On December 21, 2020, Saturn and Jupiter came close together in what is called the Great Conjunction. This happens every 20 years, but this one was much more rare due to how close they came. Saturn and Jupiter were within 0.1 deg. of one another, or 1/5 the apparent diameter of the moon to an observer. The last time they were this close was 400 years ago and couldn't be seen since the planets were in the sky during the day; the last time they were this close and observable was nearly 800 years ago in 1226 A.D. 

A friend and I traveled an hour up into the mountains and sat for two hours in 30° F weather in order to attempt to capture this phenomenon. Unfortunately, clouds in the valley occluded the planets as they came closer to setting, but I was able to get one or two decent shots before they were too hard to see. Another complication was the breeze - even the smallest breeze made my lens shake noticeably at the zoom level I was at. 

I then turned my lens on the moon for the closest shot I've gotten to date. More details in the photos' descriptions.

Jupiter (left) and Saturn (right). Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn, so I brightened up Saturn and slightly darkened Jupiter in this photo, so they could be more equally observed. I also wanted to get another shot with a much increased exposure so the moons could be visible, but by the time I got to that point, the clouds were starting to get in the way.
ISO 200, 1680mm, f/18, 1/13 sec

Waxing Gibbous Moon. This is only very slightly cropped from the original size, mostly to center the moon in the image. My (rented) setup this time was 150-600mm Sigma zoom, 2x Sigma teleconverter, and a 1.4x teleconverter I acquired at the last minute. Combining that with the 1.6x crop factor of my sensor, that is an effective focal length of 2688mm.
ISO 800, 1680mm, f/18, 1/50 sec

Went out again the next night with clear skies in my neighborhood. Much easier to get good shots without the wind, and after having nailed the focusing technique the night before. In this shot, I was able to bring the moons of Jupiter into view. I darkened Saturn some, and Jupiter quite a bit, to facilitate.
ISO 400, 1680mm, f/18, 1/4 sec

Planets and Moon

Last Wednesday, 4/15/2020, a conjunction of Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter was visited by the waning crescent Moon. I was able to capture the group, as well as close ups of the Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter. (Disclaimer: "close up" is a relative term when talking about the planets)

Shot with Canon Rebel T2i, Sigma 150-600 telephoto lens with Sigma 2x teleconverter.
f/13, 1/250 sec, ISO-800. Focal length: 1200mm. Effective focal length with crop factor: 1920mm.

Left to right: Mars, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter
Shot with Canon Rebel T2i, Tamron 17-55 telephoto.
f/13, 2 sec, ISO-800. Focal length: 31mm.

Saturn
Shot with Canon Rebel T2i, Sigma 150-600 telephoto lens with Sigma 2x teleconverter.
f/16, 1/10 sec, ISO-200. Focal length: 1200mm. Effective focal length with crop factor: 1920mm.

Jupiter
Shot with Canon Rebel T2i, Sigma 150-600 telephoto lens with Sigma 2x teleconverter.
f/16, 1/40 sec, ISO-200. Focal length: 1200mm. Effective focal length with crop factor: 1920mm.

God Is Yearning For Us

I read this the other morning, and was struck by it, so thought I would share it. 

“From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before Him. In full view were the magnificent buildings of the temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls and gleamed from golden gate and tower and pinnacle. "The perfection of beauty" it stood, the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus. "When He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it." Luke 19:41. 

“The history of more than a thousand years of God's special favor and guardian care, manifested to the chosen people, was open to the eye of Jesus. Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God. Jeremiah 17:21-25. But the history of that favored people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities. 
Although Israel had "mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:16), He had still manifested Himself to them, as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6); notwithstanding repeated rejections, His mercy had continued its pleadings. With more than a father's pitying love for the son of his care, God had "sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place." 2 Chronicles 36:15. When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed, He sent to them the best gift of heaven; nay, He poured out all heaven in that one Gift. The Son of God Himself was sent to plead with the impenitent city. 

“For three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in and out among His people. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil," binding up the brokenhearted, setting at liberty them that were bound, restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and the deaf to hear, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Acts 10:38; Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5. To all classes alike was addressed the gracious call: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for His love (Psalm 109:5), He had steadfastly pursued His mission of mercy. Never were those repelled that sought His grace. A homeless wanderer, reproach and penury His daily lot, He lived to minister to the needs and lighten the woes of men, to plead with them to accept the gift of life. The waves of mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts, returned in a stronger tide of pitying, inexpressible love. But Israel had turned from her best Friend and only Helper. The pleadings of His love had been despised, His counsels spurned, His warnings ridiculed. “The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of God's long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud that had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, now black with woe, was about to burst upon a guilty people; and He who alone could save them from their impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified. When Christ should hang upon the cross of Calvary, Israel's day as a nation favored and blessed of God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calamity infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; but as Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before Him--that city, that nation, which had once been the chosen of God, His peculiar treasure.” 

 Jesus wept. 

“Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. The woes of a fallen race, pressing upon His soul, forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, tears, and blood; His heart was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth; He yearned to relieve them all. But even His hand might not turn back the tide of human woe; few would seek their only Source of help. He was willing to pour out His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach; but few would come to Him that they might have life. The Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! strange infatuation!” - Excerpts from Great Controversy pp. 17-23 

What a perspective. “...how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God.” Do we realize that this has been God’s only goal for the past 6,000 years? That all of Heaven’s resources have been bent toward the single cause of saving ...us? How can we be so callous as to disregard this care for us? How can we go on, business as usual, when when Jesus’ entire heart is consumed with the desire for one more, one more of us to be saved? It brings incredible grief when just one of us rejects his calling, and turns away from Him… How can we comprehend such love? Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before Him…” - that joy was the thought of you and I spending eternity with Him!

Yosemite

After going to Yosemite for the second time in my life, I realized I never posted the pictures from the first time. So, without further ado, here are both sets of pictures. Enjoy!

May 2015:

Descending into the Valley

Yosemite Falls portrait

Yosemite Falls

The Valley

Enjoying the view

Vast expanses

The mists of time

Portrait with Half Dome (which decided to be shy)

Colossal shapes

Two falls

Dusk falls

Lookout point

Group shot

February 2016:

Approaching the valley

Roadside falls

Shooting the moon

Upper Yosemite Falls

Snow Dome

Heading upriver

Peeking at Vernal Falls

Getting closer

Vernal Falls

Lower creek

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

On September 27th, for the first time in 30 years, the Earth experienced a lunar eclipse which coincided with a supermoon. A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the direct light of the Sun from reaching it. The Moon usually has a reddish hue during that time, so is often called a blood moon. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit. Since the Moon's orbit around Earth is an ellipse, there are times when it is further away and times when it is closer. When it is closer, it appears larger in the sky, and hence is called a supermoon.

Anyway enough of the science, let's get on to the pictures!

First, I'll show some scenic shots with and without the moon, then I'll show you a sequence of shots that goes from the full eclipse back to the normal Moon.

View from my first vantage point

Waited a long time due to a cloud bank on the horizon blocking my view, so took some shots while I was waiting. Here's a closeup of the bridge over the river at night.

Finally the Moon appeared!

Moon with Tree

Later I moved to a walking bridge to try for some shots there

Another shot

Now on to the eclipse sequence. This is when I first finally saw the Moon. It was fully eclipsed.

Sun shine starting to creep back at the bottom

Really noticeable now

Starting to get really bright and hard to get both parts in the picture

Took a darker picture but still the light part is completely blown out

Switched to exposing for the lighter side of the moon - now the other side is completely dark

About 75% through the second half of the eclipse

Almost done!

Back to normal

Pi Day - Ultimate Edition!

Well, it's Pi Day again.

This time around, though, it's extra special. This year, the date and time is 3/14/15 9:26:53, something that happens only once every 100 years! You can even get a t-shirt about it, of course.

I was planning to take a picture of my atomic wall clock on the exact Pi second, but I realized that it doesn't display the year anywhere. I then went in search of a website that displayed the time and date in the right format, and I found something even better - time.is/pi_day!

The website has a special page dedicated to Pi Day, which displays the numbers white when they're not part of the pi digits, and black with digits of Pi in the background when the numbers are part of Pi.

Here's a picture of the clock when it's not the exact right time:

And here's the Pi Second!

Happy Pi Day of the Century!

Random fact of the day: Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day, though he didn't know it at the time.

Sabbath lunch 3/15

A couple of weeks ago, Tyler and Amanda came over for Sabbath lunch and prepared a feast for us. Here's a few photos of the occurrence.

Ingredients

Need a hand?

The Cooks

The pan overfloweth

Broccoli Quinoa casserole ready

Yummy noodle dish

All set.

Looks good enough to eat!