Tag: Belt of Venus

Photography

Morning Clouds and Belt of Venus

Shelly

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Not just the Belt of Venus, but there are also some reflected sunrise colors along the cloud tops. The clouds cleared away within about half an hour, and it turned into a bright, gorgeous day.

Did y’all see that Google has teamed up with LIFE magazine, making millions of images searchable and available online? This is hugely cool! I spent quite awhile going through photos from the dust bowl (just watched a special on that over the weekend), and will definitely spend more time there. They’re large images, too, and I don’t see any restrictions on usage, though the full-sized images are watermarked. I think that’s a nice compromise.

Photography

Belt of Venus and Clouds at Sunset

Shelly

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This was the view from my patio at 6:48pm.

I sometimes feel a little weird leaving the patio blinds open so late, because I know that if there is anyone in the back field, they can see in; but on the other hand, if I closed them as soon as it started to get dark, I would miss stuff like this. I looked up from reading, and saw a wonderful pink tinged, rippled sky. The pink had faded from the clouds in the time it took to grab my camera, but there was still enough light to get a passable photo of the clouds.

Photography

Evening Belt of Venus and Twilight Wedge Progression

Shelly

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Belt of Venus and Twilight Wedge on Northern Horizon

Joyce mentioned once in comments that one of the photos I’d taken of the Belt of Venus didn’t show the accompanying Twilight Wedge. Since the sky was really clear at sunset, I thought I’d try and get a series of photos of the lengthening Twilight Wedge, to illustrate how it progresses. These photos were taken at three minute intervals. If you look, you can see the faint band of blue along the horizon growing larger with each consecutive photo. Eventually, the Twilight Wedge overshadows the Belt of Venus, joining with the darkening twilight sky above.

The Belt of Venus is the pink to brownish band of light above the horizon, opposite the setting or rising sun. It’s the result of the sunset/sunrise reflecting on the atmosphere, so it’s pinkish in color.

The Twilight Wedge is the blue band below the Belt of Venus. It starts out as a faint purplish tinge along the horizon, and grows larger and larger until it eclipses the Belt of Venus and joins with the darkening twilight sky above. The Twilight Wedge is the shadow of the Earth cast on the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Rising Moon with Belt of Venus and Twilight Wedge on Eastern Horizon

Photography

More Belt of Venus

Shelly

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Two more views of the evening Belt of Venus. The first is looking North, and the second is facing East. The Belt of Venus is the pink band. The color comes from the sunset (or sunrise) opposite reflecting on the Earth’s atmosphere. Below the pink band is the blue band of the twilight arch. That’s the shadow of the Earth cast on the atmosphere.

On a clear evening or morning, if you have an unobstructed view the horizon on all sides, you can see that the pink belt stretches nearly the full 360 degree of the skyline, only fading away as it approaches the setting or rising sun. It is the most distinct, though, at the opposite horizon from the sun.

Photography

Trains & Belt of Venus

Shelly

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You can’t see them in this photo, but just beyond the tree line there are railroad tracks. I’m actually really happy about that. The tracks are close enough that I can hear the trains, but far enough that the sound isn’t overpowering. It’s not that I’m nuts about trains (I have a couple of coworkers who are, so I now know what train fanaticism looks like), but I find their presence comforting. It’s like when I was young, and I’d have bad dreams, and I’d wake up and wait for a car to drive by. Somehow, knowing that there were people awake and going about their business was comforting. Trains are sort of like that for me, now.

Photography

The Sky Above

Shelly

The weather yesterday was turbulent. High temperature and lots of atmospheric instability led to an impressive storm system blowing through in the late afternoon. Owen County and Monroe County were both under tornado warnings, so I decided to stay at work until the storms passed. I’m glad I did, because as I drove home, the sky was amazing. As I was heading out of town, I noticed a patch of mammatus clouds. I tried to get a couple of shots from my car, while traffic was stopped, but they didn’t turn out very well. Luckily, the clouds held together until I got to a place where I could safely pull over.

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25 May 2006, Curry Pike, Monroe County, Indiana

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25 May 2006, Intersection of Ratliff Rd. and Starnes Rd., Monroe County, Indiana

A patch of mammatus clouds had begun to pull apart into elongated forms. The frothy clouds in the lower left made the sky look like a turbulent ocean, reminding me of a nineteenth-century shipwreck painting.

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Sunset 25 May 2006

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Eastern Sky at Sunset 25 May 2006

The sunset was reflecting off the tops of clouds in the east, and the pink glow showed through the clouds.

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Belt of Venus 22 May 2006

Crankypantsing, Photography

Happy Friday!

Shelly

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Belt of Venus 15 December 2005

Yesterday morning was gross and disgusting, with the dreaded “wintry mix” of snow, rain, and sleety crap. The sky cleared up in the afternoon, though, and the rest of the day was absolutely gorgeous. I got another photo of the Belt of Venus at sunset. I think this one turned out a bit better than the last ones I took. The colors are a little more saturated and brighter, I think because the reflectivity of the remaining snow provided more light. The trees in the foreground aren’t just black blobs; they’ve got a bit of shading and definition.

I picked up a track pad, and have been playing around with it. I’m a little meh about it, but for the time being, it’s giving me a break from the mouse. It’s a little frustrating retraining my mousy hand-eye coordination to work with finger-tip motion instead of wrist motion, but adjusting to it hasn’t taken as long as I thought it would. It’s still too early for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, though. If I decide I like it, I may see if I can get a keyboard-track pad combo for my work computer. A few folks have them, but I wanted to make sure it would be an improvement before asking for one.

I went into town to register my car[1] (finally!) and to get gas and run a few other errands. But! I got to the gas station and my damned bank card wouldn’t work. They’d sent me a replacement card, because a vendor I’d purchased something from had reported being hacked. I called the bank, and according to them the new card ought to work, but for some reason it’s not. So I guess I’m waiting for a new, new card to get here. In the meantime, I have to figure out how I’m going to get cash, which is more problematic than one might think. They’ve closed most of their branches, and the ones that are still open have some seriously wacky-assed–and totally non-work-compatible–hours. Hrmph.

So, anyway, I’ve been home most of the day, with the teevee on in the background. I haven’t been actively watching it, but there’s one ad that’s run repeatedly that’s about to get on my last nerve. It’s an animated commercial for Triaminic, a kids’ cold medicine. In it, a momma clam tries to get her child clam to take its medicine. The child refuses, and the mother whips out the “I’m going to tell your father!” threat. WTF? First, why on earth is the mother incapable of disciplining her kids on her own? Second, what an awful message to send to kids, telling them that their fathers are to be feared. It’s as if a mans main role in child-rearing is to crack the whip and keep his kids in line. That’s fucked up.

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[1] I love the folks at the local BMV[2]. I didn’t have the registration for my old car (I’d left it in the glove compartment), but they still let me recycle my old plate. The only problem was that the date sticker had peeled almost all the way off it. It was still hanging on, but there was no way I could put it on my car that way and expect it not to fall off. The woman said I’d have to go to the police to get a new sticker (and pay a $6 replacement fee). Hrmph. But, she took another look at it, and said she might be able to fix it well enough to keep the sticker on the plate. She took it into the back room, glued the hell out of it, and brought it back to me. Yay! It’s a little crinkled, but it’s intact and stuck tight to the plate.

[2] Yes, that’s right. I’ve never had a long wait, even when the place was packed. They’re quick and cheerful and so far have been quite helpful. I can totally recommend this product and/or service!1!!

Art, Photography

Winter Ramblings

Shelly

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After last week’s episode of Adventures in Driving, I ended up staying home all weekend for an extended snow holiday. I wish I could say I got lots of important stuff accomplished, but mostly, I slept, played with the dog, slept, read books, slept, played with the dog, and slept some more. Also, I slept. And played with the dog. Apparently, I had a lot of sleeping to catch up on, which was good, because I ended up staying up way past my bedtime last night. I had to watch the finale of Survivor, dontchaknow?

Anyway, the long weekend was a much-needed mini mental health holiday. I did finally get around to clearing the rest of the snow off the deck and car yesterday, before it could refreeze into a sheet of ice. Since I still haven’t bought a window scraper, I figured I’d better plan ahead. That was about the most constructive thing I did. Alas, it was only marginally helpful.

When I pulled in on Thursday–after unsticking myself after I slid off the road–I’d been waffling about leaving the car in 4WD. Should I or shouldn’t I? I finally decided on “should,” and was damned glad of it this morning. We’d gotten just enough sleet yesterday, then snow overnight, to make the lane close to impossible to navigate. It was that yucky almost-freezing slush that, when compacted (by, like, feet or car tires), turns to ice. So, of course, I ended up sliding sideways into the neighbors’ yard again. Did I mention that they’ve got a pond that is disturbingly close to the road? It’s not so scary when going up the lane, but coming down it, if you slide off in the right place–and, of course, I did–you feel like you’re aimed right at it. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. I was able to get myself out and get onto the public road without too much trouble, but even so, that’s not what I wanted to be doing at 5am.

I love cold and snow–truly I do–but (obviously!) I hate to drive in it. I also can’t stand the dreary Indiana winters. The sun finally came out today, which helped, but we’ll soon return to the endless monotony of grey, grey, grey. And more snow on Wednesday, too, likely mixed with sleet and freezing rain and all the vile crap that takes all the fun out of snowdays. Humph.

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So, about Survivor… I wasn’t really keen on any of the final contestants after Gary was voted out. It was more a matter of who I didn’t want to win (isn’t that usually the case?) As far as I was concerned, as long as Judd didn’t win, I would’ve been happy. Stephanie not winning was a bonus, though. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like her. She was whiny and negative this time around. Or, maybe, she was always that way and I didn’t notice it previously? Either way, I wasn’t impressed with her.

Judd, though, was another matter. Talk about rude, obnoxious, petulant, mean, selfish, arrogant, and ignorant. I really can’t think of anything nice to say about him. He was a complete ass, to the point that I often had to turn the channel because I couldn’t stand the embarrassment factor. I had to laugh, though, when he had a melt-down because Stephanie had the audacity to not share information with him. Specifically, she didn’t tell him that she and the others had decided to vote him out. Can you blame her, after the shit fits he threw when others dared to cross him? Who in their right mind would want to invite one of his diatribes? Why on earth it came as a surprise to him that others–even those in his alliance–would perhaps not share all their cards with him, is a mystery to me. It happens in real life, and a competition such as Survivor is bound to intensify the behavior. No matter how well you know someone, trust them, and believe they have your best interests in mind, you simply cannot share everything with them. Aside from the fact that humans need a psychological buffer, it’s just not possible to share every waking thought with another person. Nor, if you’re trying to ultimately get an advantage over others, is it desirable.

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Speaking of things that make me go hmmm, there was a recent discussion in the Collage Museum group (I believe the archives are public) about art vs. craft. This is one of those topics that pops up regularly, and never fails to ruffle feathers and knot knickers. Why, I’ll never figure out if I live to be a gazillion. In this go-round–which produced some meaty food for thought–someone took offense at another person’s definitions of the two terms. Several others chimed in to define and explain their points of view. Then, for some mind boggling reason, someone else started tsk-tsking, and demanded that the subject be dropped, because it offended her. Yet another person also requested the subject be discontinued, because he is “very busy” and cannot be bothered to read voluminous posts covering such piddling matters. M’kaythen. Are these last two people adults, or what? If they’re busy, or offended, then stop reading. Don’t expect others to do your censoring for you. Would you walk into a party, decide you didn’t like the music, and proceed to demand that the hosts and/or guests cater to your wishes to have it changed? You could, I suppose, but I wouldn’t recommend it, as it’s in spectacularly bad taste.

I’m quite happy to report that, though my experience with Yahoo groups is that the list owner will almost always shut down a discussion if anyone starts whinypantsing, the owner of the Collage Museum group did not do so. Good for him.

Vaguest Teaser Evar, AHOY!1!! Speaking of art, I’ve got a new altered book idea. I haven’t started on it, and the concept hasn’t coalesced enough to describe, but I don’t think it’ll be long before I’m ready to begin. I’ll post more when it starts to take shape.

[The above photographs depict the Belt of Venus, taken 5 December 2005. The Belt of Venus is the strip of pinkish color sandwiched between the blue sky (above) and the darker blue shadow of the earth (below). It appears after sunset and before sunrise, along the horizon opposite the sun. The top two photos show the dark shadow more clearly, just above the horizon. In the bottom picture, it’s a faint band nestled just above the dip at the center of the ridge line. It’s nice to have periodic reminders of why I put up with crappy Indiana weather. The gorgeous landscape is a major one.]