Solar Drawing - Sacred Space Astronomy

Solar Art Exhibition in Hawaii

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Deirdre KelleghanSeptember 20, 2019

Exhibition in Hawaii Some time ago a painting of mine won a prize in the My Sun My Star Contest. This was a solar art competition involving photographs, drawings and paintings inspired by the sun. The contest was run by The National Solar Observatory in Boulder Colorado. One of the aspects of the prize is that my painting X-Ray Sun (above) will go on exhibition . On Friday September 20th if you are in Hawaii (how exotic) one of my paintings and in addition one of my solar drawings will be on show. Since the prize came my way I was asked if another work of mine could be included in their exhibitions. NSO requested one of my solar drawings. That sketch it is called East Limb Proms. The venue is The University of Hawaii – Institute for Astronomy, it is on the island of Maui. The event is an open day … Continue reading →

Sun Pillar – Sun Drawing Ireland

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Deirdre KelleghanMay 27, 2018

We had a winter of record winds, freezing temperatures and darkness. However this week, it seems the summer has finally arrived in Ireland. On May 21st I noticed a developing sun pillar on the horizon. As it progressed I took several images, each equally beautiful. The pillar of light interacted with the sky and the sea, altering colour and bringing drama as it peaked and faded after sun set. Beautiful to watch, it seemed to pierce the clouds just above the suns departure point. Sun pillars are shafts of sunlight glinting off ice crystals in our atmosphere. This phenomenon is explained well here on this wonderful site Atmospheric Optics On May 23rd the sun offered an active region for drawing. OK now the atmosphere was not the steadiest I have ever seen, but it was hot and the sky was blue. The active region was small and complex, the challenge to draw the sun in h-alpha with my … Continue reading →

Bob Prokop November 12, 2019 at 7:23 pm on In the Sky This Week – November 12, 2019I had much better luck on Monday. I wrote up my impressions of the event here: https://theobserverschair.blogspot.com/
Christopher M. Graney November 6, 2019 at 2:06 pm on Agassiz’s mentorP.S. Can you give us an estimate of the size of the smallest features visible in these shots?
Christopher M. Graney November 6, 2019 at 1:59 pm on Agassiz’s mentorThese are great lunar shots that you post. Write a post about this 8" f/20 telescope that you use for these shots. Or have you done that, and I just missed that post?
Richard Gabrielson November 4, 2019 at 9:20 pm on Navy Jets Harassed by Magical Mermaid Tic Tac UFOs!Bravo, Prof. Graney! Seeing this published under a Church connection reminded me immediately of an aphorism attributed to GK Chesterton: "When a man [sic] stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything." (According to https://www.chesterton.org/ceases-to-worship/ it's a repeated theme in Chesterton's works but never in...
Fr. James Kurzynski October 31, 2019 at 6:00 am on From The Back Yard: Know Thyself.And thanks for the complement!
Fr. James Kurzynski October 31, 2019 at 6:00 am on From The Back Yard: Know Thyself.Sadly, there are. The yellowish light on the right side is from the west - creeping light pollution from the cities of Plover and Stevens Point. I'm not 100% sure where the blue came from. Part of me thinks it might be a result of the light from my parents...
Christopher M. Graney October 30, 2019 at 11:11 am on From The Back Yard: Know Thyself.That is a nice Milky Way panorama! They are all nice. At each end of the panorama there is some skyglow. Are there a lot of artificial lights around?
Christopher M. Graney October 16, 2019 at 10:22 am on Putting the Space Station Where You Want ItThanks for the comments. A funny thing happened at the observatory: the ISS did not show up. A visitor there had an app on his phone, and that app did not show the ISS as passing by Saturn. I later went back to Stellarium, and Stellarium did not show the...
Jim Cook October 12, 2019 at 12:06 pm on Putting the Space Station Where You Want ItTwenty years ago, give or take, I had my telescope set up for a stargazing program at my local park. Earlier in the day, I had checked to see if there would be any bright satellites passing overhead. Back then, before there were satellite pass web sites like heavens-above.com, I...
Ed Yepez October 11, 2019 at 9:46 pm on ⓜ The day I almost met Buzz… Diary of 11 October, 2019I have enjoyed John Scalzi's work, but I must admit I would not recognize him. Let me know if you ever attend an orthodontic meeting. They won't know me either, but it would definitely encourage me to attend! The motion of planets and teeth?
Tracy Lunquist October 11, 2019 at 1:19 pm on ⓜ The day I almost met Buzz… Diary of 11 October, 2019I've had dinner with Buzz Aldrin -- a long-time friend of mine was dating him for a little while (yes, you can imagine my reaction to hearing that little tidbit of news). He is certainly a unique character, and I'm sorry you didn't get to meet him. But indeed, of...
Christopher M. Graney October 4, 2019 at 10:34 am on ‘Hot Jupiter’ Exoplanet Found with 18-Hour OrbitWow. Do we know *anything* about planet formation any more? Obviously, everything I was ever taught has turned out to be WRONG. This is such a cool area of discovery.
Robert Macke September 23, 2019 at 4:53 pm on Specola Guestbook: June 20, 1910 – Arthur L. DayEd Lindgren: Thank you for the correction and the additional information. It is nice to know that readers take an interest in this column. And there are more geologists/geophysicists yet to come!
Ed Lindgren September 22, 2019 at 12:41 pm on Specola Guestbook: June 20, 1910 – Arthur L. DayBr. Macke - Nice to see a geologist/geophysicist get recognition as a VO visitor. Just want to clarify the the Wollaston Medal is the highest award of the Geological Society of London. The first recipient was William "Strata" Smith, who received the Wollaston Medal in 1831 for surveying and preparing...
Tim Williams September 19, 2019 at 12:08 pm on Across the Universe: New Heavens, New EarthYou need to read the sacred hieroglyphs using the true decipherment of electricity into ancient scripture. Once you have deciphered positive and negative charge, the animals and plants explain how God powers the heavens. See my website GodElectric [dot] org for the answers ...
Christopher M. Graney September 11, 2019 at 10:56 am on The Lion King’s SkyThanks for the link to the star atlas. And yes, I see much as you do. An even bigger beef is how the sky in the image above is an almost uniform see of faint (but not-that-faint) stars. It is as if the entire sky is the Milky Way. (I...
Br. Guy Consolmagno September 9, 2019 at 5:14 am on ⓜ Million Miles Away… Diary of 8 September, 2019I had already posted this before I realized it was September 9 already! Well, I did write most of it the day before...
Jim Cook September 7, 2019 at 8:47 am on The Lion King’s SkyI have not seen the Lion King, so I will have to take your word for the other problems you've raised, but as far as recognizable constellations go, the night sky in the screen shot you've provided is kind of, somewhat accurate ... sort of. The four brightest stars in...
Br. Guy Consolmagno September 2, 2019 at 4:04 am on Specola Guestbook: May 4, 1910 – van de Sande BakhuyzenComet Biela was an important link in our understanding of the connection between comets and meteors. I wrote a chapter about this in a book published many years ago called "Cosmic Pinball"... here's the highlights: In 1772, the French astronomer Montagne had discovered a faint comet. It never grew bright...
Richard Hill August 31, 2019 at 12:30 am on Across the Universe: Clouds from Both SidesGuess I'll quit complaining about our monsoon weather!