A strong cold front and upper-level low was rapidly approaching Arizona. Ahead of this weather disturbance these spectacular lenticular clouds developed over the Kachina Peaks during the night of 03/06/2012. As the sun rose in the morning the clouds were nicely illuminated. About an hour after sunrise atmospheric conditions began to change and the wave clouds became more diffuse and detached from the peaks and drifted downstream.
Dramatic wave clouds above the Kachina Peaks.
Here is a video clip showing the wave clouds. The original clip is 40m40s long. The clip shown here has been sped up by a factor of 200x so the time lapse now occurs in around 12 seconds.
Venus and Jupiter continue to shine brightly in the western twilight sky each evening. The two planets have been converging and will be closest on the evenings of March 12 and 13 when they will have an angular separation of only three degrees (about the same as six moon diameters).
Conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and the ISS over the Kachina Wetlands near Flagstaff, Arizona.
On the evening of 01 March 2012 the International Space Station (ISS) made an evening transit low in the western sky. Its track placed it just below the planetary pair resulting in a great photographic opportunity. Shooting a total of six 30s exposures captured the ISS rising from the low hills to its high point just below the planets then moving into the southwestern sky. The 1st-quarter moon provided more than enough light to brighten up the scenery of the Kachina Wetlands with reflections of the planets visible in the water.
Last week the planets Venus and Jupiter shone brightly in the western sky after sunset. This week, the new crescent moon joins the planets creating a triangle of brilliant objects in the sky.
Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon shine brighly above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.
Using star charts and other maps we determined that if we hiked a short distance along the Templeton Trail that the planetary and moon conjunction would be nicely positioned above Cathedral Rock in Sedona. As the sky darkened the celestial objects shone brightly but the lighting on the rocks was quickly fading. This image was the best combination of bright objects but with enough light to still see the details in the beautiful red rocks.
Later, as the planets and Moon set behind Cathedral Rock more stars appeared. To get some soft light on the tree I used a flash that was set to manual mode with the lowest light output and stood off to the side and fired the flash manually.
The stars shine down on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.
In a few weeks, Venus and Jupiter will be at their closest approach to each other. And it will be time for a another set of photographs.
There has been plenty to observe in the night sky in recent days and the show will get better towards the end of the month and into early March.
In the evening sky the planets Jupiter and Venus are both very bright and visible in the west at sunset and for several hours afterward. Over the next several days, Jupiter and Venus will move closer together creating a beautiful pair in the sky. Add in a crescent moon which will pass near the two planets (Feb 25 and 26) and it just gets better. (See the full story from NASA.)
Jupiter, Venus, and M31 above telescope dome.
This image was taken during the evening of 21 February 2012. Also visible — faint and located just above the telescope dome — is the Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31). The telescope dome is located on Anderson Mesa and is part of the Anderson Mesa Station — a collection of telescopes and other astronomical instruments including the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI).
Iridium 19 flare.Cosmo SkyMed 4 flare.
A few nights earlier were two good satellite flares. The first is one of the Iridium series; the second is part of the Cosmo SkyMed series. Both went from very dim spots of light traveling across the sky to exceptionally brilliant points — albeit for only a few seconds.
The SpaceWeather and Heavens-Above web sites both provide great information on when and where to look for these bright objects in the sky.
We recently took a multiday ski backpack trip to a mountain hut in Colorado. Although the snow pack remains below normal across most of the west, there had been enough recent snow in the Colorado mountains to produce good ski conditions — albeit on a thinner than typical snow pack.
It’s always interesting to run across animal tracks in the snow. Although I own a couple of books to identify animal tracks I’ve never been particularly good at it. I can usually distinguish between canine and feline prints but not between, say, mountain lion and lynx or bobcat. Or between coyote and fox.
Feline tracks in fresh snow.
So we came across this set of tracks that followed a skiers trail up the mountain. The size of the prints was large enough to eliminate bobcat but that still leaves the less common lynx and more common mountain lion. Which was it?
After reading the descriptions — carefully, and a couple of times — I’m still not sure but am leaning slightly towards lynx. We know that there are lynx in this area because there are a number of signs asking for people to report any indications of lynx. But even if we’re wrong, that means these are mountain lion tracks. And they are following the skiers trail. Which was made by us. Exciting, actually!
Tracks in the snow.
And, then, there are these tracks higher up the mountain. I didn’t get close enough to see the details because I was more amused by the pattern of the tracks. Sort of suggests the critter was playing around in the snow.
