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The Birds are Back in Town!

July 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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I’ve been so busy freezing my butt off while star gazing, that I hardly noticed the warmer days and the gradual return of our bird population! They’ve been elusive for months…  the cold weather has caused some species to migrate, while our year round residents have done nothing but hide from me and my camera lens!

 Sparrows and Thrushes are most easily seen and for the first time in months, they allowed the ‘Canon Soul Sucker’ a few moments of time.

Rufous Collared Sparrows..

may be the most easily spotted and abundant species, but they’re one of the most beautiful in song and appearance!

This one happens to be munching on a bug.


Great Thrush…

Male, his yellow orbital ring gives it away.

Females

 

 

Filed Under: Birds, Nature Tagged With:

July 15, 2012 Lunar Transit near Jupiter, Venus and Aldebaran

July 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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 First view at 5:20am, a welcome meteor streaks the sky above The Pleiades and Jupiter

Jupiter and Aldebaran guide the first rays of moonlight

Peek A Moon

 Moonrise at 5:26am

Tia’s Moon

Our 4 players with The Pleiades (faint at this size photo)


Venus rising in the form of a near perfect octagon

The Moon passing near Jupiter (upper left above moon), Venus (rising level with the moon) and Aldebaran (above venus)

By 5:37, all have risen with the sun on their heels. Within 30 minutes, daylight cloaks any trace of their existence.


Filed Under: Armchair Astronomy, Southern Hemisphere Astronomy Tagged With:

UFO Over Illinois

July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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UFO by definition qualifies this photograph as such, until someone can explain what we’re looking at. And if you can, please, do!

My friend Brian drives for a living and caught this object with his cell phone camera. Because it happened so quickly, he can’t say definitively if it was moving or not.  The only thing Brian can say with any certainty is this: “I was on IL 39 south …… near Rochelle, IL. June 13, 2012 at approximately 3:30pm”

I saw the photo on facebook. Naturally I had to get a better look, so I did some adjusting in LR3 and these are my results. An expert in graphics I am not, so if you’re inclined, please share your own results with us!

A bit more luminance to smooth out the grain. Neither photo shows evidence of wires or suspension. The small, triangular object does not appear tethered to the it’s counterpart. The larger object has a core, or criss-cross center piece, not so easily seen in this last photo. In my opinion, the center now looks like a man with his arms raised above his head, but that is due only to my lack of editing skill.

They look man made, as in I don’t see birds here.

For now, it remains an Unidentified Flying Object!

~j

Filed Under: Outer Space and Extraterrestrials, Universal Ponderings Tagged With:

Sacred Valley Peru, Morning Skies of July

July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Morning skies are spectacular out of the North-East this month!

We begin with the rising of The Pleiades around 4:30am.

Within the hour, Jupiter makes it’s appearance.

Aldebaran and Venus follow suit shortly after…

Together, they create a spectacular sight!

Venus is the brightest and biggest of the 3.

Of course, all of this takes place directly underneath a sliver of moonlight!  Now, the sun is beginning to rise, so we’re lucky for our 30 minutes of observation time!

Filed Under: Armchair Astronomy, Southern Hemisphere Astronomy Tagged With:

The Pleiades

July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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The Pleaides cluster hanging low under the glow of moonlight.

July 12, 2012

5:30 am

Around 5:30am, the Seven Sisters rise out of the North East above the Pitusiray. From the Southern Hemisphere, we have to slightly adjust the cluster to align with it’s star map.

Rotated, flipped and manipulated!

Interestingly enough, just like Scorpius, The Pleiades also were pursued by Orion. He was enamored with the Seven Sisters, so Zeus turned them into doves to keep them safe. Since Orion was already on thin ice for the Scorpion thing, he was further punished by being kept away from The beautiful women of Pleiades.

There is a theory that some humans possess Pleiadian DNA and they are referred to as “Star Children” or “Lightworkers”. They believe that their job is to usher in a monumental evolution of mankind during this century. Whatever the reality is, many people  have an unexplainable attraction and resonance with this particular cluster, which is real to them.

Filed Under: Armchair Astronomy, Outer Space and Extraterrestrials, Southern Hemisphere Astronomy Tagged With:

Aldebaran, Venus and Jupiter Morning

July 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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10 July 2012, 5:30am: Aldebaran burns orange as it rises above the Pitusiray.

Aldebaran is one of the 4 “Royal Stars”. It’s job….. “Guardian of the East”.

Jupiter hangs on the left while Venus begins it’s ascent near Aldebaran in the East.

Filed Under: Armchair Astronomy, Astrophotography, Southern Hemisphere Astronomy Tagged With: ,

Southern Hemisphere Observing Near Scorpius’ Stinger

July 10, 2012 By 1 Comment
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The Constellation of Scorpio, or Scorpius, is a consistent  ingredient of the Peruvian sky.

Scorpius is readily identified by three bright stars which outline the head, or top of the scorpion. With dark skies and a little time for your eyes to adjust, additional stars of the head become visible.

Forming the body, 3 highly visible stars hang down perpendicular from the head. Antares, Scorpius’ alpha star, is seated in the middle and is easily observed as it burns red in the sky at 800 times the size of our sun! Antares is one of 4 “Royal Stars”. It’s job… “Guardian of the West”.

Then, Scorpius whips itself into it’s signature “J” shaped curve, forming the tail. With the naked eye on a good night, several glittering objects are observable around this area, which makes it one of my favorites for obsevring.

The Sumerians identified Scorpius, albeit under a different name, “GIR.TAB”.  The story goes that Orion, the great hunter, said he could kill any animal. Earth was upset by this and sent Scorpius to kill Orion. Since these 2 constellations lie opposite of each other in the sky, it is legend that until this very day, Orion runs and hides from Scorpius!

Let’s take another look at the wide angle shot of Scorpius tail tip.

ISO 6400, f/3.2 for 13 seconds at 24mm

M6 (NGC 6405) “The Butterfly Cluster”

Easily identified as a group of blue stars aside a single yellow star.

M7 (NGC 6475) “The Ptolemey Cluster”

200 million years old and 980 light years away!

M8 (NGC 6523) “The Lagoon Nebula”

 An interstellar cloud visible with the naked eye. At 5,000 light years away, we need different equipment to capture the dust in a photo.



East bound meteor radiating from the southern Ophiuchus


Scorpius is the first constellation identified on my own, using sky maps. We visit every night without fail. I hope you enjoyed my tour of this remarkable area of the southern sky! ~julie

July 6, 2012 looking East at 8:00pm (GMT-5)

Filed Under: Armchair Astronomy, Astrophotography, Southern Hemisphere Astronomy Tagged With: ,

Off The Grid In Peru Is Evolving!

July 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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I’m still working out the kinks with the new layout…thanks for your patience! 

You may have noticed a new section called “Universal Ponderings”.

If not, take a look. I’ve been so immersed in telescope research, that I’ve neglected to write.

Anyway, here’s my plan:

Today, I will work on OTGIP…not research telescopes.

Today, I will work on OTGIP…not research telescopes.

Today, I will work on OTGIP…not research telescopes.

Right.

Filed Under: Julie is Off The Grid in Peru, Universal Ponderings, Updates
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