Sometimes when I look at the sky I can't help but think of the vast distances, and consider the time spans involved. The brilliance and the violence, and the evidence left behind after lives of stars have passed and ended. Clouds of dust and gas like vast oceans, surrounding what once was their home, dimly illuminated from within by the shrivelled corpse of a once magnificent body that radiated heat and light that could -- and perhaps some did -- give birth to and uphold all kinds of life, even civilizations. Dwarf stars, some still shining a brilliant white, some reduced to a reddish brown. Spent and exhausted. Finished. Like a tombstone in memory of itself, and yet in turn the source for a new cycle of life, new generations of stars and worlds, as we ourselves are born of stardust.

Now they hang there in space as fading memories of enormous events that took place hundreds, thousands of years ago. Even so, every now and then, others will light up briefly and fade to join them as the cycle continues, while the galaxy spins upon its axis, and the Universe expands.

But on nights like this I look at the moon and how it shines through the clouds.

At 17:37 CET today the moon was at its absolute closest and brightest. And the clouds were of course at their thickest. Here it's instead precisely three hours later, and the clouds have thinned out a bit -- but not more than being just right for making a pretty frame around the moon where she hangs. Almost like a nebula.

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Image no. DSC_3108 (RAW)
Very slight contrast and colour enhancement in Irfanview.

Same post on flickr.

Not sure if he was gathering courage to jump over to the next leaf, or what. But whatever he was doing, he was taking his time. Which was good, because it was a heckuva job just to hold the camera still for a sharp picture.

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Friday, October 3, 2008
Image no. DSC_2213
Same on Flickr
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Green is just so last month!

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Friday, October 3, 2008
Image no. DSC_2184
Same on Flickr
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Standing nose to brim with one of the big ones. See that wedge in the brim? That's from my nose standing a wee bit too close.

Point and shoot at closest possible range without looking in the viewfinder (there's no way I'm going to get down on my stomach without proper wet forest gear). Yes, there's flash.

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Friday, October 3, 2008
Image no. DSC_2174
Same on Flickr
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No badgers thus far.

ISO 400 just to have a chance to get a sharp image. Shutter time of 1/15 second is a matter of really holding your breath and clicking that button between heartbeats. In a fit of infinite wisdom I had decided to leave the tripod at home. Bad idea.

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Friday, October 3, 2008.
Image no. DSC_2138
Same on Flickr
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Being something of an indoor type, this is not a place you will find me very often. However, with NJ set on finding mushrooms (not badgers), I figured I'd take the Nikon out to practice in unfamiliar territory. To make matters worse, cloud and intermittent showers made lighting conditions less than favourable. Still, it's autumn in full colour.

This is Essoskogen (Exxon Forest), which is next to the Esso (Exxon) refinery at Slagentangen near Tønsberg.

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Friday, October 3, 2008.
Image no. DSC_2127
Same on Flickr
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Grey cat sleeping on off-white sofa.

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Image no. DSC_2124
Same on Flickr
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Why, Flipper, of course.

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Image no. DSC_2043
Same on Flickr
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Three shot panorama, stitched by hand in Photoshop. It's my first manual stitch, and it came out surprisingly well even though the 10 second exposure times, along with 10 second self timer to avoid camera shake, as well as time spent reposition the camera, both the clouds and the moon had moved considerably inbetween shots.

Not quite obvious in this picture, but the moon is still partly eclipsed. The top of the moon's disc is just barely outside of the shadow.

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Images no. DSC_1593, DSC_1594 and DSC_1595

Two second exposure right after the previous image.

I would really like to be able to show more detail, but either the D40x is unable to capture the level of detail, or I need a bigger tele. The RAW images I took didn't turn out any better. Then again I haven't really had much practice with this yet.

Two young lads, around nine or so, and their dog stopped to see what I was doing.

After I explained what was happening to the Moon, I directed them towards the Big Dipper; they knew the shape but had only ever seen it in pictures, and they were able to tell Mizar and Alcor apart. They'd never noticed the Milky Way before, or the slanted W in the sky that is Cassiopeia. Jupiter shone like a little red dot west of the Moon, which was pretty cool. And a look at the moon, half covered by Earth's shadow, through the binoculars that I'd brought along, showed it like the sphere that it really is, rather than just a flat yellow chunk of cheese. I think they discovered that the sky is a cool thing even when it isn't on TV.

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Image no. DSC_1537