Jupiter is in opposition

I enjoy doing all my posts, but this one has been even more fun to do than most of them. It has given me the chance to explore the night sky, learn a little astronomy, although strictly speaking, I ought to say planetology, and experiment with the limits of my camera, in which I am well pleased.  

I read last month that Jupiter would be in opposition on August 20, 2021. Being retired, and having little else to do, I knew that I would be free to take some pictures that night. Unfortunately, we got rain. By the 22nd though, the sky had cleared up once again. The palm trees were still wet from earlier showers, but at least I could see the sky. I grabbed my camera and hoped for the best. 

But first of all, what does it mean that Jupiter is in opposition?

It means that the sun, earth and Jupiter are positioned in a straight line. When celestial objects are directly opposite the sun, they appear brighter in the sky. (no surprise there) And, because Jupiter will be near to its closest approach to the earth for this year, it will appear very slightly larger to us.    

Let me start by showing you what I saw the night of the 22nd. Sorry for the camera movement in this picture. I hadn't settled down yet. You can see from the reflection on the palms how wet it still is, and look at that haze around the moon.  

 That's Jupiter to the left.  

I started zooming in on it...and then...

I hadn't realized, when I started my project to photograph Jupiter, that I would be able to see its moons. Imagine my surprise then, when I zoomed in on that planet, as tiny flickers of light near it resolved into what I realized were moons.  I was very pleased.  

I should clarify something.  According to Wikipedia, Jupiter has 80 moons, and even a bunch of 'moonlets,' all whizzing around it. The four largest are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.  

If you'll take another look back at the photo, you'll notice that it appears there are only three visible. Well, I suppose one could be hiding either in front or behind the planet at present, or, and this is what seems apparent to me, two are passing one another.  Look at this next shot.

I blew the picture up a bit.  

I'm pretty sure that that moon in the lower right is actually two of them.  Is that cool or what? 

The next night, the 23rd, I took a few more pictures. They appear below. I have blown each of them up to about the same size as the first one.  The first one was taken at 9:11 and the second at 10:59

I took this next shot just before I called it quits for the night. I was tired and again had some trouble with camera shake. 

This one shows the moon, Jupiter next at about 10 o'clock from the moon and Saturn, at about 10 o'clock from Jupiter. Jupiter is right now, about 385 million miles from the earth. Saturn is about 746 million miles from us. Since Saturn was up there, I decided I would try to get a look at it as well.  

This is the best I could do.   

I wish it were clearer. The humidity was 64% that night. Oh well, that just means that I have something to shoot for in the future. I'll get back to you when I get something better.  

And, since we're talking planets, I might as well show you another that was hanging around in the west while I was shooting Jupiter.  

That's Venus, just over The Ferns. I'm taking the picture from Rosecourt. 

I've been trying every night since the 23rd, to take further pictures. Unfortunately, the clouds have prevented it. I did get J. and one of its moons very dimly on the 26th, but more rain has moved in and will be with us for several days.  

I hope to be able to get lots more pictures of Jupiter. As it moves farther away though, relative to Earth, and appears less directly lighted to us, I may find it more difficult. I'll keep you posted in any event.    -djf

Waitakere Gardens, the map

I've shown you quite a number of photos of Waitakere Gardens. They have been though, a hodgepodge of shots, supporting whatever topic I was talking about.  

Today, I'd like to show you a map of the place and each building separately, so you get a better idea of the size and shape of our village.  

This is the sign in the circle drive and front entrance.  

Let's work our way down the sign and show you each building as we go. Check out the map below as you look at the buildings.  

The Atrium, with our apartment indicated with the orange dot. And, as it happens, the 'A' on the map shows the approximate location of our apartment. 

The map shown above labels the left end of the Atrium building as the Community Center. The C.C. is only on the ground floor, with three floors of apartments above it.   

The C.C. consists of reception and business offices, the library, solarium, Opanuku Cafe with outdoor grills/seating, Bar and Twin Streams Lounge, swimming pool, fitness room, coffee/tea/chocolate nook, toilets, events room, mailbox and notice room, craft room and Nurse's Office. 

This is Millbrook, taken from our balcony,

and this is Millbrook from the street side. 

The Palms

Rosecourt from inside the village.

Rosecourt from the street side. 

The Ferns  (African Garden and Fernery on the left)  

The Mews (Nothing to do with cats.)  Mews is the British name for a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses, with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses, before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century.  (Wikipedia)   

The Vines with Sky Bridge from The Mews/Ferns. 

The Vines from the gardens behind it. 

I wanted to give you the map as well, because in past posts, I talked about walking in the halls after dinner or on rainy days. If you look at the map again, you can readily see what a great walk we can have by first circling the open portion of the Atrium, and then proceeding through the Mews, the Ferns and finally to Rosecourt. We can then retrace our steps or use the stairs to get to another floor and work our way back to the Atrium. We could really make our hike long and complicated if we crossed the Sky Bridge, shown in blue on the map, and walked the floors/steps in the Vines.  

The map also shows you the garden areas throughout the village. We have found that we can easily walk for 30 minutes, all outdoors and within the village.  If we want to spend more time walking, we can simply repeat our route, but with variations. 

There are about 310 residents. The village is gated and the carpark attached to The Vines, (see map) shares a common wall with the Henderson City Police Department carpark. It's a very safe place to live.   

I've been impressed with the residents we've met here. It is a vibrant community whose population happens to be over 65 years of age. One new friend made his first skydive when he turned 80. We have a resident who sang opera during her career and who entertained at a women's dinner recently. There are a number of extremely talented artists and a published author.

Kiwis on the whole are a very well-traveled nation. I've listened to after-dinner stories about such diverse places as Scotland, the Cook Islands, and Egypt. Practically every Kiwi I've met has commented to me that they have visited America (sometimes multiple times) or have family living there now. I've especially enjoyed hearing the stories some have told of very positive experiences had while in the United States.   

Well, I've tried in this post, to give you a better understanding of our new home. Maybe you can tell how impressed I am with it. I hope that we can contribute to it as we enjoy our golden years.      -djf   

C'mon man. It's like planting a tree.

Actually, if you take a closer look at the text to the right above the bird, you'll see it stated that this mural equals 182 trees. A regular forest. Wow!  

This is the mural that I heard about not long ago. It was produced, I was told, with paint that  absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That's amazing, right?  And they're telling us very clearly that it absorbs as much as 182 trees do. Oh. Really?  That's a lot of CO2. 

Let's think about this for a moment. Trees live a long time. They start out small but grow and live for many years. To say that this layer of paint on a wall is the same as 182 trees is quite a claim. Hmm, I wonder how much carbon dioxide the average tree absorbs?  

Well, I looked it up. According to a site that Viessmann Heating maintains and I copied from:

How much CO2 can a tree absorb?

A typical tree can absorb around 21 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, however this figure is only achieved when the tree is fully grown - saplings will absorb significantly less than this. Over a lifetime of 100 years, one tree could absorb around a tonne of CO2   

So, they're telling us that this paint absorbs as much as 182 trees do, huh? I'm assuming they mean fully grown trees, (they don't say saplings) so that means that in one year, they're saying that this mural could absorb 21 kilograms (46.2 pounds) times 182, or 3,822 kilos (8,408.4 pounds) of carbon dioxide. Somehow, I find that a bit hard to believe.  

I did a little more research on this and found this news article I have attached below.  You may read it yourself but my guess is that you're not quite interested enough at this point to do that. 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446350/converse-mural-claims-disingenuous-scientist-says

Let me summarize the article for you then. In it, the writer says that the paint does indeed absorb carbon dioxide; while it dries. 

Oh, so that means that actually, this paint absorbs CO2 like 182 trees would, for what, half and hour; maybe only 15 minutes with direct sun and good air flow?  Gee, that doesn't sound all that impressive, does it?  Or you could say that it would absorb the same amount that one tree absorbs in 45 to 50 hours. Again, not so monumental.   

Furthermore, the writer of the article also tells us that more CO2 is produced while making this paint than it absorbs as it dries.  Hmmm. Bummer. (We don't want that bit of news anywhere near the mural, do we?)

It would take just about 5 minutes for you to read this article. I would suggest that if you haven't read it, you go back now and at least skim through it.  It's got lots of other interesting stuff in it as well. The writer of the article finishes by saying that Converse, the manufacturer of the paint, could not be reached for comment. 

You know, I'm all for minimizing the amount of CO2 we humans produce.  And I'm all for research and products that help achieve that goal.  But I don't like being lied to. Or mislead. To me, exaggerating what this paint does is counterproductive.  

The writer of the article at one point calls the claims 'disingenuous.' He is being much more polite than I have been in my previous paragraph. But I think that this is a good learning opportunity for us all. 

It is an example of how the truth can be and is being twisted. I think this is happening more today than ever before. People are being manipulated. Led by the nose. It's a shame. And I'm not just talking about paint sales here. I'm very close to a rant about politics. Heaven help our world.  

This is section of motorway that passes the mural.  

The following picture is another mural located on the other side of the motorway. I assume that it was painted with regular paint.  Fortunately though, it has some bushy looking trees nearby that are busily absorbing, and they're doing it continuously. And, they're not just absorbing CO2; they're producing oxygen, something that the mural across the motorway can't claim.    

Okay, let's review what I learned today, 

mural = 182 trees?  Give me a break.  

mural = 1 tree for a couple of days, but with no O2?  Maybe.  But it's still a stretch.

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BTW, you might like to know a little more about this mural. If you can zoom in on it, you will find that it is entitled, Vegan To'ona'i".  It was painted by a New Zealand artist known as Askew One. ( aka/ Elliot O'Donnell.)

I read that the painting shows some of Askew's favorite things to eat during a Sunday Samoan feast. There are taro leaves, coconut, brown onion and green banana shown.  

I like it.                                 -djf

I'm glad I found it.

I stood on the sidewalk (called a footpath here) in front of the Hard to Find Bookshop and gazed up and over the flight of concrete steps that led to the open front door. I could tell even at that distance that this was a gem among book sellers. This building was formerly a convent. It's right across from St. Benedict's and it has a big cross over the entrance. I could see heavy dark wood trim just inside.  "Oh, I think I'm going to like it here."

I've told you before that I have always liked to explore 'neat, old buildings.'  Well, this one qualifies, as they say, in spades. And, unless you are new to my posts, you know that I also appreciate books. This neat old building is overflowing with them.  

There was a young woman at the desk just inside who greeted me and asked to take my trolley. "We don't allow any sorts of bags inside," she said. At first I assumed that it was to prevent theft, but after I entered the rooms and began exploring, I realized that it was also because they would be a nuisance to pull or carry through the narrow passages. Wearing a backpack would make it impossible for one to turn around in many places. It made sense to stash them for the duration.     

I published a post not long ago that I called Practically Perfect. It was about another bookstore I found over in Ponsonby. It was neat and orderly, and had a number of interconnecting rooms.  

I like this bookshop even better, despite the differences from Second Hand Bookshop. Whereas the latter was a model of tidiness, this one excels in managed disorder. And there are so many rooms, hallways, and nooks here. There are books absolutely everywhere. It would take a person weeks to look through them all. Unbelievably, I met and talked to an employee who was busily stuffing yet more books onto an alcove. 

And the smell. What would a used book store be without the smell? Second Hand Bookshop (The one in Ponsonby) pleased me with it's perfume. The emanation of this place grabbed my attention and shouted, "These rooms are old, these books come from every time and every place. You are privileged to walk among them."  

I wish you could smell this place. I wish you could shoulder your way with me through its passages. Have the opportunity to look around yourself and imagine all the years this building has been occupied, and the tens of thousand of authors who have contributed their efforts to it. 

The best I can do however is to show you some pictures. Better than a thousand words though, right? 

Let's start in the Chapel and look at it's ceiling. Not the Sistine of course, but nicely done.  

   And now let's continue wandering. 

I got carried away. I took dozens of pictures.  I won't show you all of them but hopefully just enough to give you the feeling of endless (well, seemingly) passages of books.  

There are some aisles that are just wide enough to fit through. I measured. My shoulders brushed both sides in some places.  

They even have books stashed beneath the stairs that go to the 2nd floor.

The employee I mentioned meeting earlier in this post was in this cubby hole beneath these stairs. He took a break from setting out new volumes and introduced me to 'Uncle Errol.'  Uncle is paper-mache I think and I was informed that he has a brother, of similar construction, in residence beneath some stairs in the Dunedin bookshop.  

After leaving Uncle, I headed toward the front door.  

There are two sets of stairs leading to the upper story.  I learned that the owner of the bookshops lives up there with his family.  What a place to call home.  I also found that between the stores in Auckland and Dunedin, they have 140,000 volumes available. (The Dunedin store is even larger than this one.) The company has online access to half a million.  

Perhaps it was the sign over a doorway, (in one of the pictures) that made me choose to buy, The Great Railway Bazaar, by Paul Theroux. He is an author I've enjoyed before. It cost just $8. or about $5.40 U.S. and is in excellent shape. 

I didn't have much time to browse today. I also wanted find and photograph a new mural that Jeanne had told me about (the subject of a future post) and I had to get back home by lunch time. But, I intend to return soon and do some serious browsing.  It may lead to a crick in my neck from reading the spines but that's a price I'll happily pay.    

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A further thought about bookstores...

One night recently, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, and had a thought pop into my head as I lay there trying to get back to sleep.  I was thinking about the attraction that bookstores hold for me and others...One thought led to another...and another...

I finally got up, grabbed my robe and moved into my recliner in the living room. Might as well watch the night beyond the balcony evolve as I pondered...

In 1915, Albert Einstein proposed his General Theory of Relativity, which describes gravity, not as a force, but as a consequence of masses moving through curved spacetime, which is itself caused by an uneven distribution of mass in the universe.   

It occurred to me that there must be a fundamental law describing bookstores. I first thought about gravitational waves, which Albert suggested, and which have now been measured. Then, I realized that bookstores must be the source of another sort of wave that also travels through spacetime, and is proportional to the mass of the source of the waves.  

Einstein himself admitted that his theory was just a general one; that's why he very honestly  named it as he did. I think what he fell short on, and what is needed, is another theory, specific to bookstores. It might help make Albert's theory more complete. After a lot of serious thinking that night, I derived the following equation:  u=mt2.  

-U- is the urge to buy another book, -m- is the mass of the book, and -t- represents the amount of time which has elapsed since the purchase of the last book. This equation clearly shows that the urge varies by the square of the elapsed time. One can readily see then how the value of -U- could become enormous, given the passage of even modest units of time.  

I am not quite ready yet to publish my Specific Theory, as I have tentatively entitled it, but I think that Al's General Theory of Relativity will take a step closer to becoming the theory of everything once I do. 

Having completed my efforts, I went back to bed, scrunched up my pillow, and fell back to sleep, satisfied that I had advanced the world's understanding of physics. 

And I certainly needed my rest. The Nobel Prize is awarded each December 10th, and I have to get my paper done quickly if I want to beat the submission deadline.  

(To hedge my bets I plan to submit my paper to the Ig-Nobel Prize Committee as well. Somehow, I think I might have a better chance with them. ✈ )    -djf

moon

I have taken a lot of pictures of the moon over the past couple of years. Since I started using this new camera, I've been able to get some better shots of course, but I've also been reminded of the limits of how good a picture I can get, from where I am.  

This Nikon has a setting specifically for moon pictures. Holding the camera still is very important, so this setting is nice because it gives you a three second delay after you click, and before it takes the picture. That way, there is no shaking of the camera from the act of pushing the button. Of course, I can, and do put the camera on my tripod, and that really eliminates movement.  The moon setting also adjusts shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.    

I've also taken lots of pictures with the regular auto setting and tried my hand at manual settings, and surprisingly, sometimes those shots have been my favorites.  

After all that playing around, I think that I've probably taken pictures that are close to as good as they're going to get. For this camera that is, and especially, from where I am.   

I have been noticing that the lower the humidity, the sharper my pictures turn out. Lately, if I see the moon is out and I am tempted to shoot it, I immediately look up the current humidity on the computer. If it is above 60%, I don't even try. I know that the lines defining the craters will be fuzzy or that the picture will appear to be slightly out of focus. I've taken hundreds probably, of those kinds of shots. Haven't kept any.  

I also try to take pictures while the moon is high in the sky. Shooting it near the horizon adds miles of atmospheric moisture, heat and turbulence. 

I've commented in posts before about where we are located. We're less than 100 feet above sea level here.  Living in what's described as a temperate rainforest. To improve my photos, I'd have to get somewhere much higher and drier.  Fred and McKenzie told me the other day that the current humidity at their desert home, with its altitude of nearly 2,000 feet, was 10%. Wow.  Those conditions would definitely help to sharpen up my pictures. 

But, enough explanations. I've put some pictures below that are as good as I've taken. I'm very pleased with them. I don't mean to complain about not having perfect conditions. I'm just trying to identify the variables so that I can minimize them.  I'm going to continue to watch for dry conditions and try for even sharper images.        

Tycho Crater, which is one of the moon's brightest craters, in the picture above and the close-up below, looks flat and uninteresting with the light fully on it, but look at the next picture down to see how it looks with the light at an angle. 

Tycho in this photo is near the edge of the light (terminator line), and you can see the detail much better. (This shot is also at a slightly higher magnification than the previous one)  

   

Tycho Crater is 53 miles wide. It's edges average 15,400 feet high and the center peak is about 7,900 feet.  

I am astonished that I can see such sights from my balcony in Henderson.  

I would also like to thank Veronica, a new friend of ours here at the Village, for calling Jeanne and I a couple of times when she noticed that the moon was especially clear. We dashed up to her higher vantage point (two floors above us) and took pictures on several occasions.  

This last picture was hard to get. That sliver of very bright light kept washing out the rest of the moon. I'm pleased that I was able to see a little detail in the dark areas.  

   

I would urge anyone who has any sort of camera to spend some time outside at night, and experiment with some moon pictures of your own. (Especially if the humidity is low)  You might be very surprised.  -djf