Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds. Conjunctions

I’ve still got my head in the clouds or tilted upward toward the sky. This week there is a 3 planet and Moon conjunction going on in the wee hours before dawn and I’ve been up to see it two of the three mornings it’s visible.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars are all lined up beside or above the Moon.

Here’s how it appeared in my frame on April 14th, 2020. All three planets were rising behind the Last Quarter Moon. I caught a shooting star and a couple of satellites in my image too. They did look a bit bigger with my eyes but look smaller when photographed.

Here’s how it looked this morning with all three planets rising above the Waning Crescent Moon (44%). Jupiter is the brightest planet above and to the right of Saturn which is above the Moon, and Mars is following behind. It looks like I caught a satellite just left and lower than the Moon again this morning.

It’s supposed to start raining tomorrow and cloud up, but if by chance it’s clear tomorrow morning I’ll be up to photograph it. Tomorrow is the last day to observe them when they’re lined up so nicely then Mars will begin marching further eastward and be pulling further away from the other planets.

If you’re up an hour before sunrise on the 16th look southwest or look for the rising moon you can see the conjunction with your eyes no special gear required. Mars will be above and slightly right of the Moon with Saturn and Jupiter above Mars.

By the time first light appears in the morning sky before 6AM for me- dim Saturn and Mars are lost in the light and only Jupiter still burns bright above the moon.

I hope you’re all having a good week, and your spirits are up and you’re busy and well!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 35mm| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 21.1.1

more to come…

UPDATE! April 16, 2020 -It was clear this morning and the moon’s light shining in my bedroom window woke me up so I got up and photographed this line up too. As you see Mars is moving further away from the other two planets. I won’t be getting up and photographing this one again this month. There are other things I have planned this month though. 😀

Nikon D810| Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G| PS CC 21.1.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Looking up

The end of March and through yesterday has been for me, a time of looking up to the night sky. Starting at the end of March I was looking up to see the Moon, Venus and the elusive star cluster called the Pleiades in conjunction. This was a practice shot because the night I was hoping to see Venus and the Pleiades closer together on April 3rd we had rain and snow so the sky was too cloudy to see them. That was a once-in-an-eight year event! I’m just glad I practiced so I saw this conjunction.

Moon Venus Pleiades Conjunction Nikon D810| Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G|f/2.8|2.8s|ISO 400| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.3

Last night was the Supermoon. It appears just a bit larger than normal because the Moon comes the closest to Earth in its elliptic orbit called perigee.

We’ve been having light rain and snow and it was overcast all day but, we got lucky last night and the sky to the east was clear! I went down to the golf course with my next-door neighbor to photograph the Supermoon rise over the Pinenut Mountains.

Supermoon April 7 2020

Nikon D810| 24-120mm at 70mm|f/10|1/6s|ISO 250| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.3

Then I switched cameras and made an image of just the Moon. Our moon looked more golden than pink, but the Belt of Venus wasn’t very deep in color around us either so…golden.

Supermoon April 7 2020

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon XF100-400mm LM OIS at 386mm| f/11| 1/100s| ISO 250| SunDisk Digital Film|PS CC 21.0.3

More things that are looking up is that we’ve had 8 people who had the Covid-19 virus move to the recovered side of life! There are still 17 active cases in our Quad county region. There have been no deaths yet. Knocking on wood that continues and that all move to the recovered column soon!

I hope you’re doing well and keeping busy.

I’ll leave you this thought today.

““Bad stuff does happen sometimes, always remember that but remember that you have to move on somehow. You just pick your head up and stare at something beautiful like the sky or the ocean and you move the hell on.”
― James Patterson, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas

more to come…

Wordless Weds. Reflections

Reflections

Nikon Df| Nikkor 24-120mm| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.3

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends-Scaups

When it was snowing last week my neighbor and I took our cameras for a walk and had a lovely couple of hours birding our own neighborhood. We’ve been keeping 6 feet apart and she’s in my very small group of contacts that I am seeing as we get through this pandemic.

These are Lesser Scaups that migrate and winter here. There are currently several pairs staying in a couple of the ponds at the golf course that meander through our community.

They are in the dipping/diving duck family and are the most abundant diving duck in North America.

I have no idea how much longer they’re going to be here, but I’ve enjoyed seeing them here.

Lesser Scaup Male

This is a group of both males and females that got skittish as we got closer to their end of the pond.

Lesser Scaup Males in Flight

Going for walks when I can have been great for my mind and spirit. I hope you’re all finding ways to keep your spirits up during this self-distancing and quarantine time.

We’ll get through this! 🥰

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon XF100-400mm LM OIS| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.3

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Peek-a-Boo!

Almost two weeks ago some friends and I went out to see the Wild Mustangs and we were delighted to find them. I think they enjoyed seeing us too.

Wild Mustangs

So, what’s been going on with me this past week? The biggest news is Friday evening we had a pretty good Earthquake. It felt like a 5.0 and when I got the first USGS report it said it was a 5, but later was downgraded to a 4.5. The epicenter was way to close to home! A few things fell off the bookshelves; nothing broke. We were unsettled for the rest of the night expecting aftershocks, but all is good. We’ve had one aftershock that we felt on Saturday evening that’s all. Too bad I didn’t leave that behind when we moved out of California!

Covid-19 is on everyone’s minds here too, thankfully, there are only 4 cases in my county none are in the hospital; I think that’s a positive sign. No new ones reported today. Knock on wood!

I’m keeping busy and looking forward to a bit better weather so I can resume my daily walk or hike. Today…which is Tuesday the day before this goes live we’ve got wind that is in 20mph range with gusts up to 36mph. I sure can feel those bigger gusts hitting the house so, I’m staying in doing some housework, working on images, and I watched a movie. I’ll be reading a chapter or two of a Sci-Fi novel I’m reading by Joshua Dazelle it’s Book 3 in his Black Fleet Saga. I started to draw an Iris yesterday which I may finish and then paint, but I’m not feeling very confident with the drawing. I’m really trying to do it free-hand and not fall back on my graphite paper or light table. If it comes out I’ll probably share it on Instagram.

There you go all caught up with me. Tell me what’s new with you?

Fugi X-T3| Fujinon XF 100-400mm LM OIS| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.3

more to come

Wordless Wednesday- House Finch

House Finch

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon XF100-400mm LM OIS at 400mm| 3/17/2020| SanDisk Digital Film

more to come…

Whatever Weds. 4 Points

A girlfriend and I got up early after a snowstorm in January for a sunrise photography outing and then we headed to a birding location when we came across this guy along the way.

Did you know that one the west coast it’s common to only count the points on one side of the antlers, and on Mule Deer like these you don’t count the brow tines- the ones coming above the brow?

On the east coast they count all the points. Who knew? I’ve gone with the west coast rule of thought and counted only one side. 😀

4 Point Buck

There were quite a few Doe’s too. Here’s one.

Doe Mule Deer

I hope you are having a lovely week. We’re halfway to the week-end! Let’s make a point of making it a good one! 😋

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm| PS CC 21.0.3

more to come…

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