@vlkphoto / vlkphoto.tumblr.com
An obelisk/sundial from the art deco era (built 1933 by the Public Works of Art Project) in front of the Griffith Observatory. From l. to r. that's Kepler, Galileo, and Copernicus. Hipparchus, Newton, and Herschel are on the obverse side. Los Angeles, CA.
The Rock from the Moon .. [3 / 3]
Piece of a lunar meteorite exhibited at Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL.
MOON When an asteroid or comet impacts the Moon, it sometimes blasts lunar rock completely off its surface. Some of this lunar rock collides with the Earth as a meteorite. The sample here is a very rare meteorite. Name: Northwest Africa 5000 Type: Lunar, feldspathic breccia Location: Found in Southern Morocco, in 2007 This sample is a small slice of a soccer ball-sized lunar meteorite. It is made of rock-forming minerals common on Earth, as well as the Moon. Detailed studies suggest this meteorite collided with the Earth 1,000 years ago.
The Rock from Mars .. [2 / 3]
Piece of a Martian meteorite exhibited at Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL.
MARS Mars's surface is ancient and shows many craters from asteroid or comet impacts. A few Mars rocks, like the one here, were blasted off the planet and hit the Earth as meteorites. Name: Northwest Africa 1195 Type: Martian (shergottite) Location: Found in Eastern Morocco, in 2002 This Martian meteorite is made of lava that cooled on or just below the surface of Mars. Based on its erosion, scientists estimate that this meteorite has been on the Earth's surface for about 200,000 years. Shock waves warped the minerals inside this rock. They suggest it blasted off Mars around one million years ago.
Meteorite Two of Two .. [1 / 3]
Exhibited at Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL.
Name: Allende Type: Carbonaceous Chondrite (CV3) Location: This meteorite fell on February 8, 1969 near the village of Pueblito de Allende in Chihuahua, Mexico. This small piece was part of a massive meteorite that was seen to fall as a brilliant fireball in the sky. The white spots are glassy beads formed by the melting and refreezing of rocky dust. The dark rock is carbon-rich clay. Most scientists believe that Ceres is made of the same kinds of material.
Meteorite One of Two .. [1 / 3]
Exhibited at Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL.
Name: Northwest Africa 3117 Type: Howardite Location: Found in western Morocco, in 2003 This meteorite's appearance indicates it was formed as a mixture of solidified lava at or below the surface of the asteroid Vesta. Based on how eroded it is, scientists assume that it probably fell to Earth within the last few thousand years.
ObShadow .. [3 / 3]
Every time there is a solar eclipse, it is obligatory to show a picture of the pinhole distortions of the shadows through trees. This one, from April 8, 2024, happened before the leaves came back, so the distortions you see are a little more otherworldly.
Coaticook, QC.
ObShadow .. [2 / 3]
Every time there is a solar eclipse, it is obligatory to show a picture of the pinhole distortions of the shadows through trees. This one, from April 8, 2024, happened before the leaves came back, so the distortions you see are a little more otherworldly.
Coaticook, QC.
ObShadow .. [1 / 3]
Every time there is a solar eclipse, it is obligatory to show a picture of the pinhole distortions of the shadows through trees. This one, from April 8, 2024, happened before the leaves came back, so the distortions you see are a little more otherworldly.
Coaticook, QC.
2024 Apr 8
HDR composite of five different frames with exposures ranging from 1/10000 s to 1/80 s. Manually recentered using ds9 and spatial scale corrected using IDL, then pushed through Photomatix to combine the frames. The striations are real, they are caused by the magnetic fields threading through the corona.
As seen from Coaticook, QC.
Compare and contrast with the Aug 21, 2017 eclipse -- 1, 2, 3. To me the 2024 one looked much darker, more glittery, a gothic silvery cold faerie fire. Whether it was the season or the location or the cold air, it had a distinctly different character. Honestly, the Sun looked furious. If we didn't know what was happening, it is clear that human sacrifices would have been seriously contemplated.
Totality or Bust
There is no camera in existence that can truly capture the Real Thing™. The best we can do is describe the elephant in its parts like the blind men. This is a video that shows the moment of totality of the 2024 Apr 8 eclipse, you can see how rapid the event is. The diamond ring flared into such brilliance that even the eye could barely comprehend it, the poor camera sensors have no chance.
That's Venus in mid sky. Mars and Saturn are also supposed to be visible low on the horizon, but the high clouds in the far distance seem to be blocking them off.
Coaticook, QC.
The Dome of the Griffith .. [2 / 2]
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA.
Griffith Observatory .. [1 / 2]
Los Angeles, CA.
Martian Meteorite
At the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA.
This inconspicuous rock is a small fragment from an 18-kilogram (40 lb.) meteorite that fell into a cornfield in Zagami, Nigeria on October 3, 1962. The presence of water and traces of gases from the Martian atmosphere identify this meteorite as a piece of a lava flow on Mars that erupted about 180 million years ago. Zagami was launched from Mars and sent on its way to Earth by an impact almost 3 million years ago. Meteorites from Mars or the Moon are exceedingly rare. So far, only a few dozen of each have been discovered.
There was an annular solar eclipse on Jun 10, 2021. Only a partial eclipse was visible at sunrise from New England, and that too through a layer of clouds. Nahant, MA.
An almost full Moon
Nearly full gibbous Moon peeks through high cirrus at dusk. Pittsburgh, PA.
No AI fakery a la Samsung.
Sun-dial
Ancient sun-dial at the Open Air Vindolanda Museum. Hexham, Northumberland, EN.
I don't know how old this is supposed to be. Even though it is in the museum dedicated to excavations at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall, I don't know if this is a Roman artefact per se. No idea, really.
Spiral Galaxy .. [2 / 2]
One of Loren Lukens's porcelain bowl had an intriguing design of a spiral galaxy. Exhibited at the Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA.
