Monday Meme: Its That Time Of Year Again....

Monday Meme: Adulting As A Gen-Xer

Night Sky Photography -- 11-21-2024 -- The Moon & Beehive Star Cluster

Earlier this evening at midnight, I set up my camera and tripod in the backyard to capture some really good shots of the Waning Gibbous Moon, Mars, and the faint Beehive Star Cluster in the eastern sky.

In the wider shots y'all can see Luna and Mars along with some of the brighter stars like the Gemini Twins: Castor and Pollux, as well as Procyon. In the more close-up shots the distant Beehive Star Cluster becomes more visible just outside Luna's glare, along with two of the brighter stars of the Constellation Cancer The Crab: Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis. Both of these stars mark the location of the Beehive in the night sky.

The Beehive Star Cluster (also known as the M44 Cluster) is an open cluster in the barely visible Constellation Cancer, and one of the nearest star clusters to our Solar System at a distance of something around 520 to 610 light-years (or between 160 to 187 parsecs) from the Sun.

Y'all should keep an eye on the 4th planet from the Sun over the next couple months. Mars will remain in the vicinity of the Constellation Cancer for the rest of the year as the Red Planet continues to get larger and brighter towards its two year opposition to the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. It takes Mars about 687 days to orbit the Sun, compared to the 365 days our own Earth takes in its smaller orbit.

By the end of the month, Mars will actually move lower eastward towards the Beehive Cluster and remain there for a week, or so; but then, by mid-December, will begin to move higher back westward in the night sky back towards Pollux and the Constellation Gemini by the end of the year. This retrograde motion of Mars will occur between December 6, 2024 until February 23, 2025 as we Earthlings pass our small planetary neighbor in orbit.

Visiting Blackstocks Battlefield In Union County

Hello y'all!

Very recently I once again returned to neighboring Union County, South Carolina to visit the site of one of the more significant battles of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War in my corner of the Palmetto State.

The Battle of Blackstock's Farm (also known locally as the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, Battle of Blackstock's Hill, or simply Blackstocks) took place on Monday, November 20, 1780 between backcountry Patriot militia under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter and British army regulars and Loyalist provincials commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the British Legion.

The battle was a significant American victory as it was the first major battle in the South Carolina backcountry where Patriot militia defeated British army regulars and a personal defeat for "Bloody Ban" Tarleton himself -- who was infamous in the South Carolina upstate for his alleged massacre of Virginia Continentals at the Battle of Waxhaws (Monday, May 29, 1780) the previous summer.

Blackstocks is also significant because this was the battle that earned Thomas Sumter his famous nickname "The Fighting Gamecock" for his aggressive defensive fighting style.

The Battle of Blackstock's Historic Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The site of the battlefield is Blackstock hill, the site of the farmhouse and the surrounding open fields where the fighting largely took place. Today the hill is barren save for a small grove of trees, the farm itself long consumed by nature.

The historic site is located in Union County just off Blackstock Road adjacent to SC Highway 56 near Cross Keys, South Carolina.

The following are the photos I took of the site of the battlefield.

The Blackstocks historic battlefield site.

Battlefield Monument.

Night Sky Photography -- 11-19-2024 -- Luna, Jupiter, Mars & Stars

I captured this outstanding photo last night about forty minutes after midnight of our beautiful Waning Gibbous Moon as she appeared just between the planets Jupiter and Mars high in the eastern sky. In addition I also captured many of the nearby brightest stars of the constellations Gemini, Canis Minor, Taurus and Orion.

Luna will pass by the bright star, Pollux, late on Tuesday, November 19th and Mars on the the night of Wednesday, November 20th. On both nights, the moon will appear only a degree, or so, apart from both heavenly bodies.

Jupiter, with its much slower orbit, will remain close to the Constellation Taurus for awhile; but Mars will soon begin to appear brighter as it moves ever closer to its opposition to the Earth in its orbit.

Monday Meme: Grocery Store Humor 01 -- The Never Ending Struggle

Night Sky Photography -- 11-15-2024 -- The Super Full Beaver Moon & The Pleiades

Good evening, fellow Stargazers!

In the Northern Hemisphere the full moon is called the Beaver Moon and its the last full moon of the autumn season before the winter solstice.

This year's Full Beaver Moon is the fourth and last supermoon of 2024 at a distance of about 225,000 miles (or 361,867 km) from the Earth.

As an extra special bonus this year, the Super Full Beaver Moon aligns with the Pleiades Star Cluster with the two appearing about just over half-a-degree apart in the evening sky as seen from the surface of the Earth. The Pleiades are actually about 444.2 light-years (or 136.2 parsecs) distance from our Solar System.

The following are the photos I took of the Super Full Beaver Moon with the nearby Pleiades Star Cluster.

The first photo being a close-up shot of the our lovely Luna with every dark "sea" and large surface feature visible.

The second is a wider unfiltered view of the full moon with the nearby Pleiades showing just outside of Luna's glare.

The final show showing the Super Full Beaver Moon and Pleiades with several nearby bright stars including the red-giant star, Aldebaran, in the Constellation Taurus and the large bright star, Capella, in the Constellation Auriga. Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, can be seen rising just below between the tops of the trees.

I hope y'all enjoyed my photos and I hope to have some more soon. Till next time have a good evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear.

The Yellow Garden Spider

Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia).
Photo taken by blog author C.W. Roden on 11-11-2024.

Hello Y'all!

I'm a female Yellow Garden Spider, or Argiope aurantia. I'm a North American arachnid and largely active in the fall months. You can find me everywhere in North America from southern Canada to Central America.

Okay, I know I'm a big spider and I look really scary, but I'm very beneficial to the environment, especially to your flowers and gardens. I often build my large webs in areas near sunny fields away from the wind, or along the eaves of houses and storage buildings.

More often I like to spin my beautiful large silky webs in tall vegetation like those in your garden, but please don't worry! 

I may look poisonous with my beautiful black and yellow stripes, but my bite is not dangerous to humans.

I eat flies, mosquitos, wasps, aphids, and other harmful bugs. I stay outside and I'm largely active during the daytime. I'm not aggressive to humans, birds, or other animals. I'll even shake my large web at you to make it obvious if you get too close.

So now that y'all know that, please don't kill or hurt me, even if you don't like spiders. We may not be best friends, but I'll help out around your garden if you please let me stay there.

Veterans Of Two Wars By Norman Rockwell (1918) -- Artwork

Veterans Of Two Wars by Norman Rockwell (1918).
Image courtesy of the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USA.

 

In honor of U.S. Veterans Day today and American patriotism -- We remember!

Beautiful House Finch Couple Feeding

These beautiful House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) couple have been frequent visitors to my backyard feeders recently. The male is the one with the bright red head and belly, while the female is gray with a white belly. Both have amazing markings on their feathers.

The house finch is one of three distinct species of American rosefinch found in North America and the only one largely found in Southeastern United States.

These are the photo I took of this lovely couple over the weekend of Saturday, November 9th and Sunday, November 10th of this year.