Night Sky Photography -- 06-20-2022 -- Parade Of Planets & Last Quarter Moon

Greetings, Salutations, and Happy Summer Solstice, Y'all!

Early this morning I woke up in time to capture some really good shots of the Last Quarter Moon along with four of our planetary neighbors in the early morning sky.

Throughout this month its possible to see all five of the traditional "wandering stars" (planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) in the early morning sky about an hour before sunrise in a line across the eastern sky.

If you're fortunately enough to live someplace with little obstruction on the horizon, it might be possible to see all five planets in a line across the sky.

Unfortunately for me, little Mercury currently lies too close to the horizon behind the trees for me to get a clear shot at the moment, though as it slowly begins to rise in the eastern sky ahead of the sunrise, I should be able to get a better chance before the end of this month.

Today though, I was able to capture four of the planets -- although they were too far apart for me to photograph into one frame, I was able to get some really good shots.

The first photo shows Mars, Jupiter, Luna, and Saturn in more or less a straight line across the southeastern sky overhead. The second is bright Venus a little further from Mars towards the horizon.

 

My third photograph is a close-up of the Last Quarter Moon that highlights most of the visible features of the "Man on the Moon" with the Earth's shadow cutting across half of the lunar surface.

And speaking of moons, my final photo is a close-up shot of the large gas giant planet, Jupiter, with its four Galilean moons (Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede) visible -- and in almost a straight line.

Well I hope that y'all enjoyed my photos and welcome summer 2022!

Night Sky Photography -- 06-14-2022 -- Full Strawberry Supermoon & Constellation Scorpius

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, June 14th I was able to capture some really good shots of the second of four supermoons for 2022, along with the red star Antares and some of stars of the Constellation Scorpius The Scorpion in the southern horizon.

My first photo shows the full supermoon close to the Antrares -- The Heart of the Scorpion -- in the southern sky. In my second photo I outlined the visible stars of the Constellation Scorpius as it appeared above the tree tops. And my final photo is a closeup of the full supermoon itself showing the details of the visible features of the Moon itself.

The June full moon is known as the Strawberry full moon in the Northern Hemisphere -- making this the Strawberry Supermoon! There will still be two more supermoons in the next two months of the summer of 2022.

Top 20 Best Advice For Anyone Wanting To Move To South Carolina

Having been born, raised, and lived my whole pseudo-adult life in the Great State of South Carolina -- the living, beating heart of Dixie -- I can tell y'all its a wonderful place to live and settle down roots.

Now if y'all are foreigners (that is anyone not fortunate enough to have been born in South Carolina, nor have family who are native Sandlappers) and want to move here, you'll find that the folks down here in our little corner of God's Country (aka The American Southland) are quite welcoming to new blood -- especially the Skeeters, LOL!

However, if y'all do decide you'd like to live here there are a few friendly bits of advice y'all might want to remember in order to ensure that everyone gets along. These are more guidelines than actual rules, mind you, but its best y'all learn the following twenty pieces of advice when it comes to living in the Palmetto State.

So without further ado, here are the top 20 best pieces of advice for anyone wanting to move to South Carolina:

(1) Save all bacon grease -- you'll be instructed how to use it later.

(2) If y'all run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men (or a daddy's girl who can show the boys how it's done) in the cab of a four wheel drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This sorta shits what they live for.

(3) Remember: "Y'all" is singular, "All y'all" is plural, and "All y'all's" is plural possessive.

(4) Get used to the phrase: "It ain't the heat, it's the humidity." Not to mention the collateral phrase: "You call this hot? Just y'all wait till August!"

(5) Don't tell us how y'all did it up there. Remember y'all are immigrants, not missionaries.

(6) If y'all think it's too hot in July, don't worry; it'll cool down in, oh about December, or so.

(7) A Mercedes-Benz is not a status symbol, a Chevy, Dodge, or Ford is.

(8) If someone says they're "fixin" to do something, that doesn't mean anything's broken.

(9) The value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but the availability of shade -- especially between June and October.

(10) If you are driving a slower moving vehicle on a two lane road, pull onto the shoulder. That's called "courtesy".

(11) Barbecue means grilling burgers and hot dogs outdoors. BBQ is a food group. Learn the difference!

(12) Weddings, funerals, and divorces must always (and I mean ALWAYS) take into account for Clemson Tigers/Carolina Gamecocks College Football games -- especially on Rivalry Day.

(13) Everything is better with Ranch dressing -- Thousand Island if you want to live in Charleston.

(14) DON'T honk your horn at us to be obnoxious, we will sit there until we die.

(15) We pull over and stop for emergency vehicles to pass.

(16) We pull over for funeral processions, turn our music off and men remove hats or caps. Some people put their hand over their heart.

(17) "Bless your Heart" is just a nice, polite Southern way of saying: you're an f***ing idiot.

(18) No mater what kind of carbonated beverage it ain't called "soda" or "pop" -- It's all called Coke.

(19) In small towns near rural areas there will always be a tractor on the two lane when you are running late, so be sure to allow time for that.

(20) If y'all don't like the weather in South Carolina, wait about, oh say 15 minutes, or so; it'll change.

Confederate Grave Markers Installed In Union County, South Carolina

On Saturday, June 4, 2022, five brand new Confederate soldiers headstones were placed on previously unmarked grave sites this morning. Members of several South Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCSCV) camps from the upstate worked hard to install the headstones for these men at their final resting places at Padgett's Creek Baptist Church in Union County, South Carolina.

A special thanks to members of the General States Rights Gist Camp #1451 (Union, SC), Captain Moses Wood Camp #125 (Gaffney, SC), and the Adam Washington Ballenger Camp #68 (Spartanburg, SC) and others for their contributions and the work they put in to honor the memory of these Southern men and Confederate veterans.

The following are the names and units these men served in:

Pvt. William Barnett, Company B, 15th SC Infantry, CSA. Died In The War
Pvt. Byrd Murphy Bobo, Company H, 5th SC State Troops, CSA.
Pvt. John Bobo, Company C, 18th SC Infantry, CSA.
Pvt. Shelton "Shell" Eubanks, Company B, 15th SC Infantry, CSA.
Pvt. G. Stanford Gregory, Company A, 18th SC Infantry, CSA.

May they Rest In Eternal Peace.

Night Sky Photography -- 06-02-2022 -- Three Summer Constellations: Saguttarius, Scorpius & Libra

Good evening fellow stargazers!

With the summer solstice only a few weeks away, some of the more prominent summer constellations are again beginning to appear in the skies here in South Carolina.

Last last night about an hour after midnight I was able to capture a great shot of three of these low-lying constellations in the southern sky just over the trees: the Constellations Scorpius The Scorpion, Libra The Scales, and the "teapot" asterism of Sagittarius The Archer.

The brightest star of the Constellation Scorpius is the red supergiant star Antares -- the Heart of the Scorpion -- and the fifteenth-brightest star in the night sky. Once you locate that star, the rest of the Scorpion is easy to find.

Closest to the head of the Scorpion are Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) and Zubeneschamail (Beta Librae), the two brightest stars of the nearby Constellation Libra. 

The final Constellation, Sagittarius The Archer, is a bit trickier since its lower on the horizon and you need a higher place to spot the whole constellation. As seen from the northern hemisphere, the constellation's brighter stars form an easily recognizable asterism known as "the Teapot" which I outlined in the photo.

If you are fortunate enough to live someplace with far less light pollution than I do, it might be possible to see with the right light filters on your telescope, or camera, the densest part of our own Milky Way galaxy center, which is located between Scorpius and Sagittarius. 

Using the tip of the "spout" of the Teapot in roughly a line between that star and Antares, you can locate the Galactic Center where a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) sits. I highlighted the approximate location in my photo above.

Throughout the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere these three constellations will remain largely visible along the southern horizon.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photos and presentation, have a wonderful evening and as always keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!