On this new moon weekend, I was not planning on
doing any photography, but hoping for good
weather because some of Jean's friends from
Kendo were scheduled to come out and observe
for the first time. Unfortunately the first
rain in 5-6 months elected to hit the night
before and the weather was so unstable that
during the day, the sky went from 95% clear to
dark, threatening rain clouds in one hour. But
at least we were rewarded by some interesting
atmospheric phenomena including crepuscular
rays just after sunrise, and a spectacular
sunset (see photos below). In addition, we also
observed visually:
- Circumhorizontal arc (rainbow type ice crystal
diffraction bands)
- Green flash at sunset
These atmospheric effects are described in
"Color and Light in Nature" by David K. Lynch
and William Livingston.
Astronomical objects had to be chased between
clouds during what turned out to be a very
short observing session, but we did get to see
a nice variety of objects:
- A very young moon (~1 day old)
- Venus
- Globular cluster M13
- Planetary nebula M27 (Dumbbell nebula)
- Epsilon Lyrae double-double
- Albireo
Early morning crepuscular rays (center)
Sunset photos by Jean Kodama
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