ASTRONOMY - A Harvest Moon over Tuscany

 2023 September 30

A Harvest Moon over Tuscany
Image Credit & Copyright: Antonio Tartarini

Explanation: For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon was the Harvest Moon. Reflecting warm hues at sunset, it rises behind cypress trees huddled on a hill top in Tuscany, Italy in this telephoto view from September 28. Famed in festival, story, and song, Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. According to lore the name is a fitting one. Despite the diminishing daylight hours as the growing season drew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a full moon shining on from dusk to dawn. This Harvest Moon was also known to some as a supermoon, a term becoming a traditional name for a full moon near perigee. It was the fourth and final supermoon for 2023.

ASTRONOMIE - Super lune des moissons - Ce soir

 

La lune des moissons du 29 septembre, qui se produira dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi, est la dernière super lune de 2023. Elle apporte une abondance de clair de lune en début de soirée, ce qui aidait traditionnellement les agriculteurs qui récoltaient leurs récoltes d'été (d'où son nom).

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ASTRONOMY - Back from Bennu

 2023 September 29

Back from Bennu
Image Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

Explanation: Back from asteroid 101955 Bennu, a 110-pound, 31-inch wide sample return capsule rests in a desert on planet Earth in this photo, taken at the Department of Defense Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City last Sunday, September 24. Dropped off by the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft, the capsule looks charred from the extreme temperatures experienced during its blistering descent through Earth's dense atmosphere. OSIRIS-Rex began its home-ward journey from Bennu in May of 2021. Delivered to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on September 25, the capsule's canister is expected to contain an uncontaminated sample of about a half pound (250 grams) of Bennu's loosely packed regolith. Working in a new laboratory designed for the OSIRIS-REx mission, scientists and engineers will complete the canister disassembly process, and plan to unveil the sample of the near-Earth asteroid in a broadcast event on October 11.

ASTRONOMY - The Deep Lagoon

 2023 September 28

The Deep Lagoon
Image Credit & Copyright: Josep Drudis, Christian Sasse

Explanation: Ridges of glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds inhabit the turbulent, cosmic depths of the Lagoon Nebula. Also known as M8, The bright star forming region is about 5,000 light-years distant. It makes for a popular stop on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dominated by the telltale red emission of ionized hydrogen atoms recombining with stripped electrons, this deep telescopic view of the Lagoon's central reaches is about 40 light-years across. The bright hourglass shape near the center of the frame is gas ionized and sculpted by energetic radiation and extreme stellar winds from a massive young star.

ASTRONOMY - STEVE and Milky Way Cross over Rural Road

 2023 September 27

STEVE and Milky Way Cross over Rural Road
Image Credit & Copyright: Theresa Clarke

Explanation: Not every road ends in a STEVE. A week ago, a sky enthusiast's journey began with a goal: to photograph an aurora over Lake Huron. Driving through rural Ontario, Canada, the forecasted sky show started unexpectedly early, causing the photographer to stop before arriving at the scenic Great Lake. Aurora images were taken toward the north -- but over land, not sea. While waiting for a second round of auroras, a peculiar band of light was noticed to the west. Slowly, the photographer and friends realized that this western band was likely an unusual type of aurora: a Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE). Moreover, this STEVE was putting on quite a show: appearing intertwined with the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy while intersecting the horizon just near the end of the country road. After capturing this cosmic X on camera, the photographer paused to appreciate the unexpected awesomeness of finding extraordinary beauty in an ordinary setting.

ASTRONOMY - A Ring of Fire Sunrise Solar Eclipse

 2023 September 24

A Ring of Fire Sunrise Solar Eclipse
Video Credit: Colin Legg & Geoff Sims; Music: Peter Nanasi

Explanation: What's rising above the horizon behind those clouds? It's the Sun. Most sunrises don't look like this, though, because most sunrises don't include the Moon. In the early morning of 2013 May 10, however, from Western Australia, the Moon was between the Earth and the rising Sun. At times, it would be hard for the uninformed to understand what was happening. In an annular eclipse, the Moon is too far from the Earth to block the entire Sun, and at most leaves a ring of fire where sunlight pours out around every edge of the Moon. The featured time-lapse video also recorded the eclipse through the high refraction of the Earth's atmosphere just above the horizon, making the unusual rising Sun and Moon appear also flattened. As the video continues, the Sun continues to rise, while the Sun and Moon begin to separate. The next annular solar eclipse will occur in less than three weeks. On Saturday, October 14, a ring of fire will be visible through clear skies from a thin swath crossing both North and South America.

MUSICA -Julie Fuchs (Mozart) - Fra i pensier piu funesti

"Fra i pensier piu funesti"

AERONAUTIQUE - INVENTIONS QUI N'ONT JAMAIS VOLE - Les machines volantes : Charles Guillé et Thilorier

 

Cette image de nombreuses machines volantes a été conservée par la Library of Congress (la bibliothèque du Congrès, aux États-Unis). Elle date de 1885 environ. On peut y voir 45 projets, tous plus inventifs les uns que les autres, dont certains ont vraiment essayé de voler. C'est le cas du numéro 32 (en bas, au-dessus de la Tour Eiffel) qui illustre le planeur ballon dirigeable de Charles Guillé dont il s'est servi pour une ascension (ratée) à Paris le 13 novembre 1814. Le très innovant numéro 24 (à gauche sur l'image) représente la machine de Jean-Charles Thilorier, qui devait amener les troupes françaises en Angleterre dans le but de l'envahir. © Library of Congress

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ASTRONOMY - Afternoon Analemma

 2023 September 23

Afternoon Analemma
Image Credit & Copyright: Ian Griffin (Otago Museum)

Explanation: An analemma is that figure-8 curve you get when you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day for one year. To make this one, a 4x5 pinhole camera was set up looking north in southern New Zealand skies. The shutter was briefly opened each clear day in the afternoon at 4pm local time exposing the same photosensitized glass plate for the year spanning September 23, 2022 to September 19, 2023. On two days, the winter and summer solstices, the shutter was opened again 15 minutes after the main exposure and remained open until sunset to create the sun trails at the bottom and top of the curve. The equinox dates correspond to positions in the middle of the curve, not the crossover point. Of course, the curve itself is inverted compared to an analemma traced from the northern hemisphere. And while fall begins today at the Autumnal Equinox for the northern hemisphere, it's the Spring Equinox in the south.

AERONAUTIQUE - LES INVENTIONS QUI N'ONT JAMAIS VOLE - Le Hughes H-4 Hercules d'Howard Hugues

Le Hughes H-4 Hercules d'Howard Hugues est un avion a demandé des moyens de conception à la hauteur de sa démesure (18 millions de dollars). Pendant son unique vol, il réussit à rester en l'air durant une minute à 21 mètres au-dessus de l'eau. Il a donc décollé, me direz-vous ! Pas tout à fait, son envol aurait eu lieu uniquement à cause de l'effet de sol. Cet échec cuisant le mit définitivement au garage.

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