Pic of the Day

 Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury
January 1st, 2019

                                         Alignment of Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury

                                                      identified with Mercury magnified

                                                 (both images best viewed when enlarged)

     Mercury is always hard to spot.  Especially where I live, here in North Alabama.  But on January 1^st, 2019, I was on the causeway between Titusville, Florida and Merritt Island NWR awaiting the rising sun.  The sky was dark, the waning moon shown bright, but so did two bright planets.  I assumed the planets to be Venus, and Jupiter and when I checked the positions of the two planets I discovered I was correct.  But, I also saw from the chart that Mercury was in the morning sky, below Jupiter and very low to the horizon (as always).   Sure enough, I found it just above the horizon in the glow of dawn. I used binoculars to find Mercury, but once found I could easily see it with the naked eye.

     I was so excited!  The last time I remember seeing Mercury was at least 50, maybe 52 years ago.  An exception of course was the Mercury transit on November 10, 1973.  Mercury was easy to see as it crossed the face of the Sun. (with filters of course).  

     I quickly set up my tripod to take a photo of the event.  I did a number of exposures and settled on this one to post.  The first image shows the moon and all three planets, but mercury is hard to see in the wide-angle shot as it is much dimmer than Venus and Jupiter.  If you can view the image full screen you can see Mercury half way between the left side of the image and the middle of the image in line with the clouds on the horizon. In the second image I have enlarged Mercury, and named each of the planets and moon.  Mercury is inside the white circle.

What a great way to start the New Year.  I hope its not another 50 years before I see Mercury again!  By the way, Florida has a great horizon line for seeing Mercury. Lucky Floridians.

     If you’re interest, Mercury will transit the Sun on November 11, 2019.  The entire transit will be visible from the eastern half of the United States and most of it visible from the entire continent. The transit will last over 5 hours, very long for a transit.

     If I am lucky enough to see this transit it will be my last.  Though there are two more transits, one on November 13, 2032 and another on November 7, 2039 neither will be visible from the North America.  The next transit visible from North American that will be, May 7, 2049. 

Camera: Nikon D800, Lens: Nikkor 16-80mm, f/2.8-4   set at 16mm
Exposure:  2 seconds @ f/5.6,  on tripod 

Footsteps on the Moon

                                 

Full Moon.  Photo by Bobby Harrison

Nikon D7000, 500mm f/4

     July 20^th, 1969 is a day I will never forget as long as I live.  It was one of the most exciting days of my life and perhaps yours as well.  It was the day that man landed on the moon. Long before I was a hard-core birder and bird photographer, I was a space junky.  During my junior high and high school years I lived and breathed astronomy and space travel.  How could I not?  I lived just 20 miles from Huntsville, Alabama at the time.  Werner Von Braun was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, and Von Braun and his team designed the Saturn V rocket that carried man to the moon.  For me it was an exciting time to live!  I spent nights in the backyard with my telescope observing the moon, planets and nebulas.  I mapped the rotation of the Galilean moons of Jupite, observer comets and cut my teeth on astrophotography. 

 Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

source:

https://airandspace.si.edu/events/apollo11/iconic-images/apolloimage.cfm?imageID=2192

 Crew of Apollo 11, (Left to right) Niel Armstrong, Mission commander and first man 

on the moon.Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot, and Buzz Aldrin, Lunar 

Module Pilot and second man to walk on the moon.

source:  http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo11/html/s69_31740.html

      Later in life I got to meet some of those heroes of the early space program.  Buzz Aldrin was one of them.  I first met Buzz in 1992 when he was visiting a local bookstore to promote his book, “Encounter with Tiber.”  I was asked to photograph the event, and of-course,  I jumped at the opportunity.  The first hour-and-a-half was very busy with a constant flow of autograph seekers (me being one), then there was no one there but Buzz and me.  The two of us sat and talked for over an hour.  I asked questions and he happily told stories to answer them.  It was fascinating to have Buzz Aldrin to myself as he told me stories of flying, his time at NASA and his favorite aircraft the F86 Saber.  He flew the Saber during the Korea War, and you should have heard him talk about that jet.  His eyes lit up as he talked about its design, maneuverability, and how sharp it looked.  He spent more time talking about the Saber, than he did about his time in space.  This was another moment in time that I will never forget. 

 Buzz Aldrin with an F-86 Saber

source: http://buzzaldrin.com/the-man/biography

     In 2006 I had another opportunity to meet Buzz.  Tim Gallager (editor of Living Bird Magazine) and I had been elected to the Explorers Club in New York City in 2005.  In 2006 we were among the honorees at the clubs annual dinner to receive the Explorers Club Conservationist of the Year Award.   When I arrived at the pre-dinner events there was Buzz and number of other Great Americans such as astronaut Kathy Sullivan, oceanographer Silvia Earl, entomologist E.O. Wilson (a fellow Alabamian), and others.  We were all seated together on the dais, and I must say it was a pretty cool, another day I will never forget!

 

 March 18, 2006 Explorers Club Annual Dinner

Left to Right, Kathy Sullivan, Bobby Harrison, Sylvia Earle,

 Buzz Aldrin:  Photo by Whitney Harrison Robison

Pic of the Day

Moon from Horse Cove; Gurley, Alabama

     I shot this image last night (1/27/2015) at 5:45 pm.  The clear sky and lack of turbulence in the atmosphere helped to make a sharp image, revealing the detail of the lunar surface.  I particularly love the detail along the terminus of the moons southern hemisphere.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f4 with 1.4 teleconverter (effective 700mm f5.6).  1/2000 second @ f7.1, ISO1600

Lunar Eclipse

 

 

October 8, 2014,  Lunar Eclipse (partial phase)

shot from the campus of Oakwood University.
This image was shot through a thin layer of clouds

     I was up early this morning to photograph the total lunar eclipse, but the weather was not very cooperative.   I arrived on the campus of Oakwood University, (where I teach) where I shot this image.  The weather was very cloudy at my house, but was supposed to be better further west.  When I arrived on campus the sky was much better. However, soon after taking this image, the sky worsened, and the remainder of the eclipse was obscured by clouds.    Perhaps I will have better luck in April, 2015

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm F4, 1/800 second f6.3;  Camera set to DX format

Upcoming Lunar Eclipse

    On October 8th, North America will be treated with the second lunar eclipse of the year.  This is the second eclipse of a tetrad (four total lunar eclipses in a series). The last two eclipses will be April 14th, and September 28th, (2 days before my birthday) 2015.  The first of the tetrad took place on April 15th, 2014.  It was cloudy here in North Alabama and I did not get to see that eclipse.  If the weather permits, I will see this one.  This animation shows how the Earth's shadow crosses the lunar disk during the October 8th eclipse. The animation is from wikipedia.  For more details go to:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2014_lunar_eclipse

     I hope to get lots of good photos of the eclipse.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for clear skys.

Eclipes phases for CDT

                                                     Penumbral begins            3:16am

                                                     Partial begins                  4:15am

                                                     Total begins                    5:25am

                                                     Greatest eclipse              5:55am

                                                     Toal ends                        6:24am

                                                     Partial ends                     7:34am

                                                     Penumbral ends               8:34am