northern Hemisphere cultures took their midwinter festivals: the Celtic Yule, the Roman Feast of the Unconquerable Sun, the Indian Devali, and the Jewish Hannukah Festival of Light, and the Christian Christmas. Each festival has it's own stories and origins, but they all are gathered 'round the common theme of growing light and warmth against the darkness and winter's cold. They all stem from the ancient celebration of the Winter Solstice.

Here is a You Tube video of Witches Circle bringing you Silent Night, Solstice Night.

Hannukah--our Festival of Light, and Feast of Dedication begins tonight at sunset. For eight days, we will celebrate the growing light against the darkeness, a minor festival in the Jewish Calendar, but one that reminds us to be strong in who we are in the face of those who wish us to become a different people.

Here is the Ragamuffin Household's wish for Joyful Holy Days and a Prosperous New Year to you and yours. The Christian prayer for "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" is one to which Ragamuffin House joins in saying AMEN!

Sky Magic

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

We've had some wonderful sky magic over the past three days here in Sandia Mountains.

The storm from California seemed to blow through in waves, and after the snow on Thanksgiving Day, it brought bands of cloud across the Sandia Mountain Front.

Dawn, Saturday November 29, 2008.







Mid-afternoon, Sunday, November 30, 2008.
Even as winter approaches, the New Mexico sky retains its stark color contrasts. Cerulean sky, white clouds, and deep blue shadows on the mountains.










Sunset, Sunday evening.
Another band of cloud catches the last light of the sun, high over the Sandias.










During the past days, the waxing moon has been visible in the western evening sky near the conjunction of Venus (above right) and Jupiter (below left). We will not see them as close as this again in our lifetime.

Taken Monday evening, December 1, 2008, my camera was on a tripod.






Before the Engineering Geek got the tripod, I snapped this picture. It was quite windy, so the moon and planets are blurred.
But You can see the horizon and the lingering pink of the December sunset.

Taken Monday evening, December 1, 2008.

Summer Solstice: All Hail the Monsoon!

The Summer Solstice occurred in the northern hemisphere this year at 23:59 (UT) on Friday, 20 June, which translates to 17:59 MDT. The Summer Solstice is Midsummer's Day, or the day of longest daylight; from this time forth days will be getting shorter in the northern hemisphere.



I caught the Solstice Sunrise very early in the morning from the front of the house.
Clouds were moving in rapidly, from the southwest.

The North American Monsoon appears to be setting up early this year, and afternoon thunderstorms were expected.






Since last August, I have been taking pictures of the sunrise on Solstices, Equinoxes and Cross-quarter days from the meadow behind our house, as well, in order to get a document of the yearly circle of the seasons.

On the Summer Solstice morning, I had to wait an hour from sunrise for the clouds to clear--somewhat. On the winter solstice the sunrise was over the roof of our house on the far-right foreground of this picture.


As the moisture in the morning air and the barometer predicted, the first afternoon thundershower of Monsoon 2008 occured shortly after 4 PM. At 3:50, I felt a shift in the pressure, and then a cold wind came up out of the north-west.

At 4:15, we had light sprinkles followed by marble-sized hail streaking down from the north and bouncing across the driveway. It makes quite a percussion solo on the metal roof of the house, too!







Then came the rain--a steady thunder-shower that fell for about half an hour, bringing water to the thirsty trees and grasses, and washing the dust and gravel off the roads and patios.

The Engineering Geek arrived home in the middle of it, and of course I had to go out and greet him. We stood, lifting our faces to the blessed rain.

The Monsoon has arrived early and this is a promising beginning to the summer season in the mountains of New Mexico.



True to Monsoonal form, the rain stopped at about 5 PM, and the clouds completely cleared away two hours later.

After we took our pre-Shabbat luxury bath, I was able to photograph the sunset just about two hours past the actual moment of the Summer Solstice.

Here, the sun is setting as far north on the western horizon as possible, 23' 27" north of where it set on the Vernal Equinox. The setting place for the Vernal Equinox is on the far left of the picture. The distance in degrees from the sunset on the Vernal Equinox to sunset on the Summer Solstice is equal to the tilt of the earth. It is the tilt of the earth that gives our planet seasons and gives us the ability to count time by where the sun appears to rise and set on the horizon.

The Wheel of the Year keeps on turning with the spin of the earth, and the seasons alternate, making ours a very fertile planet, burgeoning with life.

May Cross Quarter Day

The wheel of the year seems to turn faster and faster as the years go by.



Here is the sunrise from a fixed spot in the meadow looking east taken this morning, at 6: 40 AM MDT.

Tomorrow afternoon (MDT) the position of the earth will be half-way between the northern hemisphere vernal equinox and the summer solstice. On the global analemma, as the seasons progress, the sun appears to be crossing between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer, and at the May Cross-Quarter, it appears closer to the Tropic of Cancer. This is due to the tilt of the earth--which causes the seasonal variations in the time and angle of sunlight.



This is a picture taken on the vernal equinox from the same fixed spot in the meadow looking east at 8 AM MDT. If you compare the two pictures, you can see that this morning (top picture) the sun was rising quite a bit further north of east than it was on the Vernal equinox. It is also rising quite a bit earlier, and setting quite a bit later. Until the summer solstice, the days in the northern hemisphere are lengthening. Around the cross-quarter, the length of the daylight seems to be rapidly changing day by day.



Here is the sunset last night from a fixed spot on the back patio. Just six weeks ago, it was setting well to the left of this spot, near the top of the rise you see on on the horizon at the left edge of the picture. The picture was taken at 7:32 PM MDT. In the last week or two, we have noticed that the light is staying in the sky longer after sunset, too, until nearly 9 PM.

Summer is on the way!





Although, by the Old Calendar, Thursday was Beltaine, which was the celebration of the beginning of summer in ancient Europe.

But at 7500 feet, the mountain summer comes slowly,
and the leaves have just erupted on the Aspen on the back patio. This is more than three weeks later than in Albuquerque. The Mountain Mahogany are just showing tiny leaves unfolding, and the scrub oak will not leaf out until June.


These last few days we have experienced another cold snap, although without precipitation. This morning when we commenced our walk at dawn, the air temp was 24 degrees. Now, at mid-morning it is 49.

But I still like the idea that summer is upon us!

Storm Warning Solstice

Tonight at 23:08 MST (06:08 UT), the earth will be at the point of the Winter Solstice for the northern hemisphere. So today is the Solstice for us, although for those of you east of us, the Solstice is tomorrow very early in the morning.


I took the picture to the right last night, December 20, at approximately 4:41PM. I got out to get a shot of the sunset from a fixed point on my back porch last night, because we already had a winter storm warning posted for today. This is so close to the southernmost point of sunset on the western horizon, that I doubt there would be much difference even if I could take the picture tonight. And I can't, as we shall see.



Here is the best picture I could get of the sunrise this morning. Sunlight can be seen through the thinning in the clouds just above the tree at right center of the picture.
The weather front was already moving in.

Astronomically, the winter Solstice is the time at which the hemisphere experiencing winter is at maximum tilt away from the sun, so that the sun sets directly overhead 23 degrees 27 minutes away from the equator. In our case, winter in the northern hemisphere, the sun sets directly overhead tonight on the Tropic of Capricorn, 23 degrees 27 minutes south of the equator.


I took this picture this morning as we returned from our walk with the dogs. The lowering clouds just over the roof of the house mark the back of the warm air mass bringing moisture from the Pacific. The edge of the clouds just over the mountains represent a cold front swinging down from the northwest. When these two air masses mix over the mountains later today, we will get snow. We are expecting a white solstice, just like last year.




In the modern calendar, the winter solstice is marked as the beginning of astronomical winter. Meteorological winter began on December 1. In the old calendar, the winter solstice is marked as a celebration of midwinter or Yule, because the beginning of winter comes at the fall cross-quarter day, near the beginning of November. The Romans celebrated this day as Dies Natalis Invicti Solis--the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. Christmas was set at this time in the 3rd century CE. There are many, many holidays in the northern hemisphere that in one way or another, celebrate the birth of light in the midst of darkness. Tonight is the longest night of the year, and today is the shortest day. After tonight, the daylight time will become longer each day. This will happen slowly and unnoticibly at first, but as we come past the spring cross-quarter day, we will notice the difference. This is why, now, in the long dark night of winter, we celebrate in many different ways, the birth of light.


There is no Jewish Holiday that specifically marks the Solstice, however, Hannukah, the Festival of Light, always comes at the dark of the moon that comes before of on the Solstice.

This picture was taken about 20 minutes after the snow began falling this afternoon. N. and I headed into town at about 10:30 this morning. At that time, the sun was shining in a partly cloudy sky and the temperature at the house was 39 degrees. We had several errands in town, to get dogfood, to stop at a big box store to get a new storage container for dogfood, then the bookstore for my favorite holiday blend coffee, and then to pick up some Challah for Shabbat tonight.




This picture was taken about 15 minutes after the picture above. In Albuquerque at noon, it was sunny and 50 degrees. But by the time we got to the bookstore, the Sandia front was swathed in clouds. N. and I made an executive decision to go to the natural food store next to the booksstore to get our Challah. It was very crowded in the food store, and it took us about a half-hour there. It was 2:25 by the time we were driving in rain on Tramway Road, heading for the canyon and home. It started to snow as we left Tijeras, heading uphill for Zuxax. At Sedillo hill, the flakes were smaller and falling faster. The temperature when we got home was 35 degrees. By the time we got the truck unloaded, it was blizzard conditions, and since the start of the storm (1.5 hours ago), we have gotten about 2.5 inches of snow. The wind is wild. We can expect from 5 to 7 inches of snow overnight, and more tomorrow morning. The temperature here is now about 28 degrees and falling.


We are getting ready to light the candles for Shabbat, and I will light an extra one in honor of the longest night of the year. We are snowbound this Solstice, which seems right for Midwinter's Night.

Happy Solstice! Happy New Year!
May the growing light be reflected in your homes!

Happy Yule! May the coming holidays be ones of warmth and joy for all.

A Week of Observing:Full Moon at Perigee, The Space Station and Shuttle and a Comet

This past week has been a busy week for night sky observations.

On Thursday evening, we had dinner in stages. After the salad, we went outside and looked up to see the International Space Station (ISS) transit across from the northwest to the southeast, crossing the bowl of the Big Dipper--which was barely visible because the sun had set only about 15 minutes before. Then we began the main course, but before I served seconds, we were outside again, to see the Space Shuttle seeming to chase after the ISS from northwest to southeast. It went right through the handle of the Big Dipper on its way towards the rising moon.

And, speaking of the moon, did you notice how bright it was this past week? The fullness of the Hunter Moon was also at the Moon's Perigee, that time when its orbit brings it closest to the earth. It was so amazingly bright last week that when it began to shine through the clerestory in our bedroom, it woke me up early in the morning. I looked out the French doors to see the full moon casting dark shadows of trees and shrubs before it as it sank to the western horizon. I even managed a picture of it. It is a little blurred as I do not have tripod. You can see the deep shadow of the mountains it will sink behind at the bottom of the picture. The next morning, N. complained that the moonlight kept him awake as it shined in his window. We talked about orbits and perigee and apogee, and looked it all up at APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day).

Another amazing astronomical event this week is that Comet P17 Holmes, which was very dim when it passed us on its way toward the sun last spring, suddenly flared into brightness this weekend.

We looked for it on Friday night. In a sort of strange turn of events, I identified it first, whereas Bruce thought I was pointing to a star. Although he's the astronomer, in this case, I thought this object looked fuzzy, whereas a star would twinkle. The full moon made it difficult to see, but with binoculars steadied against the roof of Henry, we were even able to see a little tail. We looked for it again last night, and since the moon rose late, we actually saw a pretty good tail on it!

P17 Holmes is so bright because it is outgassing as it passes Jupiter. It is currently about 2.5 AU (that 2.5 x the distance from the earth to the sun) and is moving away from the sun now. It is a naked-eye object. It can be seen by identifying Cassiopia (the 'W' shaped constellation in the northern sky) and then looking east from there to find a triangle of stars. It is a point at the bottom of the triangle, and it looks fuzzy and does not twinkle like a star.

The picture of the comet above is from APOD. A friend of ours from TAAS (The Albuquerque Astronomical Society) also took a picture the other night, which includes the stars around it that can be seen at her blog Infinity. If you check her site out, you will see where to look for Comet P17 Holmes. Finally, NASA has schedules for when and where to look to see the ISS pass overhead, as well as where to look for the Space Shuttle when it is up.

It's interesting. Every time Bruce comes home with a schedule for viewing the ISS or the Shuttle or some other event that happens regularly, I think to myself, "Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt." But then I always go out to see it. And it always amazes me. People are up there in space! I guess I am a space-junkie, even if I try to pretend I am jaded and experienced. I'll never get over the initial wonder.

Do take some time to go out and take a look at the night sky soon. The moon is now waning, so you will be able to see the comet well in the early evening. Check out the schedule for seeing the ISS and the Space Shuttle when it undocks. We all need a little wonder.

And as we say in the astronomy community:

Clear Skies!

Eclipse: Three A.M. On a School Night?

What? Three A.M. on a school night? Meshuggeneh!

Yep. We got up at that time, early Tuesday morning. We could have gotten up earlier to watch the pennumbral phase, but we thought some rest might be nice. After all, Bruce had to go to work and I had two classes on Tuesday.

So we chose to get up close to the beginning of totality during the total lunar eclipse, visible from 5 continents early yesterday morning.

At three A.M., the moon was somewhat obscured by clouds, but by about 3:30 AM, when the eclipse was just beginning totality, we could see the moon--deep red in the shadow of the earth.

So we had our science "lab" there on the back patio before the birds even thought of stirring. We defined the phases of a lunar eclipse and we talked about how the shadow of the earth always projects into to space, opposite of where the sun is shining on earth. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon happens to be inside the bounds of the shadow. Wed talked about why a lunar eclipse happens more often near the equinoxes--it has to do with the tilt of the earth and where we see the moon relative to the sun with respect to that tilt of 23' 27" from the plane of the ecliptic. We talked about how people in the past have interpreted lunar eclipses--and indeed solar eclipses. We used the Astronimical Calendar to find the times of each phase of the eclipse, and we discussed what Universal Time is and how to calculate where we are in time (Greenwich -6 during Daylight Savings time) in relation to UT.

Toward dawn, when the moon was moving out of the earth's shadow, we took some pictures. We talked about why we could see the eclipse through the binoculars at 3:30 AM, but not with the camera lense.

N. guessed that the binoculars had a greater magnification. But that's not true. Actually, the binoculars we were using magnified by 12X wheras when the zoom was full-strenth on the camera, it has a magnification of 15X.

The most important aspect of viewing astronomical objects is the apeture of the lense--that is the diameter of it--because as size increases, the light-gathering ability of the lense increases. The more light the lense can gather, the more you can see. The apeture of the camera lense is small compared to the apeture of the binoculars. So, to take pictures, we had to wait until there was more light in the sky. Successful pictures happened as the earth turned toward the dawn.

We learned quite a lot really. To review:

• the mechanics of a lunar eclipse (astronomy)
• the seasonal effect on the moon entering the earth's shadow (astronomy, earth science)
• where the moon appears in the sky related to time, lunar phase and earth season (astronomy, earth science)
• the phases of a lunar eclipse (astronomy)
• the relative importance of apeture v. magnification in astronomical viewing (optics)
• the cultural meanings of lunar eclipses (anthropology)

And we got to share some time out in the dark while most of our part of the world was sleeping. We noticed that the dawn breeze actually brings the temperature down just at sunrise. We noticed that some animals are out hunting at night.

When the sun rose the moon was just setting, as happens during the full moon, and this day it settled into the rosy western horizon with a tiny bite out of it.

Beautiful. And that was the last of our learning. We learned again that all times of the day and night have their own beauty.