View allAll Photos Tagged Absorption
National Museum, Beijing
July 2012
China
Urban life
Ricoh GR Digital IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them..
789, Beijing
July 2012
China
Nothing like a giant transformer to lay your head to rest against when tired
Ricoh GR Digital IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them..
When it was time for the King's Ploughing/Plowing Festival, the city was decked out like a city in Heaven, and the delighted people in their finery assembled at King Suddhodana's supreme residence. Having laid his son Siddhartha at the root of a certain Rose Apple tree, the nurses went outside to watch the Festival. While sitting on that pleasant couch at the root of a glorious, canopied Rose Apple tree, the young Siddhartha attained meditative absorption.
Here are the flowers of the Rose Apple tree.
www.flickr.com/photos/jungle_mama/4367547339/
Having seen him sitting there like a golden statue, and the Rose Apple tree's shadow standing still, the nurses said to the King: Such is the wonderful nature of your son. After hearing this about him whose face shone like a clear moon, and whose eyes were like lotuses, he announced: This is the second time I pay my respects to him, and with his head he paid his respects at his son's feet.
Decades later at age 35, after his Starving Years failed to bring him Enlightenment, Siddhartha remembered meditating under the Rose Apple tree as a child. "I shall meditate as I did before. Perhaps that is the way to become enlightened." From then on he began to eat daily.
During a full-moon night in May, Siddhartha went into deep meditation. As the morning star appeared in the eastern sky, he became an enlightened one, a Buddha. When the Buddha stood up at last, he gazed at the Pipal Tree in gratitude, to thank it for having given him shelter. From then on, the tree was known as the The Bodhi Tree, The Tree of Enlightenment.
Here are the leaves of a Bodhi Tree which grows here in South Florida.
www.flickr.com/photos/jungle_mama/4123610000/
BIscayne Park FL
Zaahr - in Black * Zaahr - Facebook
SOOC image.
Raganuga - Absorption in Pure Love
Gracias a todos por los amables comentarios, mi amigos/as!
Thank you for all your kind comments, my friends!
Maximum light absorption.
Come see me at : www.Chanyungco.com / Breaking The Ice / Good Press Gallery / Fistful Of Books & follow me @elchanyungco on instagram.
Click here to say hi and here to reach Martin Smolka for booking/print orders ❤︎
A lizard endemic to South Africa and specifically to Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsula with a second location near Langebaan, north of Cape Town.
These are solitary creatures and black in colour, which facilitates absorption of the heat from the sun in what is a relatively cool part of South Africa.
My image was captured on Table Mountain some years ago.
"Date: 2019. Artist: Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann. Medium: Marble stucco on plaster cast, natural pigments in egg tempera, gold foil.
The statue type known as Small Herculaneum Woman has survived in dozens of ancient marble replicas. This reconstruction is based on studies of the extensive color preserved on a replica found in Delos, which has been examined in ultraviolet, infrared, and raking light as well as with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. Decorative elements on the undergarment were painted with a light Egyptian blue, and iron-based pigments in shades of red and brown were used for the hair and facial features. Green malachite survived in large areas of her mantle, blackened through fire.
"The Late Classical prototype of the so-called Small Herculaneum Woman is lost, but dozens of copies of the Hellenistic and Roman periods are preserved. The young woman, her hair composed of several strands woven together into a severe bun, wraps herself in a mantle that she draws tightly around her body with both hands. Beneath the mantle she wears a finely pleated undergarment and sandals with thick soles. The reconstruction was made in 2019, as part of a project financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, "The university collection as living archive. Teaching and research at the intersection of materiality and communication." It is based on studies of the polychromy of a copy found in 1894 on Delos (National Archaeological Museum, Athens, inv. 1827). The cast was taken from the Roman copy that gives the statue type its nickname, discovered in 1706 in Herculaneum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden inv. Hm 327).
The polychromy of the copy from Delos has been investigated on several occasions since 1982. The best-preserved colors are a light blue (Egyptian blue) for decorative elements of the under-garment and a whole palette of iron oxides in shades of red and brown, especially on the hair and face. The excavators at the end of the 19th century had already observed traces of a rich pink and violet. Traces of gilding and of a violet color, the result of corrosion, are preserved on the borders of the mantle.
Yellow pigment containing lead, as well as lead white and malachite that had been burned to a grey-black powder, could also be detected with the use of intensive scientific investigation. In ultraviolet light, bands of wave and ray patterns can be seen on the mantle. The reconstruction brings together all the colors that have been detected since the statue was excavated. The application of paint on the mantle makes especially clear what the sculptor's intentions were: the fine, greenish fabric is transparent wherever the garment is pulled tightly around the body. Thus, the flesh color of the arm and elbow, as well as the violet of the undergarment, shines through at the belly and right thigh.
The decoration of the dress hem with sea monsters and the pomegranate branch on the mantle hem are designed in analogy to robe depictions in vase painting of the 4th century BC and on Hellenistic sculpture."" - info from the Met.
"The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.
The Fifth Avenue building opened on March 30, 1880. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the museum attracted 1,958,000 visitors, ranking fourth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.
The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.
Now on Instagram.
"Date: 2010. Artist: Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann. Medium: plaster cast, natural pigments in egg tempera.
As early as 1762, art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann used the well-preserved colors on the statue of Artemis from Pompeii as evidence that ancient marble sculpture was colorful. The wide range of pigments represented on the reconstruction was identified through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence, and visible-induced infrared luminescence. These include Egyptian blue; pink madder; kaolin mixed with lead white; orange and red ocher; hematite; cinnabar; umber; and two yellow pigments made from lead and ocher." - info from the Met.
"The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.
The Fifth Avenue building opened on March 30, 1880. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the museum attracted 1,958,000 visitors, ranking fourth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.
The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.
Now on Instagram.
Just about every rocky shoreline in the Galapagos Islands is home to the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), the only sea-going lizard in the world. The marine iguana is an extraordinary animal that lives on land but feeds in the sea, grazing on a variety of seaweed – on exposed rocks, in subtidal areas, or by diving deeper into the cold seawater. This habit, totally unique in iguanas and in fact all lizard species of the world, provides them with an abundant food source. However, they cannot withstand the cold temperatures of the sea for too long and must pull out on land to warm up.Marine iguanas also mate and nest on land. While they have few predators in the sea, on land, young iguanas fall prey to hawks, herons, and other birds. Predation by introduced cats has had a major impact on many populations. Found throughout the islands, concentrations of up to 4,500 individuals per mile are not uncommon in some areas. The total population has been estimated at between 200,000 and 300,000.
The short, blunt nose is well-adapted to feeding on algae growing on rocks. The flattened tail is perfect for swimming, propelling the iguana through the water while its legs hang useless at its sides. Iguanas rid themselves of excess salt, consumed along with the algae, by a special gland connected to their nostrils. Marine iguanas are an excellent example of a species well-adapted and continuing to adapt to their environment. While marine iguanas feed mainly on algae, they have also been known to consume crustaceans and grasshoppers. On one or two islands, a small percentage of marine iguanas have been observed feeding on terrestrial vegetation, perhaps an adaptation to the near complete absence of nutritional sea algae during strong El Niño events.
When marine iguanas go hungry, they don’t just become thinner, they get shorter too. A scientist recently found that in times of El Niño-induced famine, the marine iguanas will shrink in length and then regrow as food becomes plentiful again. This finding, reported in the scientific journal Nature, is the first of a shrinking adult vertebrate. The adult iguanas can switch between growth and shrinkage repeatedly throughout their lifetime – a perfect adaptation to the boom and bust cycles in Galapagos associated with El Niño. The researchers postulate that bone absorption accounts for much of the reduction, with iguanas literally digesting part of their bones to survive.
Marine iguanas show their color as they mature – the young are black, while adults range from red and black, to black, green, red and grey, depending on the island, with Española marine iguanas being the most colorful of all, and earning them the nickname “Christmas Iguanas.” Marine iguanas become more colorful in the breeding season, at which time males defend territories on land where they mate with the females, who then lay their eggs in burrows. Marine iguanas lay 2 to 3 large eggs, which hatch between 2 ½ and 4 months later. Marine iguanas are known to live up to 60 years.
Tyndall, South Dakota (pop. ~1,000) has two significant European connections. The first is that the town, incorporated in 1879, was named after Irish physicist John Tyndall.
In 1859 Tyndall demonstrated with absorption spectroscopy that sunlight, which is predominantly visible light with short wavelengths, readily passes through most gases that compose the atmosphere, but that the longer wavelength infrared energy emitted by the Earth gets absorbed by those same gases (primarily water vapor). The difference in energy absorption is what keeps the Earth warm, and the increasing concentrations of gases like carbon dioxide and methane is what is causing the climate to warm.
For a long time it was believed that Tyndall was the discoverer of what became known as the "greenhouse effect" but more recently the work of American scientist Eunice Newton Foote was rediscovered. In 1856, three years before Tyndall, Foote noted that glass cylinders, when filled with air, hydrogen and carbon dioxide and placed in the sun, were warmest when filled with carbon dioxide and surmised that an atmosphere with more CO2 would result in a warmer climate. And that's your history of climate science lesson for today!
Anyway, as you can see, Tyndall has a very wide Main Street.
FOV: 6" wide.
This experiment was an attempt to recreate the fluorescence of chromium activated corundum (aka 'ruby'). Aluminum hydroxide was mixed with 1-4 drops of Cr(III) oxide in a basic solution. This was placed on a small amount of aluminum sulfate in an aluminum foil container and a bit of water was added.
The sample was then heated, first with a propane torch until the water was removed and then with a MAPP gas torch until the aluminum sulfate expanded into foam, trapping the aluminum hydroxide which was calcined into aluminum oxide by the torch's flame. (at least that was the plan)
Shown also is a natural ruby from Mysore, India.
See ruby excitation spectrum here (0.03% Cr):
www.northropgrumman.com/BusinessVentures/SYNOPTICS/Produc...
Contains:
Ruby (FL Red >GR,BL/UVa)
Ruby Foam (FL Red >GR,BL/UVabc)
Shown under UVa light.
Key:
WL = White light (halogen + LED)
FL = Fluoresces
PHOS = Phosphorescent
BL = 450nm, GR = 532nm
UVa = 368nm (LW), UVb = 311nm (MW), UVc = 254nm (SW)
'>' = "stimulated by:", '!' = "bright", '~' = "dim"
Ruby2
24 Dec 2016
Series best viewed in Light Box mode using Right and Left arrows to navigate.
Photostream best viewed in Lightbox mode (in the dark).
18 Watt Triple Output UV lamp from Polman Minerals - Way Too Cool UV lamps
Sprinter Leiden CS - The Hague CS
February 2013
On my new blog thecovertphotographer.wordpress.com i will be providing some background to some of my pictures. Here is the story that goes along with this particular shot: thecovertphotographer.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/rush-hour/
Candid shots in and around Public Transport
Ricoh GRD IV
“Light and dark, dry and wet, reflective and absorptive, these qualities give the different multiples of the painting a distinct visual rhythm. (…) The rhythms change with the light and with the position and movements of the viewer.”
Winston Roeth
The name "Red Forest" comes from the ginger-brown colour of the pine trees after they died following the absorption of high levels of radiation from the Chernobyl accident on 26 April 1986. In the post-disaster cleanup operations, the Red Forest was bulldozed and buried in "waste graveyards". The site of the Red Forest remains one of the most contaminated areas in the world today.
The Hague
The Netherlands
2012
Candid shots in and around the Public Transport in The Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
In Transit
May 2012
The Netherlands
Candid shots in and around the Public Transport in The Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them...
The absorption of Robson’s into the United Glass Group in 1980 saw a strong phase of buying Scanias, a marque favoured by the United Group. A121 JLS Border Rebel was the first three-axle tractor unit in the Robson’s fleet. This tag-axle 6x2 was used on short-haul tipper work carrying ten loads a day of specialist silica sand used for glass-making. It may have been fitted with a day cab rather than the sleeper version depicted here (25-Oct-18).
All rights reserved. For the avoidance of doubt, this means that it would be a criminal offence to post this image on Facebook or elsewhere (please post a link instead). Follow the link below for terms and conditions, additional information about my work; and to request work from me:
www.flickr.com/photos/northernblue109/6046035749/in/set-7...
Jan Vermeer (Johannes Vermeer), Delft 1632 - 1675
Brieflesendes Mädchen am offenen Fenster / Girl Reading a Letter at an open Window (1657)
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
Acquired in 1724 by August III, elector of Saxony, together with a number of other paintings bought in Paris. The seller threw in the picture as a present, to sweeten the deal. It was then attributed to Rembrandt, and the ascription was subsequently weakened to "manner" or "school of." In 1783, it was engraved as a work by Govaert Flinck. The name "Van der Meer from Delft" occurred for the first time in a catalog dating from 1806, to be changed back to Flinck in 1817. From 1826 to 1860, the appellation was altered to Pieter de Hooch. It is only since 1862 that the correct identification obtains. The only Dutch provenance that could possibly apply is the sale Pieter van der Lip, Amsterdam, 1712, no. 22, "A Woman Reading in a Room, by van der Meer of Delft fl 110." Unfortunately, the text is not specific enough to distinguish it from the one at the Rijksmuseum, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.
The above underlines the difficulties inherent to the establishment of Vermeer's catalog. Not a single work can be traced back to the painter's studio, nor are there any letters or contracts extant. The task of attribution rests squarely upon the shoulders of the individual critic, which explains the multiplicity of divergent opinions. In this painting, a young woman stands in the center of the composition, facing in profile an open window to the left. In the foreground is a table covered with the same Oriental rug encountered in the Woman Asleep. On it is the identical Delft plate with fruit. The window reflects the girl's features, while to the right the large green curtain forms a deceptive frame. She is precisely silhouetted against a bare wall that reflects the light and envelops her in its luminosity.
We are here confronted with one of the salient aspects of Vermeer's sensibility and originality. It is the stillness that stands out, the inner absorption, the remoteness from the outer world. She concentrates entirely upon the letter, holding it firmly and tautly, while she absorbs its content with utmost attention.
In the technique, the artist avows again Rembrandtesque derivation. He paints in small fatty dabs to model the forms, and obtains the desired effects by means of impasto highlights opposed to the deeper tonalities - just as the master from Leyden was wont to do. The painting is relatively large, and the smallness of the figure as opposed to its surroundings stresses immateriality and depersonalization. Vermeer considerably changed the composition in the course of execution.
Much has been written about the trompe-l'oeil effect of the curtain. It is a pictorial artifice used by many other Dutch masters and in keeping with an old European tradition. Rembrandt, Gerard Dou, Nicolaes Maes, and many still-life and even landscape painters made use of such curtains as a means of simulating effects that now seem theatrical. The light background can be found in many paintings by Carel Fabritius, the Goldfinch from 1654 at the Mauritshuis in The Hague being the most famous example.
Source: Web Gallery of Art
This photo is really just meant to be informative and educational for those that are curious about the Universe, and want to know how things work. As photographers we capture Photons after all, so here is a bit of the Physics behind the light that we love to capture.
This image shows the Electromagnetic Spectrum of light from the Sun, after traveling through Earth's blue Nitrogen rich skies (photographed through a Quantitative Spectroscope).
The nanometer scale in the Spectroscope shows the wavelengths of visible light, that range from 400 nm - 700 nm. Invisible light at shorter wavelengths (beyond violet) include Ultraviolet (UV), X-Ray and Gamma Ray. Longer wavelengths of light (beneath red) include Infrared, Microwave and Radio Waves.
About the Sun:
The Sun is a G-type Main-Sequence Yellow Dwarf (G2V) Star. Through the process of fusion, the Sun burns approximately 600 million tonnes (metric tons) of Hydrogen each second, turning it into 596 million tonnes of Helium. As the Hydrogen nuclei fuse, Photons are emitted, which in short is why the Sun shines (and all the other stars). The Hydrogen Atom is the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe (with only 1 Proton and 1 Electron).
Through the process of fusion, more complex elements are made at different stages of a star's life and death cycle. This is what Carl Sagan meant with one of his well known quotes from Cosmos, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
The Sun is roughly 150,000,000 km from Earth. The speed of light is 300,000 km/sec (186,000 miles/sec), which means that the light took just over 8 light-minutes (8 minutes and 26 seconds) to reach the Spectroscope in front of my camera lens.
Here is a very simplistic explanation of Spectroscopy, and how the Electromagnetic Light Spectrum is used in Astrophysics:
This image was photographed through a basic "High School Science Classroom" Quantitative Spectrometer (100 line resolution). With higher resolution Spectrometers on Telescopes, Astronomers can determine what chemical elements Stars and Planets are made of, as each chemical element has a unique light absorption fingerprint, that shows up as dark lines in the spectrum.
The amount that the absorption lines are shifted to red or blue (redshift and blueshift), is due to the Doppler effect and gives an indication if the celestial object is moving towards or away from us, and at what speed. This is how Scientists and Physicists know what the observable Universe is made of, and that the Universe is expanding.
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_line
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines
www.space.com/25732-redshift-blueshift.html
science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/Wavelengths_for_Colors.html
Interested in Science, Physics & Astronomy?
Visit my Flipboard with lots of interesting articles:
flipboard.com/@mheigan/brain-food
Martin
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Processed using calibrated near-infrared methane absorption band (CB2, MT2, MT3) filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on November 27 2012.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
Zoute Sale - Bonhams
Estimated : € 270.000 - 350.000
Sold for € 345.000
Zoute Grand Prix 2022
Knokke - Zoute
België - Belgium
October 2022
"But take a look at the cabrio's specification and it's clear that the SLR's fundamentals lend themselves to a roofless application better than they did to the coupé. This is a car built for touring –albeit touring at beyond 320km/h, should the need arise. And the SLR's carbon tub offers the chance to lop the roof off and retain good amounts of torsional flexibility." – Autocar.
Their new supercar allows Mercedes-Benz and its Formula 1 partner McLaren to showcase their collective experience in the development, construction and production of high-performance sports cars and, just like its legendary 300SLR predecessor of 1955, incorporates technological developments which are ahead of their time. The heart of any car is its engine, and that of the SLR McLaren is truly outstanding. Produced at Mercedes-Benz's AMG performance division, where each unit is the responsibility of one engineer who carries out the entire assembly process, it is a 5.5-litre, 24-valve, supercharged V8 producing 617bhp, making it one of the most powerful engines to be found in a series-produced road-going sports car. Impressive though this peak horsepower figure is, it is the torque produced by this state-of-the-art 'blown' motor that is its most remarkable feature. As Car & Driver observed: "This lends mind-boggling elasticity to the SLR, with passing performance that has to be felt to be appreciated."
Needless to say, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren delivers performance figures which are among the best in its class, taking just 3.8 seconds to sprint from 0 to 100km/h, it passes the 200km/h mark after 10.6 seconds and from a standing start takes just 28.8 seconds to reach 300km/h. The two-seater has a top speed of 334km/h.
A front-engined layout was chosen for the SLR in the interests of optimum weight distribution, handling dynamics and braking stability. The five-speed automatic transmission, already used in several high-performance Mercedes-Benz models, has been specially optimised for very high torque and also offers the driver the option of choosing between different shift characteristics using the Speedshift system.
Extending the long-term technological collaboration that Mercedes-Benz and McLaren have enjoyed in Formula 1, the SLR's carbon fibre composite monocoque body/chassis structure is produced in the latter's all-new facility in Woking, England. Carbon fibre has been used for decades in the aeronautical industry and in the construction of Formula 1 cars, but is comparatively rare in series-produced road cars because of the expense involved in manufacturing composite structures by hand. Using several patented innovations, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren have been able to bring a measure of automation to the carbon fibre manufacturing process, enabling the material's benefits of low weight, exemplary rigidity and strength, corrosion resistance and significantly higher energy absorption in the event of an impact, to be offered in the SLR.
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was launched in South Africa and introduced for the 2005 model year priced at $455,000 (approximately €373,000). A roadster variant was unveiled in September 2007. Boasting an ingenious electrically powered folding roof, the open version used the same engine and running gear as the coupé and turned in similar performance figures. A total of 2,157 examples would be built of which only 520 Roadsters before production ceased in 2009.
Delivered new to Japan, this SLR McLaren Roadster was imported into Europe in 2017 and homologated by Mercedes-Benz in Belgium. EU taxes paid, the car comes with a Belgian demande d'immatriculation and its original Japanese books (including the service book stamped on numerous occassions). Currently in the hands of only its second owner, the car is finished in beautiful 'Crystal Digenit Blue', a lovely shade of dark blue. A list of the options on this specific example is available. Only 16,309 kilometres have been covered from new and this gorgeous SLR is presented in commensurately excellent condition.
The Hague
May 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely i will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
All rights reserved
Leiden Central Station
March 2012
The Netherlands
Candid shots in and around the Public Transport in The Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them...
All rights reserved
Planets, stars, nebulas and a galaxy -- this impressive image has them all. Closest to home are the two planets Mars (right) and Saturn (center), visible as the two bright orange spots in the upper half of the featured image. On the central right are the colorful Rho Ophiuchus star clouds featuring the bright orange star Antares lined up below Mars. These interstellar clouds contain both red emission nebulas and blue reflection nebulas. At the top right of the image is the Blue Horsehead reflection nebula. On the lower left are many dark absorption nebulas that extend from the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. The featured deep composite was composed of multiple deep exposures taken last month from Brazil. Although you need a telescope to see the nebulosities, Saturn and Mars will remain visible to the unaided eye this month toward the east, just after sunset. via NASA ift.tt/1Xj749i
The Hague
May 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely i will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
All rights reserved
Although carrying its Greater Manchester Transport legal lettering following the absorption of the Lancashire United fleet just under two months earlier, not a great deal else had changed by the time of this May 1981 shot of ex-LUT Leyland Fleetline / NCME 497, having just set out on the long run from Manchester to Liverpool. It had still to be renumbered 6913 in the GMT series and its eventual repaint might have also been some way off.
This was one of a pair from this batch that saw further service with Chesterfield Transport after their sale by GM Buses.
This image is copyright and must not be reproduced or downloaded without the permission of the photographer.
The Hague
August 2012
The Netherlands
I found this man lying on the sidewalk when i walked out my door yesterday. He was totally out of it, would barely respond to anything let alone say something coherent. He was so drunk he had soiled himself and he was lying across the sidewalk without any form of shelter.
I called for an ambulance but they sent the police, who proceeded to "wake" him up before taking him to the station. I hope he had a good night sleep in a holding cell, it was storming and raining yesterday so it was probably better than staying on our sidewalk..
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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Scheveningen/The Hague
June 2012
The Netherlands
Beachlife in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
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I will remove them...
Cumberland MS, ex Kelvin Scottish
Leyland National
218 (OLS 809T)
Whitehaven depot 8/88
BKP
Painted in Yeowart's livery for use on former Yeowart's services, after absorption of that operator by Cumberland MS.
Dashilan, Beijing
July 2012
China
Urban life
Ricoh GR Digital IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them..
so much to say.
biofluorescence is the topic of my PhD dissertation. it is a translational phenomenon; light in a wavelength band translated to a different wavelength band, dictated through electronic absorption, classical vibration, and electronic emission. there are more proposals for its possible functions than i would care to count. biofluorescence is spectacular. it is a challenge+++ to photograph, let alone to be creative with that photography. photographed here is the ultraviolet-/violet-excited biofluorescence of a white globe lily, also known as fairy lanterns, found in the Volcan Mountains. the photograph itself is a multi-entendre speaking of the technical photography of fluorescence, the flower's colloquial ties to the magical, the nature of light itself, and other honors to intangibility and uncertainty. this photograph was inspired by one of my favorite nature photographers, Jiří Hřebíček. it is one of my favorite photographs i have ever made, for all the clever layers buried in it, and i am proud to have presented it as part of the artistic body it crowned.
seen on Kumeyaay land.
This work was produced under the Marjorie and Joseph Rubenson Endowment for Art and Science at Volcan Mountain.
The phenomenon of the Green Ray (or Flash) occasionally seen at sunset or — with greater difficulty — at sunrise is beautifully described by Marcel Minnaert In his book: "The nature of Light and Colour in the open air" (Dover publications inc., New York, 1954, pp. 58–63). As I have reported in a previous post ( www.flickr.com/photos/bob_81667/40402297274/ ), the visibility of the phenomenon is dependent on scattering and absorption processes occurring during the long path that sunlight takes through Earth's atmosphere to reach our eyes at these times. These processes result in what is known as the telluric spectrum of the sun which is distinct from the absorption resulting from the escape of light through the solar atmosphere.
The telluric spectrum of the sky and of the sun itself varies during the day (and night) depending on both the altitude of the sun above the horizon and on the varying content of atmospheric gases, most notably that of water vapour. In his book, Minnaert shows a rough sketch of the visual spectrum of the setting sun seen through a visual spectroscope (Fig. 55, credited to N. Dijkwel, Hemel en Dampkring, 34, 261, 1936). This shows the development of the gap between the green and the red segments of the spectrum as the sun reaches the horizon but is attributed by him to water vapour absorption which, although it does play a minor role, the much larger effect of ozone absorption on the spectrum of twilight was not widely appreciated at that time.
In this picture, I assemble some of the historical drawings along with modern digital spectra to help give a clearer picture of the contributors to the sunset spectrum.
The lower frame in the picture is the sketch from Minnaert's book of the of the sunset spectrum developing downwards with time. I assume that this is a prismatic spectrum which is squashed up towards the red end compared with the linear grating spectrum in the upper plot. I have coloured Minnaert's picture to show the correct orange colour between the middle two absorption bands. The 4th strip from the top shows two pairs of absorption bands that I have labelled, from the right to left, A, B, R and Greek(delta).
[Note added in December 2020: I am not certain in my attribution of the of the two reddest absorptions in row 4 to Fraunhofer A and B as was suggested by their position in the drawing. My own examinations of the setting sun with a visual prism spectroscope reveal that the two bands, alpha near 630nm and the combination of Fraunhofer C (H-alpha) and the water band near 650nm form a more prominent pair. If this is the case, it is worth remarking that these four features drawn in row 4 contain two bands from tetra-oxygen that could not be identified as such at the time of the original investigations by Ångström and others in the 19th century. It is now known that such CIA (see below) transitions contribute a small but significant part of the ensemble of absorptions that produce the global greenhouse effect. I think that the fact that we can see these bands with the eye through a simple spectroscope is interesting.
I have now (10/12/2020) replaced the figure with this new, and more likely, interpretation of Dijkwel's drawing.]
Above this, I have reproduced (in mirror image to reverse the spectral direction) the observations of the telluric spectrum made by Ångström and shown in the book "Spectrum Analysis" by H. Schellen, D Appleton and Company, New York, 1872, Fig. 95, p183. This is on a linear wavelength scale aligned with the spectral plots at the top of the picture. Download the full size version of the image to read the labelling on this. The drawing shows the strong solar Fraunhofer lines as well as the telluric features. Note that it also includes the blue tetra-oxygen feature at ~476nm that was shown at a shorter wavelength in one of Ångström and Thalén's (presumably earlier) maps shown in plate VI of the above book.
The top plot shows a sunset spectrum (blue line) and also a spectrum of the eclipsed moon (Pallé, E. et al. Nature volume 459, pages 814–816 (11 June 2009) — red line). These are marked with the major telluric lines and bands from H_2 O (water), O_2 (molecular oxygen), O_3 (ozone) and the O_2 * O_2 dimer (now known as the CIA O_4 Collisionally Induced Absorption). Overlayed on this is the first reported spectral plot I have found of the central part of the ozone Chappuis band absorption and reported in the Astrophysical Journal in 1934 ( articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?19... ). This is inverted and flipped left-right but you can see the characteristic double dip at the centre of the Chappuis band. The red and blue line spectra are plotted as a ratio of the the spectrum of an uneclipsed moon (top) and the spectrum of the sun seen high in the sky (bottom, blue line). This results in the removal of the intrinsic spectrum of the sun, leaving only the telluric spectrum.
So what's going on here? The principal difference between the red and blue line spectra (eclipse and sunset) in the top plot is the path that the sunlight takes through the atmosphere in these two situations. In the lunar eclipse, the light grazes the Earth on its way to producing the 'copper-coloured' moon but, in this case, the path avoids the low altitude atmosphere where most of the water vapour resides. You can see that the water band absorptions are much weaker than in the blue sunset spectrum. The other difference — a more subtle one — is that the CIA features (notice especially the one around 578nm) are stronger in the sunset spectrum which was obtained from a low altitude observing site, essentially sea-level. This is because the formation of the CIA lines needs two adjacent oxygen molecules and so its strength is dependent on the oxygen partial pressure squared and so is only really produced in the low atmosphere.
How do we interpret the spectrum sketches in Minnaert's book? The clear separation between the green and red segments in the 5th strip down is predominantly due to the ozone Chappuis absorption (see the model spectra in: www.flickr.com/photos/bob_81667/40402297274/ ). The central pair of absorptions seen in the 4 strips above is partly the result of the shape of the central part if the ozone Chappuis band but it is enhanced by the CIA absorption on the short wavelength side and by the water absorption on the long wavelength side. This water band was known by Victorian observers as "The Rain Band" since is was supposed to appear more strongly in damp weather and so was used for forecasting rain (though not very successfully!) This spectral region has a very characteristic appearance in a visual spectroscope with what appears to be a broad yellow 'emission' band flanked on either side by significant absorption. It is strong in both the sky and solar spectra when the sun is low: I have labelled these absorptions by 'delta' (as used by Ångström) and 'R' for Rainband. These are shown very clearly in the Spectral drawings by Piazzi Smyth made in 1875/6.
See: www.flickr.com/photos/bob_81667/11433988063/
The absorptions further to the red in the Minnaert sketch I suggest should be identified with the very strong molecular oxygen bands known as Fraunhofer 'A' and 'B' although it is not obvious why only a single band is shown on the 3rd strip. Maybe the observation was influenced by a strong water band marked 'a'?
Why should we be so interested in this apparently rather arcane branch of observational astronomy, even though it was all-the-rage in the late 19th century? The reason is that the use of long light paths through planetary atmospheres that can be extracted from observations of a planetary transit (when the planet crosses the disc of its ‘sun’) is one of the primary ways of learning about exoplanet atmospheres, currently a major ‘industry’ in astrophysics.
"Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
The Reisen is an upgraded version of the M4 and M16 assault rifles. With new firing mechanics, this modification solved many of the performance issues with the old weapon systems. This carbine also comes with adjustable scope and Einzbern Recoil Absorption Stock (ERAS).
Amsterdam
June 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
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Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them...
Den Haag
May 2012
The Netherlands
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely i will probably say yes, just ask me first!
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All rights reserved
The Horsehead, also known as Barnard 33, is a cold, dark cloud of gas and dust, silhouetted against the bright nebula, IC 434. The bright area at the top left edge is a young star still embedded in its nursery of gas and dust. But radiation from this hot star is eroding the stellar nursery. The top of the nebula also is being sculpted by radiation from a massive star located out of Hubble's field of view.
Only by chance does the nebula roughly resemble the head of a horse. Its unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s. Located in the constellation Orion, the Horsehead is a cousin of the famous pillars of dust and gas known as the Eagle nebula. Both tower-like nebulas are cocoons of young stars.
01-12
The Chouara Tanneries of Fez, holdovers from medieval times, produce much of the city’s renowned leather.
Fez’s tanneries, usually operated by members of one family, are spread out like a tray of watercolors. Deep vats hold dyes in an array of colors and shades, each manned by a single tanner. Taking the raw leather into the vat, the tanners stomp on the hides, working them underfoot for hours until they are soft and pliable, and have taken on the desired color..
The main ingredient in the vats is actually pigeon droppings, harvested every day by small boys who hope to one day become tanners themselves. The vats also contain a mixture of acids, natural pigments and cow urine. The caustic mixture helps to break down the tough leather and allow for the full absorption of the dye. Once the leather is ready, it is taken to a nearby rooftop or clearing and laid flat in the sun to dry.
Be aware, that the aroma of Fez’s tanneries can be just as breathtaking as the view. Considering the materials in use, this comes as no real surprise, but it’s still best to be prepared.
In the late fifties Foden, a well established and respected lorry manufacturer, realised that they had to offer new improved models if they were to maintain their independence in the face of takeovers and absorption by the larger manufacturers.
Traditionally Foden cabs had been of composite build, a timber frame clad with aluminium panels but now Foden decided to move into the use of fibreglass for its new cab design.
First unveiled in 1958 the S21 cab with its elaborate curves was quickly dubbed the “Sputnik” by the trade press but lorry drivers almost always referred to them as Mickey Mouse and many S21s survived by virtue of being corrosion-free.
Like many a haulier Moreton C. Cullimore started out with a Model T Ford in the Stroud area of the Cotswolds in the 1930s but here, in the 1960s, one of his sizable fleet of Foden tippers threads its careful way though a Glouchester village while in the background a Midland Red single decker approaches its bus stop.
The original painting is in oils on a canvas board 20”x30” and was painted for a transport calendar.
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Leiden
The Netherlands
2013
"Look what i found! Its the covert photographer's blog!"
Since today there is a blog: thecovertphotographer.wordpress.com/
On the blog i will attempt to provide more background to my images and discuss photography and everything else worth discussing on a blog.
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Moon Eclipse on May 16, 2022
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
Lunar Eclipse on May 16, 2022 from Italy
Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello
The early hours of May 16, 2022, was not an easy eclipse. The Moon was well below the threshold of good resolution due to an annoying haze and the progressive absorption effect operated by the atmosphere, well perceptible during the advancement of the phenomenon.
Having taken standard shots, normalized automatically, the brightness is indicative of these factors with the addition of the light of the incipient dawn.
The first shot is with the Moon still completely out of the shadows. Then there are some shots during the penumbral phase, in which there is a progressive shading of the advancing side. With the beginning of the partial phase, all the shots are equally spaced until the last one, when the Moon was no longer visible even by extending the exposure.
Please note that the images were taken from Italy (coordinates in the localization TAG).
All shots were taken with Tair-3S (unit 2) + 2x Panagor telephoto lens on Kodak EOS 4000D (body2) at 200 ISO - 1/400s. Tracking was guaranteed by an EQ5. Other data in the EXIFs.
To use this image please first read here: www.flickr.com/people/133259498@N05/
Tair-3S @600mm + EOS 4000D
Bows and flows of angel hair, and feathered canyons everywhere. (Neil Diamond) The Cone Nebula is located 2,700 light years away in the constellation Monoceros. The cone's shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front of a faint emission nebula containing hydrogen ionized by S Monocerotis, the brightest star of NGC 2264. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long.
The horizontal Christmas Tree cluster lies left of the cone; the bright star immediately left of the cone is the tree topper and the very bright star near the center of the image is the center of the tree trunk. The Fox Fur Nebula is at the top center.
The Christmas Tree star formation consists of young stars obscured by heavy layers of dust clouds. These dust clouds, along with hydrogen and helium are producing luminous new stars. The combination of dense clouds and an array of colors creates a color map filled with varying wavelengths. The red regions are ionized hydrogen, while the bluish clouds are ionized oxygen.
Scope: Skywatcher MN190; Camera QSI 683; Mount MYT
This is a false color HOO image (though approximately correct) composed of Ha 9 hours, Oiii 9 hours
Reprocessed December 2023
In V4 I tried to improve the stars, the overall color balance, and to bring up the brightness in the dimmer areas.
Reprocessed Feb 2025
In V5 I shrank the star size and did some better detail enhancements with the high pass filter. I also tried to confine the Oiii to specific regions so it doesn't look like fog over the whole image.