Avast! You land lubbers!

Check out them sites, Talk like a pirate and try this
program.

Check out this video. Amazing stuff in there.

Arrr!

more objerwhashns

the skies were amazingly clear on Friday, though the seeing was bad. Jupiter kept dancing in the field-of-view like Helen doing a cabaret. i was out on the gallery with my binocs, and DV joined me for a view. we were going to KP that night, so had very little time with us.

Only the western part of the sky was crystal clear, so apart from the usual suspects (M7, Jupiter), i saw,

M6 (or Butterfly cluster), and open-cluster in Scorpius.

M8 (or the Lagoon Nebula), but ain’t very sure of it. there are couple of objects in the same location, and all i could see was a bright blur.

M22, a globular cluster in Sagittarius, was fun to hunt. it was very faint at magnitude 7.1!

NGC 6231, an open cluster in Scorpius, clearly visible at mag 2.8!

.winds of change.

just 2 days back, when we had been to Hosahalli, the sky was cast in gloom. but today brought-in exceptionally good skies, and i feasted under the firmament.

started with Andromeda galaxy (M31), which has become standard practice for me now. it was not very distinct because of some haze in that area, but nevertheless a treat to watch.

had a glimpse of M7, Ptolmey’s cluster, another standard object.

then, up came the Pleiades star cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters or as per Indian nomenclature the seven wives of the Saptarishi). It’s a naked eye open-cluster, and it looks just amazing through the binoculars.

the Hyades cluster surrounding Aldebaran followed next. Aldebaran (the right eye of Taurus, the bull) is a giant star in an advanced state of evolution, and is only 60 light years away.

then i saw Uranus, which is currently in Aquarius, and magnitude 5.92. it was clearly visible through my binocs! it is nothing much to look at through a binocular, but finding it was challenging, thrilling and made me familiar with a couple of constellations.

inspired by my success with Uranus, i tried Neptune, which is currently in Capricornus, at mag 7.86. i got the exact spot, after a lot of hunting, but could only faintly discern it’s presence. not bad for city skies, and a pair of binocs.

by this time, the Orion constellation (the hunter) was up. so, performed the religious ritual of watching the Great Orion Nebula (M42).

towards the end, i tried locating the Triangulum galaxy (M33), which is mag 5.7, but to no avail. it somehow eluded me.

anyway, it was a rewarding session, after a long time!

a little short of…

…howling at the full moon!

i was awake till 4am, and watched the partial lunar eclipse on 7th Sept 11.30pm to 1am IST, through my binoculars (10×50) and a friend’s telescope (9″ reflector). The penumbrial eclipse lasted longer, and i took a snap of it,

.treks.
a lot of time spent in organising for the Sikkim trek, but i am sure it will all be worth it. i saw the snaps from this
chap, and oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!

i got inspired again.

the day i became a super-hero

the time was 6 in the morning, and the day was rather dull. the sun was up, but so were the clouds. the pharaoh slept soundlessly, and in his dreams, he dreamed of sleep.

somewhere from the nether world, a sound appeared. it was soft and distant when it started, but soon turned into a cry of agony. the pharaoh stirred in his sleep, tossed in his soul, and wished the sound away.

but the sound persisted, and the super-hero had no choice but to wake up from his super-sleep, and find his super-spectacles. the sound seemed to be emanating from the depths of his own lair!

further investigation revealed that the lady who stayed downstairs, was trapped in the toilette, after her 2 year old daughter had bolted her from the outside! there was no one else in the house, and the lady, naturally, was screaming her lungs out!

soon, a motley crowd of ten had gathered around to watch the spectacle. they yawned and sighed, and tried to console the lady with words. the lady, seeing that she was getting popular, started screaming even more loudly. in her abysmal dismay, a ray of hope shined; she started suggesting that the balcony door is open, and someone can come in from there and rescue her.

someone…. but who?

these were not the usual work-hours for a super-hero, and consequently, none, except the pharaoh, were around*. and the pharaoh, as might be surmised, was in no mood for super-action at this hour. but the anguish of bearing with the screams, overcame his laziness, and he reluctantly, and gingerly, stepped into action.

the first hindrance: the balcony was quite high, and designed like a prison wall, with no access point altogether. what was required, he deduced with his super-reasoning, was a ladder. 5 mins were spent in trying to find a ladder and in waking more neighbours.

but there was no ladder sufficiently long; all that could be produced was a tall stool about 6 ft high. the pharaoh leaped onto it, but couldn’t get to the ledge from there. a silly young girl suggested that a nearby gate be used for climbing, and after some alterations from pharaoh, the plan worked like a charm, if that’s the word i want.

ensuite, stepping into the house, leaping to the bathroom door, knocking politely and unbolting it, was, so to say, the work of a minute. basking in the glow of success and two rounds of applause, was the work of another.

escaping from the crowds, and leaping into sleep, was the work of yet another.

(* Note: it was later learned that Super-man was flying nearby, but he was busy rescuing Earth from a wandering black-hole, and he didn’t have permission from DC Comics to go off-track, and save young damsels in their respective distresses).