This is one of those things about our planet that people would want to look up on the Internet, but won’t be able to if it happens.
Tag Archives: Sun
Solar Eclipse from Regina, SK
The eclipse today was visible from Regina, but not the totality available to Americans in many states.
My new Canon SX540 HS did a good job with a pair of solar eclipse filter glasses taped over the lens. The sunspot chain was very sharp and visible at 200X digital zoom, 80ISO.
I made a projector that worked well:
ADDED: Here’s 2012’s annular eclipse in Regina.
Partial Solar Eclipse
The partial clouds ruined the partial eclipse viewing, but I caught a few fleeting seconds here and there with a small crowd of astronomers from the RASC at the Science Centre.
A kind astronomer gave me a pair of these glasses:
I’ve been trying to take daily photos of the huge sunspot too, but clouds have been in the way the last two days when I’ve tried.
Solar Power for all Saskatchewan households
A recent poll has shown that nuclear power doesn’t have majority support in Saskatchewan, and I think that’s fine. My own family has mixed attitudes toward it. My parents, who own 17 solar panels, wouldn’t mind seeing nuclear power in Saskatchewan, while I oppose the waste-producing nuclear technology available today.
A 2010 study by the CCPA shows “nuclear power has the potential to triple current electricity rates for Saskatchewan consumers.” If we’re going to pay more than we do for Estevan’s coal and Manitoba’s hydro, I want us to invest in solar power.
The massive Ivanpah solar power facility that opened this year for California consumers should be considered as an option for sunny and vast Saskatchewan. Smaller solar plants such as this type could be constructed with mostly Saskatchewan and Canadian materials, knowledge, and labour. Built at the 3 year pace set by California, we could jump to having solar power overtake some fossil fuels as our electricity provider, before 2020.
Given that there are about 410,000 households in Saskatchewan, we’d need about 3 Ivanpah style solar power plants to provide electricity to every home in the province. We can do it, and we should.
Sunspot AR1944 Blasting Earth #skstorm
I hope our electrical grids are prepared, as there is a risk of overloading from an event like this.
-The Sun Wednesday afternoon, from Regina. Canon S5IS on tripod with welding filter held in place to sufficiently darken the Sun for the camera’s sensor. 48X digital magnification.
This ongoing radiation storm ranks S2 on NOAA storm scales. It is rich in “hard” protons with more than 100 MeV of energy, which accounts for the snowiness of the SOHO coronagraph images. According to NOAA, “passengers and crew in high-flying aircraft at high latitudes may be exposed to elevated radiation risk” during such a storm.
The source of all this activity is AR1944, one of the biggest sunspots of the past decade. The sprawling active region is more than 200,000 km wide and contains dozens of dark cores. Its primary core, all by itself, is large enough to swallow Earth three times over.
Watch for aurora over the next few nights, they could be the best ever seen.
Added:
Shoplifter busted ; Sundog ; Bugs
A shoplifter stealing hair dye among other things was nabbed at the Extra Foods at Golden Mile. 2 cop cars. Ladies, dyeing your hair is a gateway to a life of crime.
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I saw a huge sundog a couple days ago south of Moose Jaw. It had a secondary rainbow to the west of it, as far away from the right side sundog as the sundog was from the Sun.
The Sundogs extended to the horizon, as did the rainbow. They didn’t meet over the Sun though.
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It’s extremely cold out right now. Someone moving out piled their old sectional in front of the dumpster, so it got moved to the side, into my parking space (fortunately vacant). I took off a few of the feet on the sectional, and in the thin wooden crevices were dead bugs. Ick. The furniture owners were called back to properly dispose of the pieces.
Wood Mountain Folk Fest 2013
Beautiful weather, and beautiful music.
There’s presently no planned music festival in Wood Mountain for 2014, but I hope that changes.
Aurora in Wood Mountain
One of the advantages to small-town Saskatchewan, is that it’s easier to escape light pollution than it is in a city like Regina. I was fortunate to be out of the city on June 29th in the very early morning, so have many fantastic aurora (Northern Lights) photos and animations to share. A south pointing solar wind storm was hitting the magnetosphere, so we got very pretty lights.
They appeared even to the south of me, at about 49 degrees latitude. Kansas saw them apparently.
– Here’s one from overhead, as a satellite streaks south.
– The Moon was looking more super than usual, as the sky was mostly clear. This is max zoom on my camera, 48X digital. 12X is actual magnification.
– These streaks of light were an experiment as I ran through the frame twice, holding my cell phone flashlight app turned to police lights mode.
– The church has become disused for religious services it hosted for Catholics and United, for more than three decades. The grain elevator behind the church needs saving, as it’s in the cross hairs for demolition if a group of interested people don’t step forward to give it a new direction. The Grain Elevator, a NFB film, was filmed in this particular elevator.
Dark Sky Preserve at Wood Mountain
I found a new way to appreciate my home town through the eyes of astronomers this weekend. Also, I used the astronomers’ telescopes, which is a great way to look from their perspective on the universe. Wood Mountain is the gateway to the East Block of the Grasslands National Park which is designated as a Dark Sky Preserve. The Park and the RASC Regina branch had Peter McMahon from SkyNews Magazine come out to check out the park and give a presentation.
As the presentation ended, uncommon noctilucent clouds lit up on the northern horizon, illuminated by the set Sun.
RASC had people from Regina, Saskatoon, and even Port Hope, ON attending the star party.
As everyone was eagerly photographing the clouds, I saw a satellite zooming up from the west, and it was soon confirmed to be the International Space Station. It made another pass an hour and a half later.
I lost count how many satellites I saw. There was a binary pair, someone explained were US Military. There was an Iridium, known for its magnificent flare overhead. And I saw a meteor too.
Saturn
The skies stayed perfectly clear for the next two hours, then some clouds and fog rolled in just before it started to rain around 2am Sunday morning.
If the rain on the tent hadn’t been so noisy, then these Leopard frogs would have been the noisiest background noise.
Meadowlarks sing very loudly and distinctively. I enjoy imitating their tweeting with a whistle.
I’ll be going on next year’s Dark Sky Preserve tour of southern Saskatchewan, that’s for sure! The weather looked rainy from Regina, but it cleared up as soon as Saturday afternoon hit in the Park. The campers who tried Friday night too, ended up a little rained on, near Val Marie. You never know what the weather will hold until that hour hits.
Photos of Gravelbourg, Fir Mountain, and Wood Mountain
Here’s a sampling of why you’d want to take a drive south of Moose Jaw sometime.
I left Wood Mountain on Sunday afternoon
Drove by Fir Mountain not too long later.
Arrived in Gravelbourg under an hour later, after passing Thompson Lake and Lafleche too. Dodged a few potholes along the way north of Lafleche.
Saw the familiar water tower in the distance
Had supper and ice cream at the Snack Shack. It had been renamed Junction 101 for a while under different owners, but later switched back under other owners who used the familiar name.
Gravelbourg is probably best known for its cathedral, or its french speaking population.
I should have taken this photo, by the train station (that is now a private house), in black and white
On the way up to Moose Jaw, I stopped at the Old Wives Lake historic roadside pull-off for some sunset photos. I don’t remember if this one is false colour or not, but it’s pretty close to what it looked like
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