July 27, 2019 · 22:35

Conejo Valley Panorama #2

Where yesterday’s panorama was taken looking due west toward Moorpark, this one was taken looking more northwest, toward the far western end of Simi Valley.

This was taken from the replica White House South Lawn at the Reagan Library, which can be seen at the left hand side of yesterday’s panorama. Naturally, this means that the location from which yesterday’s panorama was taken is seen at the far right side of this picture. (Geometry, FTW!!)

You do get some fantastic views from up here – probably one of the reasons they built the Library in this spot.

It must have been an amazing place to be last November when about 90% of what you see was on fire. I’ll let the built-in security cameras take those pictures. There are pretty much only two narrow roads in or out of the Library grounds. If it’s surrounded, you might have a “bad day” on your hands.

3 Comments

Filed under Panorama, Photography, Travel

July 26, 2019 · 23:56

Conejo Valley Panorama #1

From last weekend, taken at the Reagan Library, looking out to the west toward Moorpark.

Who’s that in the turquoise, watching the goober out in the blazing sun taking pictures?

Leave a comment

Filed under Panorama, Photography, Travel

July 25, 2019 · 22:52

No Context For You – July 25th

Highlights! Interviews! Analysis!

None of the above!

Sometimes you’re just too tired to do much more than twitch. Good thing I’m not using any heavy equipment. Like, a pen. Or a paper clip.

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography

July 24, 2019 · 23:40

Monsoonal Moisture

None of it reaching the ground and it’s hotter than hell and muggy (not Mississippi muggy, but at least Indiana muggy) but it’s causing some interesting clouds with the high level winds blowing from the west at sunset.

2 Comments

Filed under Photography, Weather

July 23, 2019 · 23:25

Sunset Remnants

After yet another loooooooooooooooooooooong day at the office, tonight I got to follow it up with a trip out to the hangar to deal with a situation.

Coming down the Camarillo Grade on the 101 northbound (by which I mean “due west”) out of Thousand Oaks there was a sunset that was a couple of steps above average. By the time I got to the hangar and parked it had faded, but it still didn’t suck.

Getting home at or after 22:00 and having just the time and energy to grab dinner and crash and burn (and post pictures) – now THAT sucks!

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Weather

July 22, 2019 · 22:58

Just What The Doctor Ordered

After a day at the office that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long and stressful, I was sort of just vegging out, listening to some tunes.

Then came the opening beats, and I cranked it up to an eleven with the good headphones on…

I may have listened to it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too loud (and I might have pulled something doing air drums) but the stress levels are a lot lower!!

2 Comments

Filed under Music

July 21, 2019 · 23:03

Eighteen Years

Eighteen years ago there were a whole slew of family and friends gathered at a purple tea house (rumored to formerly be a house of ill repute in its distant past):

We were a cute couple.

We still are.

We’re dressed a bit less formally and my hair has gotten a lot more grey, but we’re still going strong!

3 Comments

Filed under Paul, Ronnie

July 20, 2019 · 00:31

Fifty Years

The family room at our home in Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb. I had been watching all day, of course, and my dad was probably there off and on during the day since it was a Sunday, but he didn’t have the time to sit for a whole day and watch. But I remember watching the news coverage of the landing. Walter Cronkite.

By the time the moonwalk occurred it was night. We had all of the lights off with just the glow of the television to light the room. All of my brothers and sisters were there, sprawled all over the couch and floor, but I don’t know how many of them (if any) were paying any attention or cared what was happening. Not sure about Mom either, but Dad was as fascinated as I was.

At the time it seemed to last forever. Maybe it was that way for everyone in the world, or maybe it was just because I was thirteen. In seeing replays of it now it seems to be so short, just a couple of hours that changed the world.

I remember being amazed when the TV signal came down and we could actually watch as Armstrong came down the ladder and took those first steps. I remember being able to see Armstrong’s face in his helmet in the shadows as he read the plaque on the LEM’s leg. I remember when they took the camera and moved it out a ways and we could watch as Neil and Buzz bunny hopped around, setting up experiments and taking pictures.

Long after all of my brothers and sisters were asleep I watched until the broadcast was over and the astronauts were safely back aboard the LEM.

Over the last 50 years there have been many other spectaculars that I’ve watched. Apollo 13. For Apollo 17 I got permission to stay home from school to watch the last three moonwalks, each of which were over seven hours long. The first space shuttle mission. The robot landings on Mars.

For a couple decades there I would always watch with my kids. Now we watch separately, often from opposite sides of the planet.

But we always watch.

NASA’s been given orders to get us back on the moon in five years. I hope they do it, but I wouldn’t bet on it given today’s chaotic political situation. But SpaceX or Blue Origin or Bigelow might get it done.

When they do, I’ll be watching. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later. 50 years is too long to wait already.

2 Comments

Filed under Space

July 19, 2019 · 21:37

ISS Pass – July 19th

Good planning.

I knew exactly where it was going to rise, where it was going to set, how high it was going to be. (Thanks, Heavens Above!)

I knew where the edge of the frame was. (Just past that honkin’ big tree, good landmark!)

I knew where to move the camera when it exited the frame so that I could see where it was going to go over the horizon to the northeast while being in the shadow of the telephone pole to block the light from that street light.

Check the focus.

It’s earlier and the sky’s brighter than it’s been the last couple of days, so go back to one second exposures instead of five seconds. Can I do two second exposures? Maybe, but don’t push your luck, stick with what has worked.

Trust the data.

Trust the plan.

I was ready.

Go ahead, click on that image and enlarge it! Look down there in the lower left corner where the first three or four dozen dots are almost lost in the coastal haze out over Malibu. Trust the data, indeed. There it is in the first frame, just peeking over the neighbor’s roof, exactly where I expected it to be! Then look up in that upper right corner, where on frame #6085 it’s just leaving the frame…

…and 24 seconds later, having moved the camera and lined it up, frame #6086 shows it coming into the frame here in the upper left! Nailed it!

One thing I wanted to see the picture for because it was really obvious to the eye – look at the bottom center where the ISS is just about to go over the horizon. See how throughout its path it’s about the same brightness, fading just a little as it got into the haze off toward Bakersfield? But just about there it got noticeably brighter for about 12 seconds? The data’s there. It happened.

My guess is that, being at the end of the daylight portion of the orbit, the big solar panels were maneuvering into position to pick up the sun coming around on the other side and in doing so they flared. Just my guess, but it fits.

The only downside tonight was that the focus was just a tiny little bit off. Not much, but enough to be a little annoying since almost everything else was perfect.

It’s been a great week for ISS passes here in LA!

2 Comments

Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space

July 18, 2019 · 22:27

ISS Pass – July 18th

A “so-so” pass I believe is how I referred to it last night. Well, yes and no.

Yes — it didn’t get super high and bright. Which, I now know, means that it’s only about the same brightness as all of those 737’s and 777’s out there. Not quite “dim.”

No — now that I’m getting my act together and making sure that I focus correctly and got much better control of the manual settings of the camera, it still makes some nice pictures!

A lot going on here – the ISS is the trail from just to the left of below center, passing behind the top of the big tree, then up to the middle right. The other things are aircraft.

What I forgot was to trust my data and start shooting about 30 seconds before Heavens-Above said that the ISS would rise. I waited until I saw it. Trust your data!

These are five-second exposures since I wasn’t facing straight into the street light and it was well past dusk. A couple of cars rolled by while I was shooting, and their headlights (and brake lights, lower right) lit up those trees nicely. But even the mountain a mile away behind the palm trees (not burning tonight) is well lit. Of course, the other factor is shooting at f3.5 instead of f5.6.

Then it was time to shift the camera – yeah, I did a much better job of making sure I took pictures until the ISS was at the edge of the frame! But there’s a street light over there too…

But there’s also a telephone pole.

The ISS is the upper trail here, starting just to the left of the telephone pole in the middle, headed toward the lower left corner. Again, the other trails are aircraft headed into Burbank.

Getting there! Planning ahead, focus, proper camera settings… It’s almost going to be like I know what I’m doing!

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space