Night Sky Photography -- 11-29-2022 -- Mars Closest To The Earth Before Opposition

Good even fellow stargazers!

About every 26 months, our closest neighboring planet, Mars, reaches its opposition to Earth -- the moment that Earth is directly between a planet and the Sun. This also puts the Red Planet closer to our Earth in its orbit, making it glow slightly brighter as it approaches.

On the evening of Tuesday, November 29th and early morning of Wednesday, November 30th, Mars was at its closest to the Earth during this transition towards opposition. At its closest approach this year, Mars was about 51 million miles (or 4.5 light-minutes) from the Earth.

Right now Mars is slightly brighter now than Sirius, the night sky’s brightest star, and it’s noticeably red-orange in color. Mars will continue to increase in brightness until its opposition on the night of December 7th - 8th, then will begin fading by the end of the month.

Mars is currently located inside the Constellation Taurus The Bull and will be for most of this month. Aldebaran, the brightest star of Taurus (also known as the "Eye of the Bull") also shares a slightly reddish color, meaning that there are two bright red evening "stars" in our night sky this month.

The following are the photos I took of Mars at its current location in the night sky compared to the brightest stars near it, as well as the Constellations Orion The Hunter and Taurus The Bull.

Hopefully I'll be able to capture a good image of our little red neighbor the night of its opposition, which won't occur again for another 26 months in January of 2025.

Gamecocks Win The 2022 Palmetto Bowl -- FINALLY!

For the first time since 2013, the South Carolina Gamecocks beat their NCAA football rivals, the Clemson Tigers -- nationally ranked No. 8 in the country -- 31-30 at Memorial Stadium (aka Death Valley) in Clemson, South Carolina on Saturday, November 26, 2022, ending an eight year losing streak in the two school's annual rivalry game (nicknamed the Palmetto Bowl).

Needless to say, as a life-long American college football fan, and a diehard fan of the team my Grandfather Billy (God rest his soul!) got me interested in as a young kid, I was more than happy to witness this victory for my favorite college football team over their nationally ranked interstate rival.

Congratulations University of South Carolina and to your football players for a wonderful game and even better win that was a long time coming! Go Cocks!

Roses Blooming in November?!

Novembers here in South Carolina's upstate can be a bit weird sometimes to say the least.

Some of us here in the Carolinas, especially in the Piedmont region, love to joke that climate here in October and November with its varying degrees of temperature and weather go like this: winter in the early morning, spring by about noon, summer in the afternoons, and finally fall by evening.

Some days autumn here can feel like fall, with cool evenings and cold nights in the lower 30s F and even upper 20s F. Other days the temperatures can rise to as high as the lower 70s F and even to about the lower 80s F during the day, almost spring-like -- brief spells of Indian summer.

Certainly the weather itself can be a major factor since November is the last official month of hurricane season in the North Atlantic, with warm tropical air off the ocean and cool Arctic air from the north mixing to form a strange mess for us down her in Dixie.

So it's no surprise that the recent Category 1 Hurricane Nicole brought some steady rain and warm temperatures to my corner of South Carolina last weekend.

This morning, before it became cloudy and cold outside, I went outside to capture a photo of a beautiful green Carolina Anole lizard on my bedroom window that was enjoying the sunshine. I'd seen him, or one like him, earlier this summer and they are year round durable little critters.

Hey neighbor, just hanging around.

My rosebush sits just beside that particular window and I was not really surprised to find that the poisonous blue berries of the Virginia Creeper plant mixed in with my rosebush were already out. That's not too uncommon this time of year and the red and brown Cardinals and other birds enjoy them. As you can also see, the leaves on the plants themselves are still very much green, despite the trees starting to lose their foliage for the coming winter.

What was a surprise is what that brief spell of warm temperatures did for my yard...it helped my soon-to-be-hibernating rose bush to blossom at least one beautiful red rose and one poor little bud that I fear will not survive the coming cold weather this week.

Here are the photos I took of them.

Virginia Creeper plant berries mixed in with my rosebush.
These are a bit more common for this time of year.

With the temperatures expected to fall back into "autumn norms" and cool down, these survivors probably won't be around by next week, but I plan to enjoy them for as long as they are around until their brothers and sisters bloom in earnest next springtime.

Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom: Hey Arnold! -- Veterans Day (1999) TV Special Review

November 11th is Veterans Day here in the United States, a federal holiday honoring those U.S. military veterans who honorably served in America's armed forces.

It also happens to be the name of a special half-hour episode of the Hey Arnold! animated series (season 4, episode 71) written by Hey Arnold! show writer Steve Viksten and directed by Tim Parsons (storyboard) and Christine Kolosov (animation) respectively. It originally aired on Saturday, November 6, 1999.

Classic animated television series shows like What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? -- another favorite of mine which I covered in a previous blog post -- have explored those who fell in military service and remembering their sacrifices, but the Hey Arnold! Veterans Day episode is one of the very few animated stories that actually deals with the subject of military veterans and their experiences.

Its also one of my personal favorite special episodes of the series for just that reason and why I'm making it the subject of today's blog post.

The Story

It's Veterans Day weekend and Arnold and Gerald are having trouble deciding how to spend their extra day off from school.

At dinner that night at the Sunset Arms Boarding House, Arnold's Grandpa, Phil, wants to tell his story of how he fought during the Battle of the Bulge and helped defeat the Nazis in World War II, only to be met with disinterest -- largely because he's known to tell some pretty tall tales and stretch the truth more than a little bit.

This annoys Phil and he sadly goes to eat his dessert, only to discover it missing having been stolen by one of the boarders, Oscar.

Phil takes Arnold to nearby Slausen's Ice Cream Shop where they run into Gerald and his father, Martin. While Arnold and Gerald play a video game, Phil tells Martin about how no one wanted to listen to his story. Martin sympathizes, having served in the Vietnam War and never getting to tell anyone about his own experiences. They lament that everyone in Hillwood just treats Veterans Day as a day off from school and work.

Then, realizing that Washington, D.C. is just a short drive away, they decide to take the boys on a paternal-bonding trip to the nation's capitol to teach them the real meaning of the holiday and tell their war stories. Gerald is excited to hear about his dad's experiences while Arnold thinks his grandpa will just tell more tall tales, but still excited over the idea of the trip.

The next day the four set out on the drive to Washington, D.C. and the two older men tell their stories.

Phil goes first and relates his experience during the Battle of the Bulge where he served as a private and spent most of his time apparently on KP duty peeling potatoes. Phil was then sent under orders to dump some spoiled cans of Cham (a play on Spam), he got lost forcing him to spend the night at a farmhouse -- and apparently getting some uh, late-night companionship with one of the farmer's daughters in the barn (a story which Martin thankfully interjects in and tells Phil to skip over in front of the boys). Phil, realizing that maybe that part of the story isn't appropriate for a pair of nine-year-olds to hear, quickly skips ahead simply stating, "The next day I woke up feeling like a million bucks."

Yeah, that's 90s cartoons for y'all.

The next day after leaving the farmhouse and a weepy young woman waving him goodbye, Phil's truck blew a tire. He then initially tells a typically over-the-top story involving his single-handedly defeating Adolf Hitler in a hilarious slapstick fistfight that included a classic Three Stooges eye-poke and giving the goofy-mustached SOB a super wedgie, but Arnold calls him out on making that part up.

Hey Arnold, it was funny dude... just chill.

Phil relents and then tells them that he was actually captured by an entire German regiment. Upon discovering the food supplies, he managed to convince them -- through a good bit of reverse psychology -- that the cans of Cham were regular provisions which the enemy then consumes. The Nazi regiment then falls ill with violent food poisoning, taking them out of commission and creating a breach in the enemy lines. The Allies managed to get their troops through the breach and it was vital to helping them win the battle and end the war....or so Arnold's Grandpa claims, concluding his tall tale.

Next Martin tells his story and Gerald is eager to hear if his experience was just as exciting. However, Gerald is disappointed to learn that his dad, due to being sick with the flu during most of basic training, mostly just worked as a desk clerk and saw very little actual combat. The closest he got to combat was driving through an area where a battle had taken place and finding a man only named Private Miller in the episode who was bleeding. Martin used some files to make a bandage for him and went on his way.

After stopping over at a motel later that night, Arnold is convinced that Phil's story was all made up while Gerald dismisses his dad's job as a paper pusher, something Mr. Johanssen is sad to overhear.

The group makes it to Washington, D.C. the next day and visits several monuments -- among them Arlington National Cemetery -- and watches the Veterans Day parade together.

Phil and Arnold wonder off on their own in the woods so Phil can show Arnold something. He shows Arnold a monument of him that confirms his story. Arnold is happy to learn his Grandpa really was a hero and he can (kinda) tell a mostly honest story.

Meanwhile, Martin and Gerald are at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Martin tells Gerald he knows that Gerald's disappointed that he wasn't a big war hero, but Gerald says it's okay and he knows his dad did his best.

Right after this, they are approached by the same Private Miller that Martin met back in Vietnam. It turns out that Miller was bleeding to death when Martin came across him and his emergency first-aid ultimately ended up saving his life. Private Miller goes on to explain that he's been waiting twenty years to personally thank him for saving his life, which Martin is very touched by.

Martin introduces Gerald to Private Miller, who claims that Gerald's dad is a real hero. Private Miller then introduces his own family (his wife and their son and daughter) to Martin and Gerald. Private Miller's wife and daughter seem very moved while his son salutes Gerald's dad. Both families then watch the big fireworks presentation as the episode concludes.


My Thoughts

The message in this episode is a powerful one that does not glorify war, but rather the service of the individual soldier. Both stories show that no job is unimportant and that the definition of a "hero" means quite different things for every person.

"Being a veteran’s not about carrying a weapon or fighting in battles," Martin explains to Gerald. "It’s about service to your country, and there’s a lot of ways you can serve."

As always, the creators and writers for the series Hey Arnold! pulled off a powerful message with just enough humor mixed in with the dramatic elements. Y'all should definitely check this episode out, especially today.

Happy U.S. Veterans Day Today, Y'all!

World War One Monument & Graves At Unity Cemetery In Fort Mill, South Carolina

This blog post is dedicated to recognition and memory of the men and boys from Fort Mill, South Carolina who served in the United States armed forces during the First World War (1914-1918) and in honored memory of those that made the supreme sacrifice in service to their duty.

Sergeant James E. Bailes
1st Lieutenant James C. Dozier
Private Carey L. Farris
Private William Gray
Sergeant Thomas Lee Hall
Private Leonard Jennings
Private Walter O. Leazer
Corporal Harvey F. McManus
Corporal Fred T. Miller
Private William G. Patterson
Private William O. Purser
Private Seth E. Robbins
Private Eugene S. Ross
Private Clyde W. Stevens
Private St. Clair Sutton

Veterans Park is located at 106 North White Street not very far from the Confederate Park on Main Street in downtown Fort Mill, South Carolina -- in fact about fifty or sixty yards, or so, across the railroad tracks. Surrounded by green space, this park is centered around a beautiful monument that honors the memories and sacrifices of those men and boys from Fort Mill that served in the First World War (1914-1918).

In some ways its fitting that the monument honoring the soldiers of what was then termed the Great War should sit a good stone throw away from the monuments honor the Confederate veterans themselves. Many of those who served from Fort Mill when the United States entered the war on Friday, April 6, 1917 were the sons and grandsons of the veterans who wore the gray and butternut of the Confederate soldier and were likely inspired by the same devotion to duty passed down through the generations.

When the U.S. government and State of South Carolina called up their sons to join up and go fight the German Kaiser's invading hordes in Western Europe, many were all-too eager to join the fight and put on the khaki uniforms of the American Doughboy -- the popular nickname for American servicemen at the time. It was a young army too as nearly sixty percent of U.S. servicemen who volunteered were between the ages of 17 to 25!

Of the 123 young men from this small Southern town in the Piedmont region of South Carolina who went off to fight in World War I, fifteen of them did not return.

The park’s centerpiece is an 8-foot tall pedestal topped by a World War I soldier. The pedestal is engraved with the names of fallen Fort Mill servicemen and women. Five granite walls in the shape of a five-point star represent the five branches of the uniformed services. In addition there are eight flag poles which fly the flags of the United States of America, the State of South Carolina, the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the POW-MIA Flag.

The American Legion Post 43 and the Veterans Of Foreign Wars Post 9138 of Fort Mill contributed to the creation of this park and monument in everlasting memory of these men.

World War One Soldiers Monument in downtown
Fort Mill, SC, USA.

The monument lists the names of three major local World War I
heroes. Among them a World War I fighter ace and Distinguished
Service Cross winner and two posthumous Medal of Honor winners.

The names of World War One veterans engraved on red bricks
at the base of the monument. Around these are the logos of the
five U.S. Armed Services branches.

Many of the men and boys represented by this monument are buried in Fort Mill's Unity Cemetery among other local veterans of America's wars, while others are buried in plots with other foreign servicemen in France and Belgium where they fell in battle.

A small plot in the cemetery with a beautiful stone monument marks the graves of six local men buried there -- including one posthumous Medal of Honor winner, Sergeant Thomas Lee Hall. All of them were members of Company G, 118th Infantry, 30th Division of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces killed during the final offensive of the War on the Western Front in Belgium and France in October of 1918.

A small plot and monument at Fort Mill's Unity Cemetery marks the graves of six local World War I
soldiers buried there.

The grave of Elliott White Springs, who served as a flying ace in World War I.
He buried with his wife, Frances, and son, Leroy.

Probably the most well known person to serve in the war from Fort Mill was Mr. Elliott White Springs (1896-1959) who served as a World War I fighter pilot between 1917-1918. Springs was the grandson of local Civil War veteran, Captain Samuel Elliott White (1837-1911) the founder of downtown Fort Mill's Confederate Park.

At the rank of 1st Lieutenant, Springs became the 5th ranked US Fighter Ace of the war credited with shooting down 16 enemy aircraft and becoming a Squadron Commander and a captain at the age of 22. He was awarded the U.K. Distinguished Flying Cross and the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross.

Springs survived the war and would later return to military service as in World War II in the US Army Air Corps and retire as a lieutenant colonel.

Elliott White Springs photographed smiling in front of his crashed
Sopwith Camel fighter plane at the Remaisnil Aerodrome
(France) of the 148th Aero Squadron on Monday, September 16, 1918.
(Courtesy of The Springs-Close Family Archives, Fort Mill, SC.)

Included among those men and boys of Fort Mill who served in the war, 25 of these were African-Americans.

Nearly 200,000 black Americans served in World War I, mostly in service positions -- largely due to the prejudices at the time in the country that African-Americans were better suited to manual labor than combat roles. Most of these men were part of the American Expeditionary Forces Service of Supply (SOS) which transported supplies, dug trenches, cleaned latrines and debris, and buried corpses. Thought not an unimportant job by any means, it was likely far less "glamorous" than combat.

Other black U.S. servicemen, including 8 from Fort Mill, became members of the 92nd and 93rd U.S. Infantry Divisions, both segregated infantry divisions with white officers who were both "loaned" the the French army and fought in the trenches on the Western Front wearing French helmets and issues French military rifles. Despite this, both divisions fought extremely well and won a number of awards for bravery in the final year of the war in 1918.

Probably the most notable black Doughboy from Fort Mill was Private Ismong Edwards, who fought with the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters."

The 369th served an impressive 191 consecutive days in the trenches -- more than any other American unit. They also suffered the most losses of any American regiment with about 1,500 casualties. This regiment was also the first of the Allied forces to reach the Rhine River in Germany following the Armistice of Monday, November 11, 1918.

African-American U.S. soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment "Harlem Hellfighters" in France in 1918.
Note the French Adrian Helmets these men are wearing.
(Photograph courtesy of the US Department of Archives)

If y'all are ever in Fort Mill, South Carolina, be sure to stop by Veterans Park and Unity Cemetery and pay your respects to these men. Neither the services of all these men honored here, nor the memories of who they were as individuals, should ever be forgotten. 

Night Sky Photography -- 11-08-2022 -- Uranus Near Opposition During Full Beaver Blood Moon

Good morning, fellow stargazers!

Late last night and very early this morning, with blessedly clear skies, I was able to capture some really outstanding photos of the November Full Moon and the distant planet Uranus both before and during the last full Lunar Eclipse visible in North America until March 23-24, 2024.

As many of y'all might recall from my previous night sky blog post in May during the Full Flower Blood Moon of 2022, I explained in detail about how a Lunar Eclipse happened when our lovely Luna travels inside the Earth's shadow between our planet and the Sun.

There are two parts to the Earth's shadow: the penumbra (the lighter part) and the umbra (the darker part).

This Lunar Eclipse took place during the November Full Moon in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 8, 2022. The November Full Moon is known as the Full Beaver Moon in the Northern Hemisphere, making this the Full Beaver Blood Moon.

The moon reached full total eclipse inside the Earth's umbra shadow at about 5:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and lasted about 85 minutes. Here in South Carolina, the full totality of the Lunar Eclipse occurred about an hour before moonset in the west.

The overall Lunar Eclipse took about 5 hours and 53 minutes in total.

The following are photos I took of the Full Beaver Blood Moon between 5:18 a.m. and 5:35 a.m. EST.

The gas giant planet, Uranus, seventh planet of our Solar System, is just barely visible at full magnification about 2 degrees above and to the left of Luna. As you can see in both photos, Uranus appears as a barely visible 5.6 magnitude star alongside the Full Beaver Blood Moon both before and during the Lunar Eclipse.

Uranus appears more visible with Luna in the Earth's shadow blocking out the moonlight, although even then spotting the planet would require the aid of a good camera lens, or pair of binoculars.

Orbiting at 1.8 billion miles (or 2.9 billion kilometers) from the Sun at its closest and 1.89 billion miles (or 3 billion km) away at its farthest, Uranus takes about 84 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun.

Right now Uranus is at its opposition -- its closest approach to Earth in its orbit around the Sun -- at about 1.6 billion miles (or 2.6 billion km) distance, or about 155 light-minutes from Earth.

Opposition is actually one of the best time of year to visibly see our Solar System's outer planets. From now until Thursday, December 1, 2022, Uranus will be at its brightest and can be seen just to the east of the Pleiades Star Cluster. Tonight (November 8-9th) the Waning Gibbous Moon will lie between both in the sky dome.

The planet will remain visible in the evening sky through March of 2023, although after this month it will begin to dim just a little so you have to know exactly where to look. Here's a link to a really good sight to help y'all with that.