LUNAR ECLIPSE AND HEAVY RAIN

The other night was a lunar eclipse.  Living in the country now, we were hoping for a great view of these kinds of events.  It was a little overcast but we were NOT disappointed!

Check this out!  I took about two dozen photos hoping I'd at least get a good one.  I think this is a pretty good one, ha.  I told 2nd Man I might just need a telescope one of these days...you know, Christmas, birthday...

Just sayin'

Then yesterday afternoon, we had a HUGE pop up thunderstorm come right over us (the star is our house).  It dropped almost an inch of rain.  The ground was so dry it absorbed most of it but of course, still some standing water.  Not sure I will be able to mow today and that WAS the plan.  I may edge later this evening and then hope it's dry tomorrow.  

Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON

Well, we all survived the SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON last night.  Now don't give up looking after the first photo...they get much better, ha.

I was using my new camera (Christmas present) to take some pictures.

The first few were blurry...

I changed a few settings and got rid of the blur but then it was just a white disc.  So I came back to the apartment, looked online and found an article on how to take photos of the moon...

I changed some settings (from auto to manual and then the F-stop, shutter speed, etc) and behold...

Much better and you can see the moon pretty clearly!

It was rapidly going away so I kept taking pics.  When it was fully eclipsed, I couldn't get any setting that picked up enough light to get a good photo (I think that's when you need photography with a telescope).

But then the orange glow appeared...

Super Blood Wolf Moon

Here's the one that shows the "blood" part of the process.  Loved seeing this in real time, we can only imagine what it must have been like hundreds or thousands of years ago when our ancestors looked into the night sky and saw this.  It must have seemed like the end of the world was upon them. 

Wished we had been at the farm to see it but work came early this morning.

CELESTIAL BODIES

I'm kind of a space nerd, love rockets and planets and all things space and astronomy related.  So one night at the farm, I snapped this picture of the Moon and Venus as they were coming up over the barns.

It came out pretty nice...

Moon and Venus

One of my dreams at the farm is to have a nice telescope so we can check out  things "up close"...with a camera attachment for photography. Until then, I'll do what I can with with my own eyes and my own camera.  It would be cool to have a small observatory type building.  We don't have much light pollution at the farm, though civilization does creep ever closer.  I might should get my stargazing in sooner rather than later, ha.

Anyone have a telescope they use for star-gazing?
Ever seen anything really cool?

THE BLOOD MOON

Picture via a relative that lives a bit Northwest of us.  They were free of the clouds we had all over our area that prevented us from seeing it.  Well, we did catch a glimpse of it behind the clouds, a sort of reddish glow.

Blood Moon

Of course most all the pictures I've seen this week look pretty much the same, ha.  Is it Mars?  Or the moon?  It's the moon of course.  Very pretty!  Astronomy stuff is so awesome.

Did you get to see it?

MOONLIGHT GLOW

This is the moon one evening at the farm...the camera usually takes a sharp clear picture of the moon when I've done it in the past...but on this particular evening, the moon had such a bright glow...

Moon quote

...it was almost as if it was lit up from the inside.  Definitely a beautiful sight from the front porch as it rose over the trees.  Yet another thing we love about having our place away from the city.  

It just doesn't get any better than this!

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON WE BID A HERO FAREWELL

Blue Moon - color enhanced photo courtesy of space.com

Today is a relatively uncommon occurrence...there is a Blue Moon.

OK, OK, so the moon is not actually blue, that's a name that came about years ago.  Simply put, the Blue Moon refers to the second full moon in a one month period.  Normally of course, there is just one full moon in a month, so there would be twelve per year.  This year, the first full moon was on Aug 2nd and today, the 31st, is the second one.  We'll have thirteen full moons this year.

The last one occurred in December 2009.  If you miss this today, you'll have to wait around until July 2015 for the next one.  It is this long period of time that helped coin the phrase "once in a blue moon", to describe a rare/unusual event.

When was the last time you said something only gets done once in a blue moon?  Well today is your chance!  Do it!

Ironically, today is also when the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, is being laid to rest in a private ceremony.  Sadly, he passed away last weekend after complications from heart surgery.  I was still a small child when he first set foot upon the moon, but in the years following, I considered him to be one of my greatest heroes.  My parents had a house built when I was about 6, and I asked for a NASA themed bedroom.  I got Apollo 11 wallpaper and red white and blue shag carpet (hey, it was the 70's).  I had space pictures everywhere, and built model kits of rockets and hung them from my ceiling.  For a brief few years, I wanted to be an astronaut (along with most of my friends).

He inspired a generation and his heroism, and those at NASA that helped put him there, will not be forgotten.

His family released this statement:

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request.

Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."  ---  Armstrong Family

I think that's a pretty neat thing to do tonight.

What will you do with your blue moon?

SUPERMOON

 Tomorrow night (Saturday), there will be a sky watching treat as the moon not only becomes it's regular "full moon", it will also make it's closest approach to Earth all year.  It will appear in the sky to be much larger and up to 16% brighter.  When it lies close to the horizon, it appears even larger, something they call the "moon illusion".  This time around, with the moon at its closest point as well, it should make for some stunning photographs, and I hope to capture one or two while at the farm.

The full moon in May is traditionally known as the "Flower Moon".  It's also known as the "Full Corn Planting Moon" and/or the "Milk Moon".

Image courtesy of: SPACE.com

Click HERE for the fancy pants scientific explanation.

So go outside tomorrow night and look up at the sky, instead of down at the garden, and enjoy the supermoon!