Night Sky Photography -- 01-23-2023 -- Young Crescent Moon & Planets Venus, & Saturn In Evening Sky....and a UFO?!

Good evening fellow stargazers!

Today I want to share with y'all my latest night sky photographic offerings for your viewing pleasure. I was about to capture outstanding shots of the beautiful waxing crescent moon aligned with Venus and Saturn in the western sky after sunset.

Taken about fifty minutes after sunset these two photographs show the young crescent moon near the two planets Venus and Saturn close to the western horizon. The day before Venus and Saturn were in close conjunction (about a moon's width apart) but I was unable to get a photo of this due to an evening rainstorm and cloud cover.

As you can see in my first photo, the two planets are almost perfectly aligned in the evening sky. The second photo is a close-up shot of the three heavenly bodies. Distant Saturn appears brightest about 40 minutes after sunset making it easy to spot among the first evening "stars" to appear in the sky dome. Hot Venus, the bright evening star, is of course the third-brightest body visible from Earth in the Solar System, after our lovely Luna and the Sun.

If you look closely at the first picture you might notice something a bit eerie. A small, bright colorful object to the left of the shot.

Is it an actual UFO?! Did I actually capture photographic evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence?!

Weeeeeeell, not exactly. Its actually a commercial passenger jet plane flying in its path and the colors are the bright running lights of the plane as its moving as the photograph was being shot. No aliens here.

Oh well....stranger things can happen if you keep looking at the night skies.

Monument To British Revoultionary War Dead in Gaffney, South Carolina

The marker honoring three unknown British soldiers who fought and died
from wounded received at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781.

Near Limestone College in the town of Gaffney, in Cherokee County, South Carolina there is a marker by the recently restored Limestone Springs at Hamrick Park that honors the memories of three unknown British soldiers who had been mortally wounded at the Battle of Cowpens on Wednesday, January 17, 1780 and are buried on the site.

Over 300 British soldiers had been casualties during this decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign (1780-1782). 110 of these were killed during the battle, or died as a result of their wounds. 

After being force-marched for days by their commander, Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton into the South Carolina backcountry in pursuit of a force of Continental army and Patriot militia led by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, these men were wounded in the battle that took place early on a cold and frosty morning. After the battle these soldiers were among those brought to the cattle drivers rest stop called the Cowpens near Limestone Springs just off the old Cherokee Ford Road, where they bled to death and died far from home and their families in a strange and largely hostile country. Their names forgotten to history, and known but to God. 

In May 2012, a marker designed by Limestone College trustee and Blakely Funeral Home director Ashby Blakely was unveiled by local historian Robert Ivey with the assistance of British Revolutionary War re-enactors during a special memorial service in memory of these foreign soldiers.

They were invaders, part of an army sent to keep America under the rule of the British Crown and crush American independence. They suffered the fate of the invader, no doubt about that. 

Yet, in spite of this, they too deserve to be remembered for who they were and what they left behind, no different than any other soldier who served his country's military forces and died during the course of their duty. They deserve to be honored for the memory of their lives, and given the respect due to all men who fought in war.

Limestone Spring at Hamrick Park in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The British soldiers' marker can be see in the left of the photo
by the road.

If y'all are ever in the area of Gaffney, South Carolina, please take the time to stop by and visit this marker and the historic springs. 

Have a wonderful Dixie day, y'all! 

35 More Favorite Zootopia Memes -- Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde Forever!

Okay folks, as y'all might remember from previous posts on this blog, I'm a huge fan of the animated movie Disney's Zootopia (2016) and funny memes related to its characters: particularly Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde -- one of my favorite (and so far unconfirmed) animated couples.

I've amassed a small collection of humorous memes related to these characters and posted them here at Southern Fried Common Sense & Stuff in two previous blog posts HERE and HERE to share with y'all.

Well folks, it appears that my funny Disney's Zootopia meme posts are about to officially become a trilogy. So with that out of the way here are 35 more of my favorite Disney's Zootopia memes. 

Don't worry Judy, I think you can take him!

Yeah, I think this one speaks for itself.

LOL well, a bet is a bet, Nick.

Now where to find a cup of coffee big enough to dunk that one?

Yeah, been there, done that....didn't like it. Nope, not at all.

Carrot farts: Not so silent, but very deadly.

Just give in.

Well that went pretty dark.

Uh.....oh shit!

And it still doesn't come out quite right.

I prefer to think of it as classical music.

I see what you did there, Nick. LOL!

You know Nick, there's this guy name Legoshi that you
should really meet. You two have a lot in common.

Yeah seriously, WTF?!

He's dressed like an IRS agent.

Nick: "Oh no, she's breathing on me...what do I do?!"

Let's see how sly a fox you really are.

Noooooooo!

Oh no no, I totally agree!

Judy found the special brownies.

Yeah I think I know the ones they're reading too.

Umm humm....

Yeah, that's why I take a pass on that.

On the plus side, you can hide behind the taller kids.

Nick's left hand "accidentally" found Judy's tail.

Yeah, you two ain't fooling nobody.

I hope he liked the cookies y'all left out.

She's a vampire bat!

 

Childhood furry obsession to present-day.

And nine months later, Judy and Nick became parents to a
couple of fox-rabbit hybrid babies.
The End.

I hope y'all enjoyed these memes, be sure to let me know in the comments section which ones were your favorites.

Night Sky Photography -- 01-06-2023 -- The Full Micro Wolf Moon & Gemini Twin Stars

Well good evening, fellow stargazers!

This evening clear skies afforded me the opportunity to capture some outstanding shots of the first Full Moon of 2023.

The January Full Moon is referred to as the Full Wolf Moon in North America according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

This year the Full Wolf Moon appears slightly smaller that normal in the night sky because our lovely Luna is currently at its farthest point (apogee) from our Earth in its elliptical orbit around our planet at about 252,145 miles (or 405,789 kilometers) distance at the time of totality, making this year's Full Wolf Moon a Micromoon (or Apogee Moon)....a Micro Wolf Moon. 

Because a Micromoon is further away, it looks approximately 14% smaller than a Supermoon. The February and March Full Moons will also be micromoons, although they will be slightly closer to the Earth in orbit.

The following are the photos I took of the January 2023 Full Wolf Moon, taken between 6:00 PM EST to 9:00 PM EST.

My final photo is a picture of the Full Wolf Moon near the twin stars of Pollux and Castor in the Constellation Gemini the Twins. The rest of the stars of the constellation itself are lost in the glare of the beautiful moonlight, though the two main stars themselves are still easily visible.

The brightest star in Gemini is Pollux, a red giant star that sits closest to our Sun at a distance of about 34 light-years (or 10.4 parsecs) which is about two times the mass of our Sun and nine times the estimated radius.

The second-brightest is Castor, which sits a bit farther away at about 51 light-years (or 15.6 parsecs) from the Sun.  

The Full Wolf Moon -- the first official Full Moon of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere -- quite fittingly rests just inside the Winter Circle asterism. By tomorrow evening, Saturday the 7th of January, Luna's path will take her past the twins and just outside of the Winter Circle as she begins waning towards her New Moon Phase two weeks from now on Saturday the 17th of January.

Most years there are 12 full moons, one for each month. The year 2023 however will have 13 full moons, with two in August. The second of which is known as a Full Blue Moon, or Blue Moon....like in the classic phrase "once in a blue moon" which only happens about once every two-and-a-half years, like an astronomical leap-year of sorts.

The Blue Moon, which will occur this year on the evening of Wednesday, August 30th, will also be a Supermoon when our lovely Luna will be at her closest point to the Earth (Perigee) in orbit at a distance of 222,043 miles (or 357,344 kilometers).

The dates of the 2023 full moons.
Image courtesy of facebook.com.

Well folks, have a wonderful evening and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!