Matariki, Mercury and Aldebaran

I've got to tell you. I've lost significant sleep over this post.  But willingly and happily. I have thoroughly enjoyed producing it, but it did require some early morning photo sessions. It has all sorts of interesting (in my biased opinion) pictures and information in it. So let's get started.

On the 12th of April, 2022, New Zealand passed a bill making Matariki a new national holiday. While it has long been celebrated among Maori, this past Friday's (24/06/22) celebration is the first time the whole country joined in officially. (and lots of workers got another day off)    

In addition to being a new holiday, Matariki is a constellation, known elsewhere as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters.  I was very familiar with this constellation in our northern Michigan sky.  Since living here, I have noticed that it is in a different position than it was back in Michigan of course, and it's upside down now, but is certainly recognizable.  

Here is a link to an explanation of Matariki that will do a much better job than I would in describing it.  

https://pukaha.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-Stars-of-Matariki-Ng%C4%81-Whetu-o-Matariki-VC-info-13072020.pdf

Those of you who follow my blog know that a month ago, I did three posts about the 'parade of planets' through the early morning northeastern sky.  I stated in those posts that I hoped to be able to add Mercury to the parade when it became visible in June. 

Well, so far most of June has turned out to be rainy. Even when it wasn't actually raining, clouds obscured the sky, so I didn't see a thing. And even on the clearest of days, Mercury, because of its proximity to the sun, is very hard to see. It usually gets 'washed out' in the Sun's glare.  

However, I have been very fortunate, was gifted with some clear days recently, and was able to spot and photograph little Mercury, low on the horizon, just before dawn. These pictures were taken on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of June. BTW, that also happens to be winter solstice time here in New Zealand. 

This marks the first time I have ever, knowingly seen Mercury. Have you ever seen it?  If not, you're in for a treat. (Okay, maybe not as good a treat as some Mainland Creamy Blue cheese or a shot of Glenfarclas 105 scotch, but pretty good nonetheless.)  

And, as it happens, Matariki is now not far from Mercury. (as we see it in the sky that is) It's dim, a bit hard to see, but it's there, and I am pleased to be able to show it to you as well.

This is high in the northeastern sky at about 6 a.m. on the 21st. I know it's a messy picture, but I want you to know where Venus, Mercury and Matariki are in the sky.  

That's the moon way up there, about 75 degrees above the horizon, and Jupiter is at about 5 o'clock to the Moon. Mars comes next, again at about 5 o'clock. Venus is way down below the palms, just barely in the picture.    

For this next photo, I've changed my vantage point. Venus is in the middle of the picture and you can just see a very small, dim Mercury at about 5 o'clock. 

Can you also spot the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland? That's 7.5 miles away from us. 

I have zoomed in and you can see Venus and Mercury much better now. Aldebaran is the star you can see below and to the right of Mercury. 

Mercury's radius is just 1,516 miles and it's about 48 million miles from earth. You are currently seeing only a portion of it because it has phases, like our moon does. If you could look close enough, you'd see it has a crescent shape. 

Aldebaran is a giant star with a radius of more than 19 million miles. It looks dinky because it's 65 light-years from us.  

I've zoomed again. Matariki is very faint, at about 7 o'clock, below Venus.

I blew up this photo even more and increased the light. It's still hard to see Matariki. You may want to reduce the lighting around you to make it more visible.  

These next shots were taken on the 23rd. of June. Notice that Mercury and Aldebaran have moved, relative to each other since the earlier picture.  

Aldebaran now appears to be above Mercury, at about 2 o'clock.  A few of the brighter stars in Matariki are visible.  Can you believe the color of the soon-to-be-dawn sky? I did not edit this picture at all.  

Here, finally, is Matariki.  I had almost despaired of getting a close-up of it.  The humidity this morning when I took this photo was 93%.  I took in fact, a series of photos, both before and after this one, and none of the others came out. The individual stars in those other shots were each very fuzzy. Although I couldn't see any clouds moving through the sky, there must be areas of greater density within the air layers. I was lucky to snap this in between those areas.  

When I think about the Pleiades in our northern Michigan sky, I remember seeing it very distinctly. I think our position there in the northern hemisphere made that possible, as did our very dark rural sky conditions. Here, we have a great deal of light pollution from Auckland to contend with and the constellation is low in the sky besides.    

I also enjoy now thinking of the Pleiades in a new way.  What a fascinating world we live in. 

I don't have a bucket list of things I want to do, but I do have to admit that seeing Mercury for the first time makes me feel as though I accomplished something.  

Next week I am going to show you some additional pictures that I took during my hunt for Mercury and Matariki.  Be sure to check back then.       -djf

It's Market Day again, already!

Time passes so quickly for me now.  The days fly by.  It seems to me only months ago that we moved into Waitakere Gardens, when in fact, it has been nearly a year and a half. In this brief period, we have evolved from newcomers into part of the establishment.  It feels very good.  

We have just enjoyed our 2nd Market Day here. This post consists of a quick look at some of the tables and displays. 

You may not find find these photos to be particularly interesting at first glance, but try to look into these pictures a little deeper.  Many of the people you see behind masks are friends of ours. You see strangers. We see Colleen or Ray or Margaret and many others. This has become our home and it's a good one.     

Indulge me, if you will, with a little reminiscing. I'm including a few songs in this post. 

I've said it before; I know that music is very personal. You may not like what I offer here, so if that's the case, don't listen to it.  However, if you do listen, each song is in a separate window, so you can click back and look at the photos as it plays. 

I discovered this group, The Blind Boys of Alabama, a year or two before I retired. (That was on Jan. 4, 2010. Yes, I was just 58. I had no clue earlier that I'd be able to do such a thing. ) They are a gospel group, but this is gospel of a different sort in my opinion. Fantastic voices and fantastic chords. 

I was driving 45 minutes to and from work in those days and I enjoyed several of their CDs as I traveled. Most days I rode with two friends who also worked at the factory, but sometimes, when I needed to spend time with the 2nd shift folks, I had to drive alone.  The Blind Boys were one group who kept me company during those solo trips.  

This first one is called, No More. This is the song that I put on as I drove out of the parking lot on that very last day. I thought that its title was appropriate to my situation.  I had been working for better than 35 years at that point, and I wasn't going to go back 'no more.'   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTL1b0xVIc&list=RDEcTL1b0xVIc&start_radio=1

The next one, I learned while researching it, was written and released by Prince, in 1987. I think the Blind Boys do it much better here than he did it. (Look his version up if you want to. It's on You Tube.) 

I had never paid much attention to Prince back in his day, but I have to give the guy credit for writing this one. (There is much more to each of us than meets the eye) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69E8qEf8lbM 

I don't have any additional info about this last one. I just like it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JffEKhqJXVo 

Those were rather hard days. I'd get up at 3:45 a.m. and meet my carpool buddies at 4:30. We'd get to work, after stopping at an all-night gas station in Vulcan for coffee, at 5:30.  

I'd start driving home at about 6 pm. and these amazing songs would keep me company. Jeanne would have dinner ready and I'd go to bed about 8:30 p.m., in order to get up and do it all again tomorrow.  Thanks to a very good management team that ran the place during my last years there, I made some pretty good money. (for the U.P. anyway) 

And now, here we are. We have been able to live here in part because of  those difficult days.  Makes one think, doesn't it?   Yeah, these pictures mean a lot to me.  I'm so thankful we made it through the hard times.   

Another market and another day has passed, and the moon is rising on my 25,798th evening of life.  

I've had an interesting life. Jeanne and I are now enjoying each day as it comes to us. Our new home here will continue to support us as we pursue our many and varied interests.  

Keep visiting this address on your computer and you can continue to share my look into life here in Aotearoa.    -djf 

The duckpond at Waitakere Hospital

The topic of today's post came about because I like to walk most mornings. I was exercising in just that manner one day when I met our new friends Dave and Deb who were returning from their daily jaunt.  

We happened to meet on the bridge spanning the Opanuku.  They inquired where I was headed that day and I described my proposed route.  Upon hearing my plan, they suggested that had I not yet explored the park behind the Hospital, which I would be passing that day on my walk, I should do so at my earliest convenience.  

Well, I had no idea there was a park behind the hospital. I had been at the hospital's emergency room a couple of times over the past ten years; once when a family member needed a quick patch-up job and the other time when an X-ray was needed. Our visits were fortunately brief on both occasions. We felt no inclination whatsoever to explore the hospital any further once the poked hand and the bumped head were declared repaired. 

I doubt that many people visiting the hospital couple that activity with the plan to visit the park afterwards. Most people just want to leave, and as quickly as possible.  

But it's a nice park.  Sort of a duck-pond, or an aquatic bird sanctuary, if you want to give it a slightly fancier name.  It's tucked away near the employee carpark, so I'm guessing that many of them sit on its benches and eat their lunch, read or just while away their break time in calming surroundings. There is something about the quacking of a bunch of ducks as they feed that soothes.  

So then, let's get started with the tour.   

Outside the pediatrics entrance. 

The red arrow near the top center of the map indicates the front entrance sign I showed you above. 

Perfect weather for appreciating the park. 

A sentry pukeko.

I was pleased to have found this.  Thanks Dave and Deb.  I've made two trips now to this park. The first time I came the weather was overcast and threatening to rain on me.  I therefore came back for more photos when the sky's reflected color would be more pleasing.  

Thanks for taking a look with me.  -djf

A macro of a micro

I was confused.  Why are the pictures I'm showing you in this post examples of macro photography?  I know that 'macro' refers to something large.  'Micro' refers to something small.  I'm taking pictures of small bugs, so how come they are macro pictures?  

The answer is that in these photos, the subject fills most, or at least a large part of the frame.  So, you get a lot of detail; you get a macro picture of a micro object.   

I took these pictures during this past summer, 2022, not long after I took photos and published no less than three posts about bees.  I thought then, that you had probably seen enough of that sort of thing. 

Some time has passed now and to mix things up a bit, I decided to show some more insects.  

For these pictures, I wandered past the rows of personal garden plots and started shooting when I saw flies or wasps or moths working the flowers.   

  

These last two are my favorites.

That's what 1/1000 of a second looks like.  

I've got lots more of these.  And for all the close-up and personal time I spent with these critters, many of them armed with some nasty weaponry, I never got stung.     -djf