Venus Transit

Ok, so I'm no NASA, but I think I did a fairly decent job.  Here's the view of the Venus transit as seen from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 05-06-2012

This photo was picked up by chrisd.ca.  They gave me credit, which is great, but no link-back which is not great etiquette.  Oh well.  Next time.

Venus Transit, a photo by MB Event Horizon on Flickr.

Here's NASA's version of events:

 

Partial Solar Eclipse

Here are my photos from the partial solar eclipse on May 20th, 2012

White-breasted Nuthatch

From Wikipedia:

The White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a small songbird of the nuthatch family which breeds in old-growth woodland across much of temperate North America. It is a stocky bird, with a large head, short tail, powerful bill and strong feet. The upperparts are pale blue-gray, and the face and underparts are white. It has a black cap and a chestnut lower belly. The nine subspecies differ mainly in the color of the body plumage.

Like other nuthatches, the White-breasted Nuthatch forages for insects on trunks and branches, and is able to move head-first down trees. Seeds form a substantial part of its winter diet, as do acorns and hickory nuts that were stored by the bird in the fall. The nest is in a hole in a tree, and the breeding pair may smear insects around the entrance as a deterrent to squirrels. Adults and young may be killed by hawks, owls and snakes, and forest clearance may lead to local habitat loss, but this is a common species with no major conservation concerns over most of its range.

Drumhellar

Our first major stop in Alberta was Drumhellar.

"Located in the heart of the Badlands, Drumheller Valley has an interesting history which spans back some 70  million years to a time when the area was very different looking than it is today. The land was flat and the climate was tropic, providing the needed habitat for plants and animals alike to flourish. These vast plains crossed by many rivers originating in the Rocky Mountains and spilling into the Bear Paw Sea, were the home of what we today know as the Dinosaur.

The arrival of the Ice Age covered the region with thick layers of ice. As glaciers as think as one kilometer melted, lakes and valleys were formed leaving us with what is know today as the Red Deer River Valley.

At the end of the ice age this newly formed Valley became home to new inhabitants. First came animals and plants, and then the Native people. Living in both the Valley and prairie that surrounds it, they made for themselves a quiet, serene existence. Buffalo jumps, ceremonial sites and campsites mark their existence in the area. They stayed for many years, with the land and river providing for them." Source:http://www.dinosaurvalley.com/history

We arrived by car early in the afternoon, and checked out the pedestrian suspension bridge.  It was a little nerve racking.  It sways and resonates with the steps of all on board.  However, if I have learned anything  from Myth-buster, it is that an accident of such a nature is very unlikely.

The views from the other side of the bridge were quite nice, for those who put a little effort into the short hike up the hills.

As we made our way back to the car, and took a final snapshot of the area, some of the friendly locals shot us back a wave from a boat on the river below (pun not intended).

Before we found a spot for our tent, we had the opportunity to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum which was probably the single most fascinating museum I have seen to date.  We were immediately greeted with some very realistic looking life size models of dinosaurs, complete with vocal simulations.  Who knows how accurate it all is, but it certainly makes the imagination kick into high gear right off the bat.

The museum houses casts of real fossils, assembled, and held in place by metal supports, in life-like poses.

The museum also holds real fossils.

I'll leave some pleasant surprises for you, but the last thing I'll mention was this reproduction of Charles  Darwin's first notebook on transmutation.  He, and other early pioneers of the genetic theory of evolution, were truly giants of intellect, weather or not you in-fact believe their theories to be true. 

In addition to that, they have many actual fossils.  Some are on display, others are on semi-display in the "preparation lab" where you can see many fossils artifacts as works in progress.  I wonder what they are working on now???  For our visit, we did not actually see anyone working on the specimens.

We also found Reptile World, which is a zoo filled to the brim with interesting, live animals, that share our modern lifetimes, but hint a lot at the types of animals portrayed in the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  Special thanks to one of the zoo keepers who let us actually handle Brittany, a common boa constrictor who was born at the zoo.

Then there's this little guy...

He oversees a nice little water park, where kids can cool down, and parents can take a break.  If you pay the fee, you can go up into his mouth and have a look around.


More to come...

Dark Skies

I was able to spend some time far from city lights in August, and the weather cooperated long enough to get some night sky shots. These were taken over the course of two nights. In these shots, you can see the streak of the plane of our own galaxy, the milky-way.


In this next shot, you can see the apparent paths the stars take around the north pole of our planet as it spins around in space. The northern star (Polaris) is just off camera to the top right. If you could see it in this shot, you would see why it is such an important star. It barely "moves" over the course of the night, making it useful for navigation.

There is nothing like these kind of views to make you feel small. Each little light in the sky could light someone else's day. For some interesting reading, check this link out. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes, and I miss him. This is obviously an old video, but it is still quite thought provoking. Bear in mind that he is talking only about our galaxy. And consider that the Hubble telescope (which wasn't around when this video was made) is able to see hundreds of billions of galaxies in the night sky. How does considering all the galaxies in the observable universe make you feel? Put aside the notion of communication. It seems to me that it is inconceivable that intelligent life, other than our own, is not out there. We just may never have a conversation with each-other. Or perhaps we will! OR HAVE!!!???

But we are just barely making steps out into our own cosmic neighborhood. So if we have a conversation with anyone else in my lifetime, the other end of the line is surely far more advanced than we are now. Personally that assures me a little bit. If they have advanced that far, chances are they are not murderous galactic carnivores bent on eating my brain.

This photo is of one of our own planets. Jupiter in his distant glory.





UPDATE: An acquaintance of mine researches UFOs around the world, and just posted this entry in his blog. Right here in Winnipeg! I don't know what "it" was, and he doesn't yet either, but I thought it was a little bit of synchronicity. Maybe someone knows for sure what this thing was? Post a comment over at his blog if you have some sort of first hand knowledge that can help shed some light on this mysterious black triangle.