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~ Golden stairway to the Moon ~

3/30/2021

The eastern sky cleared long enough for the beautiful full Moon to be seen lighting up a moonlight trail on the water, just like a stairway to the Moon…just awesome!

This lunar phase is the closest full Moon to the Autumnal Equinox (21st March) so Easter occurs after this Full Moon making the 4th April Easter Sunday for 2021.

My Image was taken on the 29th March 2021 with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens set at 40mm attached to a camera tripod, exposure time was 1.3 seconds and ISO 200 at F4.

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~ Sun Halo by the Sea ~

3/29/2021

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While coming back on the sea ferry across Moreton Bay, I looked up into the sky and saw this pretty Sun halo around the Sun and just as I took the picture a couple of welcome swallows flew by in the sea breeze :-)

A solar halo is a very interesting optical phenomenon that’s caused by the Suns light interacting with ice crystals in very high cirrus type clouds. You can also see the same phenomenon when you have a full Moon in the night-time sky. Another interesting fact is this ring around the Sun or Moon is exactly 22 degrees!

You can find out more about the science of solar and lunar halos at:
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm

My image was taken on Sunday the 28th March 2021 with a Canon G7X camera Mark 11 camera; the exposure time was 1/400th second with ISO200 using manual focus.

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Conjunction of Mars with Pleiades Star Cluster in Taurus

3/6/2021

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~ Conjunction of Mars with Pleiades Star Cluster ~
In Taurus (The Bull)
(On the 5th March 2021)

We finally had a clear evening at last to see the conjunction of Mars with the Pleiades star cluster, which is in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull).

I had to take my pictures here at home through a very light polluted sky…but at least I’ve captured the event, car headlights going up and down the street lit up the trees :-)

My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm lens on a tripod. Both images were exposures of 5 seconds with ISO 2500 with five images captured and stacked in DSS to help with the urban light conditions.

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What's Up: March 2021 Skywatching Tips from NASA

3/5/2021

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What are some skywatching highlights in March 2021?

Look for Mars close to the Pleiades in the first couple of weeks of March. Then wake up early to observe the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which return as morning planets this month.

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~ Double Rainbow with a Supernumerary bow ~

3/4/2021

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After an early morning rain shower I raced outside to see if there was a rainbow in the sky…and to my utter delight there in the western sky was a stunning double rainbow with a supernumerary bow under the primary.

You have to be very quick to capture these brilliant coloured rainbows because the clouds move quickly and the Sun comes out and it all vanishes just like that!

Supernumeraries are formed because two rays of light may follow slightly different paths within a raindrop but still emerge in the same direction.

This gives rise to interference between the two rays and produces the alternating bright and dark bands in the supernumerary bows. The intensity of the colours gives an indication of the size of the raindrops.

To read more about rainbows and explore the science behind Atmospheric Optics please go to Les Cowley’s excellent website at: https://www.atoptics.co.uk

This image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Sigma 10-20mm lens @12mm, ISO 200 and exposure time was 1/250th second.

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~ Golden stairway to the Moon ~

~ Sun Halo by the Sea ~

Conjunction of Mars with Pleiades Star Cluster in Taurus

What's Up: March 2021 Skywatching Tips from NASA

~ Double Rainbow with a Supernumerary bow ~

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