Close, but no cigar

This is what it should have looked like this weekend. All the variables looked as though they’d line up. The sky was clear. No bright moon to mess up the sky. Somewhat unsettled atmosphere. Clint out standing in the field (no puns, please) with his camera equipment. The POES statistical plot showed a strong possibility of visible Northern Lights in this area. Sadly, nothing showed.

Not to mention that it was pretty darn COLD and windy, but it’s worth a try…right? If I may whine for a brief instant, I’ll take the opportunity to point out that my purchase of camera equipment capable of astrophotography coincides directly with the Solar Minimum. I’ve seen auroras so bright I could read by them, but it doesn’t look like any of those will show up for another couple of years at least. But when they do, I’ll be there. And the evidence will be posted here.

The photo above, by the way, I took near Hawktree last fall. They were originally their typical turquoise green but I changed the hue to blue in Photoshop because this image in its original size is the background for my computer monitors. In the original one can clearly make out the round hay bale in the foreground. I also have one with a BIG owl perched on that bale, but this one turned out better.

Observation deck

If the words “observation deck” make you think of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, you are a geek. No, this is from my beloved capitol building. After doing some poking around at the state archives (okay, maybe I’m the geek) I ventured upstairs and saw these really cool clouds. I had the whole 18th floor to myself and was able to snap some cool shots from all directions.

A quick email to my friend Kevin Lawrence over at KFYR got this picture on the news at 10pm. Mighty gracious of him. I guess that makes me a Sky Spy™! I know he likes cool cloud formations so if you get some neat weather-related photos, send them to him. They have an updated website at kfyrtv.com with a section where you can upload your photos.

One disappointment about going to the top of the capitol building these days is that the elevators have been “updated.” You see, in each elevator there used to be an actual guy with a little bench who operated the elevator with a big brass handle. Then they “modernized.” For a while there was one elevator left with an actual human who operated it, but I guess those days are gone for good. I’m guessing the fella who did it retired, then they got rid of those controls altogether. It’s really too bad. That was a neat part of visiting this building.

Moonlight at the wind farm

If you haven’t headed north lately you may have missed the 35 gigantic windmills near Regan, just southeast of Wilton. As a matter of fact, you can see the flashing red obstruction lights atop these beasts from north Bismarck.

There appear to be two clusters of them and will soon total 60 towers in all. They are all accessible by service roads for the curious, but you MUST check in before you go out there. The roads are all marked No Trespassing for visitors who have not checked in.

This picture was taken by moonlight Saturday night from the section line road. While the generators turned by these big boys do make some noise, they are deceptively quiet. Because of that, they’re kinda weird to watch. The 80-foot blades move pretty quickly for something so huge.

Saturday morning moon

I’m going to have a hard time justifying a new lens if I can be walking down the sidewalk and point up at the moon and bring home a handheld shot like this one. Some days it’s better to be lucky than good, I guess! Bright moonlight skies make it really hard to watch for auroras…

International Space Station (ISS) overhead in January

The International Space Station (ISS) will be visible over Bismarck this month! If you’ve never seen it, it’s quite large and moves very quickly overhead. When the Space Shuttle is docked with it, the thing is enormous.

Because of its orbit, it’s not always visible from Bismarck. This month, however, it will be. It only takes a few minutes at most to pass from horizon to horizon.

You can track the ISS overhead by clicking here.