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A recent pleasant trip to St. Andre Avelin Quebec. We build a garden shed and took in the garden, the wild flowers, the misty mornings. Always a pleasure.
I thought the multiple exposure incorporating the well and the meadow worked well.
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© Barbara Dickie. All rights reserved.
This aerial photograph shows the pure car and truck carrier RCC Prestige berthed alongside the quay at Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour on the south side of the River Yare entrance. The vessel, built in 2011, measures about 168 metres in length with a beam of just over 28 metres and has a gross tonnage of around 36,800. She sails under the Bahamas flag and is associated with Ray Car Carriers, with Prestige Ray Ltd recorded as owner and Stamco Ship Management as technical manager.
Designed specifically for roll-on roll-off operations, RCC Prestige carries thousands of vehicles on multiple enclosed decks. Cargo is driven on and off via internal ramps rather than lifted by crane, allowing for fast turnaround in port. Ships of this class typically carry close to 4,000 cars, with adjustable deck heights to accommodate vans, plant and other wheeled machinery. The extensive vehicle compounds visible behind the ship show how this trade operates in practice, with tightly organised rows of cars awaiting export or distribution.
The setting is Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour, a major modern addition to the town’s long maritime history. Great Yarmouth has been a significant port for centuries, originally built on fishing, particularly herring, and later expanding into coastal trade, shipbuilding and North Sea industries. By the early 21st century, however, the limitations of the older river port prompted the development of a new deep-water facility.
Construction of the Outer Harbour began in 2007 and it officially opened in 2009. The project, costing in the region of £75–80 million, involved the construction of substantial breakwaters extending into the North Sea, extensive dredging and the creation of new quay space capable of handling larger, deeper-draught vessels. The harbour provides around 11 metres of water depth and several hundred metres of berthing, allowing it to accommodate a wide range of commercial shipping.
The port operates under a trust port structure, with Great Yarmouth Port Authority acting as the statutory harbour authority. Day-to-day operations are carried out by Peel Ports, which acquired the operating company in 2015 and now runs the port under a long-term lease arrangement.
Since its opening, the Outer Harbour has played a key role in reshaping Great Yarmouth’s economy. While early ambitions included container traffic and ferry services, the port has instead developed into an important base for offshore energy, including oil, gas and, increasingly, wind farm construction and maintenance in the southern North Sea. It also handles a wide range of cargoes such as aggregates, steel, project cargo and vehicles, as seen here.
In this image, RCC Prestige represents the global automotive logistics network, linking manufacturing centres with markets across Europe and beyond. At the same time, the surrounding port infrastructure reflects the modern identity of Great Yarmouth as a working industrial harbour, combining centuries of maritime tradition with large-scale 21st-century investment and the demands of a changing energy and transport landscape.
Originally a First Great Western unit, now with Grand Central Trains is Class 180 Adelante number 180105 seen having just arrived at Bradford Interchange, with a service from London Kings Cross.
Multiple Exposure of a Hanbury Street sign, with the approximate spot where 29 Hanbury Street used to be, where in the back yard, Annie Chapman became a victim of Jack the Ripper on the 8th of September 1888.
Nikon F65. ADOX Silvermax 100 35mm B&W film.
DSC_0876GPPcSq1CEhgh
I recommend clicking on the expansion arrows icon (top right corner) to go into the Lightbox for maximum effect.
Don't use or reproduce this image on Websites/Blog or any other media without my explicit permission.
© All Rights Reserved - Jim Goodyear 2014.
The roses in the People's Garden
Plan
Rosarium History - Classification
Floribunda - new color range - Casting
Tree roses - new plantings - Pests - Winter Care
Rambling Roses - fertilizing, finishes
Shrub Roses - Rose Renner - Sponsorship - variety name
The history of roses in the People's Garden
The People's Garden, located between the Imperial Palace and the ring road is famous for its beautiful roses:
1000 standard roses
4000 Floribunda,
300 rambling roses,
(Also called Rose Park) 200 shrub roses.
Noteworthy is the diversity: there are about 400 varieties, including very old plants:
1859 - Rubens
1913 - Pearl of the Vienna Woods
1919 - Jean C.N. Forestier
The above amounts are from the Federal Gardens. My own count has brought other results:
730 tree roses
2300 Floribunda
132 rambling roses
100 shrub roses
That's about 3300 roses in total. Approx. 270 species I was able to verify. Approx. 50 rose bushes were not labeled. Some varieties come very often, others only once or twice.
Molineux 1994
Rubens 1859
Medialis 1993
Swan lake 1968
Once flourished here Lilac and Rhododendron bushes
1823 People's Garden was opened with the Temple of Theseus. Then made multiple extensions.
The part of today's "Rosarium" along the Ring Road was built in 1862. (Picture fence 1874)
What is so obvious to today's Vienna, was not always so: most of the beds in the People's Garden originally were planted with lilac and rhododendron.
Only after the second World War II it was converted to the present generous rose jewelry.
Since then grow along the ring side creepers, high stem and floribunda roses. On the side of Heroes Square, with the outputs, shrub roses were placed, among which there are also some wild roses.
1889 emerged the Grillparzer Monument.
(All the pictures you can see by clicking the link at the end of the side!)
Rhododendrons, output Sisi Avenue, 1930
Classifications of roses
(Wild roses have 7 sheets - prize roses 5 sheets)
English Rose
Florybunda
Hybrid Tea Rose
Rambling Rose
At the Roses in the People´s Garden are hanging labels (if they do not fall victim to vandals or for souvenirs) with the year indication of breeding, the name of breeding and botanical description:
Hybrid Tea Rose (TB): 1 master, 1 flower;
Florybunda (Flb): 1 strain, many flowers;
English Rose (Engl): mixture of old and modern varieties Tb and Flb.
Called Schlingrose, also climbing rose
Florybunda: 1 strain, many flowers (Donauprinzessin)
Shrub Roses - Floribunda - Tree roses - Climbing Roses
Even as a child, we hear the tale of Sleeping Beauty, but roses have no thorns, but spines. Thorns are fused directly to the root and can not be easily removed as spines (upper wooden containers called).
All roses belong to the bush family (in contrast to perennials that "disappear" in the winter). Nevertheless, there is the term Shrub Rose: It's a chronological classification of roses that were on the market before 1867. They are very often planted as a soloist in a garden, which them has brought the name "Rose Park".
Hybrid Tea Rose: 1 master, 1 flower (rose Gaujard )
Other classifications are:
(High) standard roses: roses are not grafted near the ground, but at a certain strain level. With that, the rose gardener sets the height of the crown.
Floribunda roses : the compact and low bushy roses are ideal for group planting on beds
Crambling roses: They have neither roots nor can they stick up squirm. Their only auxiliary tool are their spines with which they are entangled in their ascent into each other
English Rose: mixture of old varieties, hybrid tea and Florybunda (Tradescanth)
4000 Floribunda
Floribunda roses are hardy, grow compact, knee-high and bushy, are durable and sturdy
There are few smelling varieties
Polyantha classification: a tribe, many small flowers; Florybunda: a tribe, many big blossoms
New concept of color: from red to light yellow
The thousands Floribunda opposite of Grillparzer Monument shimmer (still) in many colors. From historical records, however, is indicated that there was originally a different color scheme for the Floribunda than today: At the entrance of the Burgtheater side the roses were dark and were up to Grillparzer monument ever brighter - there they were then already white.
This color range they want again, somewhat modified, resume with new plantings: No white roses in front of the monument, but bright yellow, so that Grillparzer monument can better stand out. It has already begun, there was heavy frost damage during the winter 2011/12.
Colorful roses
2011: white and pink roses
2012: after winter damage new plantings in shades of yellow .
Because the domestic rose production is not large enough, the new, yellow roses were ordered in Germany (Castor).
Goldelse, candlelight, Hanseatic city of Rostock.
Watering
Waterinr of the Floribunda in the morning at 11 clock
What roses do not like at all, and what attracts pests really magically, the foliage is wet. Therefore, the Floribunda roses are in the People's Garde poured in the morning at 11 clock, so that the leaves can dry thoroughly.
Ground sprinklers pouring only the root crown, can not be used because the associated hoses should be buried in the earth, and that in turn collide with the Erdanhäufung (amassing of earth) that is made for winter protection. Choosing the right time to do it, it requires a lot of sense. Is it too early, so still too warm, the bed roses begin to drive again, but this young shoots freeze later, inevitably, because they are too thin.
1000 Tree roses
Most standard roses are found in the rose garden.
During the renovation of the Temple of Theseus the asphalt was renewed in 2011, which was partially only a few centimeters thick, and so was the danger that trucks with heavy transports break into. Due to this construction site the entire flower bed in front had to be replaced.
Now the high-stem Rose Maria Theresia is a nice contrast to the white temple, at her feet sits the self-cleaning floribunda aspirin. Self-cleaning means that withered flowers fall off and rarely maintenance care is needed.
Pink 'Maria Theresa' and white 'aspirin' before the temple of Theseus
Standard tree rose Maria Theresa
Floribunda aspirin
The concept of the (high) standard roses refers to a special type of rose decoration. Suitable varieties of roses are not grafted near the ground, but at a certain height of the trunk. With that the rose gardener sets the height of the crown fixed (60 cm, 90 cm, 140 cm)
Plantings - Pests - Winter Care
Normally about 50 roses in the People's Garden annually have to be replaced because of winter damages and senility. Till a high standard rose goes on sale, it is at least 4 years old. With replantings the soil to 50 cm depth is completely replaced (2/3 basic soil, 1/3 compost and some peat ).
Roses have enemies, such as aphids. Against them the Pirimor is used, against the Buchsbaumzünsler (Box Tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis) Calypso (yet - a resistance is expected).
In popular garden roses are sprayed with poison, not only when needed, but also as a precaution, since mildew and fire rose (both are types of fungi) also overwinter.
Therefore it is also removed as far as possible with the standard roses before packing in winter the foliage.
Pest Control with Poison
The "Winter Package " first is made with paper bags, jute bags, then it will be pulled (eg cocoa or coffee sacks - the commercially available yard goods has not proven).
They are stored in the vault of the gardener deposit in the Burggarten (below the Palm House). There namely also run the heating pipes. Put above them, the bags after the winter can be properly dried.
Are during the winter the mice nesting into the packaged roses, has this consequences for the crows want to approach the small rodents and are getting the packaging tatty. It alreay has happened that 500 standard roses had to be re-wrapped.
"Winter Package" with paper and jute bags
300 ambling roses
The Schlingrosen (Climbing Roses) sit "as a framing" behind the standard roses.
Schlingrose pearl from the Vienna Woods
Schlingrose Danube
Schlingrose tenor
Although climbing roses are the fastest growing roses, they get along with very little garden space.
They have no rootlets as the evergreen ivy, nor can they wind up like a honeysuckle. Their only auxiliary tool are their spines with which they are entangled in their ascent mesh.
Climbing roses can reach stature heights of 2 to 3 meters.
4 x/year fertilizing
4 times a year, the soil is fertilized. From August, but no more, because everything then still new drives would freeze to death in winter. Well-rotted horse manure as fertilizer was used (straw mixed with horse manure, 4 years old). It smelled terrible, but only for 2 days.
Since the City of Vienna may only invest more plant compost heap (the EU Directive prohibits animal compost heap on public property), this type of fertilization is no longer possible to the chagrin of gardeners, and roses.
In the people garden in addition is foliar fertilizer used (it is sprayed directly on the leaves and absorbed about this from the plant).
Finishes in the Augarten
Old rose varieties are no longer commercially available. Maybe because they are more sensitive, vulnerable. Thus, the bud of Dr. F. Debat already not open anymore, if it has rained twice.
Roses need to be replaced in the People's Garden, this is sometimes done through an exchange with the Augarten Palace or the nursery, where the finishes are made. Previously there were roses in Hirschstetten and the Danube Park, but the City of Vienna has abandoned its local rose population (not to say destroyed), no exchange with these institutions is possible anymore.
Was formerly in breeding the trend to large flowers, one tends to smell roses again today. Most varieties show their resplendent, lush flowers only once, early in the rose-year, but modern varieties are more often blooming.
200 shrub roses
Some shrub roses bloom in the rose garden next to the Grillparzer Monument
Most of the shrub or park roses can be found along the fence to Heroes' Square. These types are so old, and there are now so many variations that even a species of rose connoisseurs assignment is no longer possible in many cases.
The showy, white, instensiv fragrant wild rose with its large umbels near des Triton Fountain is called Snow White.
Shrub roses are actually "Old Garden Roses" or "old roses", what a time
classification of roses is that were on the market before 1867.
Shrub roses are also called park roses because they are often planted as a soloist in a park/garden.
They grow shrubby, reaching heights up to 2 meters and usually bloom only 1 x per year.
The Renner- Rose
The most famous bush rose sits at the exit to Ballhausplatz before the presidential office.
It is named after the former Austrian President Dr. Karl Renner
When you enter, coming from the Ballhausplatz, the Viennese folk garden of particular note is a large rose bush, which is in full bloom in June.
Before that, there is a panel that indicates that the rose is named after Karl Renner, founder of the First and Second Republic. The history of the rose is a bit of an adventure. President Dr. Karl Renner was born on 14 in December 1870 in the Czech village of Untertannowitz as the last of 18 children of a poor family.
Renner output rose at Ballhausplatz
He grew up there in a small house, in the garden, a rose bush was planted.
In summer 1999, the then Director of the Austrian Federal Gardens, Peter Fischer Colbrie was noted that Karl Renner's birthplace in Untertannowitz - Dolni Dunajovice today - and probably would be demolished and the old rosebush as well fall victim to the demolition.
High haste was needed, as has already been started with the removal of the house.
Misleading inscription " reconstruction"?
The Federal Gardens director immediately went to a Rose Experts on the way to Dolni Dunajovice and discovered "as only bright spot in this dismal property the at the back entrance of the house situated, large and healthy, then already more than 80 year old rose bush".
After consultation with the local authorities Peter Fischer Colbrie received approval, to let the magnificent rose bush dig-out and transport to Vienna.
Renner Rose is almost 100 years old
A place had been found in the Viennese People´s Garden, diagonal vis-à-vis the office where the president Renner one resided. On the same day, the 17th August 1999 the rosebush was there planted and in the following spring it sprouted already with flowers.
In June 2000, by the then Minister of Agriculture Molterer and by the then Mayor Zilk was a plaque unveiled that describes the origin of the rose in a few words. Meanwhile, the "Renner-Rose" is far more than a hundred years old and is enjoying good health.
Memorial Dr. Karl Renner : The Registrar in the bird cage
Georg Markus , Courier , 2012
Sponsorships
For around 300 euros, it is possible to assume a Rose sponsorship for 5 years. A tree-sponsorship costs 300 euros for 1 year. Currently, there are about 60 plates. Behind this beautiful and tragic memories.
If you are interested in sponsoring people garden, please contact:
Master gardener Michaela Rathbauer, Castle Garden, People's Garden
M: 0664/819 83 27 volksgarten@bundesgaerten.at
Varieties
Abraham Darby
1985
English Rose
Alec 's Red
1970
Hybrid Tea Rose
Anni Däneke
1974
Hybrid Tea Rose
aspirin
Florybunda
floribunda
Bella Rosa
1982
Florybunda
floribunda
Candlelight
Dagmar Kreizer
Danube
1913
Schlingrose
Donauprinzessin
Doris Thystermann
1975
Hybrid Tea Rose
Dr. Waldheim
1975
Hybrid Tea Rose
Duftwolke
1963
Eiffel Tower
1963
English Garden
Hybrid Tea Rose
Gloria Dei
1945
Hybrid Tea Rose
Goldelse
gold crown
1960
Hybrid Tea Rose
Goldstar
1966
deglutition
Greeting to Heidelberg
1959
Schlingrose
Hanseatic City of Rostock
Harlequin
1985
Schlingrose
Jean C.N. Forestier
1919
Hybrid Tea Rose
John F. Kennedy
1965
Hybrid Tea Rose
Landora
1970
Las Vegas
1956
Hybrid Tea Rose
Mainzer Fastnacht
1964
Hybrid Tea Rose
Maria Theresa
medial
Moulineux
1994
English Rose
national pride
1970
Hybrid Tea Rose
Nicole
1985
Florybunda
Olympia 84
1984
Hybrid Tea Rose
Pearl of the Vienna Woods
1913
Schlingrose
Piccadilly
1960
Hybrid Tea Rose
Rio Grande
1973
Hybrid Tea Rose
Rose Gaujard
1957
Hybrid Tea Rose
Rubens
1859
English Rose
Rumba
snowflake
1991
Florybunda
snow white
shrub Rose
Swan
1968
Schlingrose
Sharifa Asma
1989
English Rose
city of Vienna
1963
Florybunda
Tenor
Schlingrose
The Queen Elizabeth Rose
1954
Florybunda
Tradescanth
1993
English Rose
Trumpeter
1980
Florybunda
floribunda
Virgo
1947
Hybrid Tea Rose
Winchester Cathedral
1988
English Rose
Source: Federal leadership Gardens 2012
Historic Gardens of Austria, Vienna, Volume 3 , Eva Berger, Bohlau Verlag, 2004 (Library Vienna)
Index Volksgartenstraße
www.viennatouristguide.at/Altstadt/Volksgarten/volksgarte...
Captured 2 Dec 2021, 22:58 hrs ET, Springfield, VA, USA. Bortle 7 skies, Stellarvue SV80/9D doublet achromat refractor at f/9.38 (eff. fl 750mm), Orion Atlas AZ/EQ-G Pro mount. Mallincam DS10C camera, bin 1, exposure 8 seconds, gain 20, live stack of 20 subframes, dark frames subtracted. Optolong LeNhance filter.
Clouds: partly cloudy
Seeing: good
Transparency: good
Moon phase: 4%
FOV: 78.4 x 58.8 arcmin before cropping.
Resolution: 1.27 arcsec/pixel.
Orientation: Up is West.
Appearance: Brilliant pale-orange star. Magnitude +0.08.
Splitting Capella: The primary pair (Capella Aa and Ab) appear very close together, separation 0.06 arsec, and were not resolved in this image. Splitting Capella A would require aperture on the order of 80 inches or more! The second pair (Capella H and L) are separated from A by 12 arcsec, well within the capability of this equipment (Dawes limit 1.45 arcsec, image scale 1.3 arcsec/px) if used with an occulting bar.
Notes on image artifacts: The eight spikes appearing to radiate from the center of the star are visually appealing, and appear in images of other very bright stars via this camera and my SCT. I do not have a reasonable explanation (in the absence of a vaned secondary mirror holder) for it. The halo around the star is slightly off-center from the star (likely collimation error or mild sensor tilt) -- try aligning star to exact center of FOV during capture.
From Wikipedia:
Capella, designated α Aurigae (Latinised to Alpha Aurigae, abbreviated Alpha Aur, α Aur), is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga, the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega. A prominent object in the northern winter sky, it is circumpolar to observers north of 44°N. Its name meaning "little goat" in Latin, Capella depicted the goat Amalthea that suckled Zeus in classical mythology. Capella is relatively close, at 42.9 light-years (13.2 pc) from the Sun. It is one of the brightest X-ray sources in the sky, thought to come primarily from the corona of Capella Aa.
Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, Capella is actually a quadruple star system organized in two binary pairs, made up of the stars Capella Aa, Capella Ab, Capella H and Capella L. The primary pair, Capella Aa and Capella Ab, are two bright-yellow giant stars, both of which are around 2.5 times as massive as the Sun. The secondary pair, Capella H and Capella L, are around 10,000 astronomical units (AU) from the first and are two faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs. Capella Aa and Capella Ab have exhausted their core hydrogen, and cooled and expanded, moving off the main sequence. They are in a very tight circular orbit about 0.74 AU apart, and orbit each other every 104 days. Capella Aa is the cooler and more luminous of the two with spectral class K0III; it is 78.7 ± 4.2 times the Sun's luminosity and 11.98 ± 0.57 times its radius. An aging red clump star, it is fusing helium to carbon and oxygen in its core. Capella Ab is slightly smaller and hotter and of spectral class G1III; it is 72.7 ± 3.6 times as luminous as the Sun and 8.83 ± 0.33 times its radius. It is in the Hertzsprung gap, corresponding to a brief subgiant evolutionary phase as it expands and cools to become a red giant. Several other stars in the same visual field have been catalogued as companions but are physically unrelated.
α Aurigae (Latinised to Alpha Aurigae) is the star system's Bayer designation. It also has the Flamsteed designation 13 Aurigae. It is listed in several multiple star catalogues as ADS 3841, CCDM J05168+4559, and WDS J05167+4600. As a relatively nearby star system, Capella is listed in the Gliese-Jahreiss Catalogue with designations GJ 194 for the bright pair of giants and GJ 195 for the faint pair of red dwarfs.
The traditional name Capella is Latin for (small) female goat; the alternative name Capra was more commonly used in classical times. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Capella for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. The catalogue of star names lists Capella as applying to the star α Aurigae Aa.
Capella was the brightest star in the night sky from 210,000 years ago to 160,000 years ago, at about −1.8 in apparent magnitude. At −1.1, Aldebaran was brightest before this period; it and Capella were situated rather close to each other in the sky and approximated boreal pole stars at the time.
Capella is thought to be mentioned in an Akkadian inscription dating to the 20th century BC. Its goat-associated symbolism dates back to Mesopotamia as a constellation called "GAM", "Gamlum" or "MUL.GAM" in the 7th-century BC document MUL.APIN. GAM represented a scimitar or crook and may have represented the star alone or the constellation of Auriga as a whole. Later, Bedouin astronomers created constellations that were groups of animals, where each star represented one animal. The stars of Auriga comprised a herd of goats, an association also present in Greek mythology. It is sometimes called the Shepherd's Star in English literature. Capella was seen as a portent of rain in classical times.
Professor William Wallace Campbell of the Lick Observatory announced that Capella was binary in 1899, based on spectroscopic observations—he noted on photographic plates taken from August 1896 to February 1897 that a second spectrum appeared superimposed over the first, and that there was a doppler shift to violet in September and October and to red in November and February—showing that the components were moving toward and away from the Earth (and hence orbiting each other). Almost simultaneously, British astronomer Hugh Newall had observed its composite spectrum with a four prism spectroscope attached to a 25-inch (64 cm) telescope at Cambridge in July 1899, concluding that it was a binary star system.
Many observers tried to discern the component stars without success. Known as "The Interferometrist's Friend", it was first resolved interferometrically in 1919 by John Anderson and Francis Pease at Mount Wilson Observatory, who published an orbit in 1920 based on their observations. This was the first interferometric measurement of any object outside the Solar System. A high-precision orbit was published in 1994 based on observations by the Mark III Stellar Interferometer, again at Mount Wilson Observatory. Capella also became the first astronomical object to be imaged by a separate element optical interferometer when it was imaged by the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope in September 1995.
In 1914, Finnish astronomer Ragnar Furuhjelm observed that the spectroscopic binary had a faint companion star, which, as its proper motion was similar to that of the spectroscopic binary, was probably physically bound to it. In February 1936, Carl L. Stearns observed that this companion appeared to be double itself; this was confirmed in September that year by Gerard Kuiper. This pair are designated Capella H and L.
Two Aerobee-Hi rocket flights on September 20, 1962, and March 15, 1963, detected and confirmed an X-ray source in Auriga at RA 05h 09m Dec +45°, identified as Capella. Stellar X-ray astronomy started on April 5, 1974, with the detection of X-rays from Capella. A rocket flight on that date briefly calibrated its attitude control system when a star sensor pointed the payload axis at Capella. During this period, X-rays in the range 0.2–1.6 keV were detected by an X-ray reflector system co-aligned with the star sensor. The X-ray luminosity (Lx) of ~1024 W (1031 erg s−1) is four orders of magnitude above the Sun's X-ray luminosity. Capella's X-rays are thought to be primarily from the corona of the most massive star. Capella is ROSAT X-ray source 1RXS J051642.2+460001. The high temperature of Capella's corona as obtained from the first coronal X-ray spectrum of Capella using HEAO 1 would require magnetic confinement, unless it is a free-flowing coronal wind.
With an average apparent magnitude of +0.08, Capella is the brightest object in the constellation Auriga, the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere (after Arcturus and Vega), and the fourth-brightest visible to the naked eye from the latitude 40°N. It appears to be a rich yellowish-white colour, although the yellow colour is more apparent during daylight observation with a telescope, due to the contrast against the blue sky.
Capella is closer to the north celestial pole than any other first-magnitude star. Its northern declination is such that it is actually invisible south of latitude 44°S—this includes southernmost New Zealand, Argentina and Chile as well as the Falkland Islands. Conversely it is circumpolar north of 44°N: for the whole of the United Kingdom and Canada (except for part of Southern Ontario), most of Europe, and the northernmost fringes of the contiguous United States, the star never sets. Capella and Vega are on opposite sides of the pole, at about the same distance from it, such that an imaginary line between the two stars will nearly pass through Polaris. Visible halfway between Orion's Belt and Polaris, Capella is at its highest in the night sky at midnight in early December and is regarded as a prominent star of the northern winter sky.
A few degrees to the southwest of Capella lie three stars, Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae, the latter two of which are known as "The Kids", or Haedi. The four form a familiar pattern, or asterism, in the sky.
Based on an annual parallax shift of 76.20 milliarcseconds (with a margin of error of 0.46 milliarcseconds) as measured by the Hipparcos satellite, this system is estimated to be 42.8 light-years (13.12 parsecs) from Earth, with a margin of error of 0.3 light-year (0.09 parsec). An alternative method to determine the distance is via the orbital parallax, which gives a distance of 42.92 light-years (13.159 parsecs) with a margin of error of only 0.1%. Capella is estimated to have been a little closer to the Solar System in the past, passing within 29 light-years distant around 237,000 years ago. At this range, it would have shone at apparent magnitude −0.82, comparable to Canopus today.
In a 1960 paper, American astronomer Olin J. Eggen concluded that Capella was a member of the Hyades moving group, a group of stars moving in the same direction as the Hyades cluster, after analysing its proper motion and parallax. Members of the group are of a similar age, and those that are around 2.5 times as massive as the Sun have moved off the main sequence after exhausting their core hydrogen reserves and are expanding and cooling into red giants.
There are several stars within a few arcminutes of Capella and some have been listed as companions in various multiple star catalogues. The Washington Double Star Catalog lists components A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, and R, with A being the naked-eye star. Most are only line-of-sight companions, but the close pair of red dwarfs H and L are at the same distance as the bright component A and moving through space along with it. Capella A is itself a spectroscopic binary with components Aa and Ab, both giant stars. The pair of giants is separated from the pair of red dwarfs by 12'.
American astronomer Robert Burnham Jr. described a scale model of the system where Capella A was represented by spheres 13 and 7 inches across, separated by ten feet. The red dwarfs were then each 0.7 inch across and they were separated by 420 feet. At this scale, the two pairs are 21 miles apart.
Capella A consists of two yellow evolved stars that have been calculated to orbit each other every 104.02128 ± 0.00016 days, with a semimajor axis of 111.11 ± 0.10 million km (0.74272 ± 0.00069 AU), roughly the distance between Venus and the Sun. The pair is not an eclipsing binary—that is, as seen from Earth, neither star passes in front of the other. The orbit is known extremely accurately and can be used to derive an orbital parallax with far better precision than the one measured directly. The stars are not near enough to each other for the Roche lobe of either star to have been filled and any significant mass transfer to have taken place, even during the red giant stage of the primary star.
Modern convention designates the more luminous cooler star as component Aa and its spectral type has been usually measured between G2 and K0. The hotter secondary Ab has been given various spectral types of late (cooler) F or early (warmer) G. The MK spectral types of the two stars have been measured a number of times, and they are both consistently assigned a luminosity class of III indicating a giant star. The composite spectrum appears to be dominated by the primary star due to its sharper absorption lines; the lines from the secondary are broadened and blurred by its rapid rotation. The composite spectral class is given as approximately G3III, but with a specific mention of features due to a cooler component. The most recent specific published types are K0III and G1III, although older values are still widely quoted such as G5IIIe + G0III from the Bright Star Catalogue or G8III + G0III by Eggen. Where the context is clear, these two components have been referred to as A and B.
The individual apparent magnitudes of the two component stars cannot be directly measured, but their relative brightness has been measured at various wavelengths. They have very nearly equal brightness in the visible light spectrum, with the hotter secondary component generally being found to be a few tenths of a magnitude brighter. A 2016 measurement gives the magnitude difference between the two stars at a wavelength of 700 nm as 0.00 ± 0.1.
The physical properties of the two stars can be determined with high accuracy. The masses are derived directly from the orbital solution, with Aa being 2.5687 ± 0.0074 M☉ and Ab being 2.4828 ± 0.0067 M☉. Their angular radii have been directly measured; in combination with the very accurate distance, this gives 11.98 ± 0.57 R☉ and 8.83 ± 0.33 R☉ for Aa and Ab, respectively. Their surface temperatures can be calculated by comparison of observed and synthetic spectra, direct measurement of their angular diameters and brightnesses, calibration against their observed colour indices, and disentangling of high resolution spectra. Weighted averages of these four methods give 4,970 ± 50 K for Aa and 5,730 ± 60 for Ab. Their bolometric luminosities are most accurately derived from their apparent magnitudes and bolometric corrections, but are confirmed by calculation from the temperatures and radii of the stars. Aa is 78.7 ± 4.2 times as luminous as the Sun and Ab 72.7 ± 3.6 times as luminous, so the star defined as the primary component is the more luminous when all wavelengths are considered but very slightly less bright at visual wavelengths.
Estimated to be 590 to 650 million years old, the stars were probably at the hot end of spectral class A during their main-sequence lifetime, similar to Vega. They have now exhausted their core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence, their outer layers expanding and cooling. Despite the giant luminosity class, the secondary component is very clearly within the Hertzsprung gap on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, still expanding and cooling towards the red giant branch, making it a subgiant in evolutionary terms. The more massive primary has already passed through this stage, when it reached a maximum radius of 36 to 38 times that of the Sun. It is now a red clump star which is fusing helium to carbon and oxygen in its core, a process that has not yet begun for the less massive star. Detailed analysis shows that it is nearing the end of this stage and starting to expand again which will lead it to the asymptotic giant branch. Isotope abundances and spin rates confirm this evolutionary difference between the two stars. Heavy element abundances are broadly comparable to those of the Sun and the overall metallicity is slightly less than the Sun's.
The rotational period of each star can be measured by observing periodic variations in the doppler shifts of their spectral lines. The absolute rotational velocities of the two stars are known from their inclinations, rotation periods, and sizes, but the projected equatorial rotational velocities measured using doppler broadening of spectral lines are a standard measure and these are generally quoted. Capella Aa has a projected rotational velocity of 4.1 ± 0.4 km per second, taking 104 ± 3 days to complete one rotation, while Capella Ab spins much more rapidly at 35.0 ± 0.5 km per second, completing a full rotation in only 8.5 ± 0.2 days. Rotational braking occurs in all stars when they expand into giants, and binary stars are also tidally braked. Capella Aa has slowed until it is rotationally locked to the orbital period, although theory predicts that it should still be rotating more quickly from a starting point of a rapidly-spinning main sequence A star.
Capella has long been suspected to be slightly variable. Its amplitude of about 0.1 magnitudes means that it may at times be brighter or fainter than Rigel, Betelgeuse and Vega, which are also variable. The system has been classified as an RS Canum Venaticorum variable, a class of binary stars with active chromospheres that cause huge starspots, but it is still only listed as a suspected variable in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars. Unusually for RS CVn systems, the hotter star, Capella Ab, has the more active atmosphere because it is located in the Hertzsprung gap—a stage where it is changing its angular momentum and deepening its convection zone.
The active atmospheres and closeness of these stars means that they are among the brightest X-ray sources in the sky. However the X-ray emission is due to stable coronal structures and not eruptive flaring activity. Coronal loops larger than the Sun and with temperatures of several million kelvin are likely to be responsible for the majority of the X-rays.
The seventh companion published for Capella, component H, is physically associated with the bright primary star. It is a red dwarf separated from the pair of G-type giants by a distance of around 10,000 AU. It has its own close companion, an even fainter red dwarf that was 1.8″ away when it was discovered in 1935. It is component L in double star catalogues. In 2015 the separation had increased to 3.5″, which was sufficient to allow tentative orbital parameters to be derived, 80 years after its discovery. The Gliese-Jahreiss Catalogue of nearby stars designates the binary system as GJ 195. The two components are then referred to individually as GJ 195 A and B.
The two stars are reported to have a 3.5-visual-magnitude difference (2.3 mag in the passband of the Gaia spacecraft) although the difference is much smaller at infrared wavelengths. This is unexpected and may indicate further unseen companions.
The mass of the stars can, in principle, be determined from the orbital motion, but uncertainties in the orbit have led to widely varying results. In 1975, an eccentric 388-year orbit gave masses of 0.65 M☉ and 0.13 M☉. A smaller near-circular orbit published in 2015 had a 300-year orbit, benefitting from mass constraints of 0.57 M☉ and 0.53 M☉, respectively, for GJ 195 A and B, based on their infrared magnitudes.
Six visual companions to Capella were discovered before Capella H and are generally known only as Capella B through G. None are thought to be physically associated with Capella, although all appear closer in the sky than the HL pair.
Component F is also known as TYC 3358-3142-1. It is listed with a spectral type of K although it is included in a catalogue of OB stars as a distant luminous star.
Component G is BD+45 1076, with a spectral type of F0, at a distance of 401 light-years (123 parsecs). It is identified as a variable member of the Guide Star Catalogue from Chandra observations although it is not known what type of variability. It is known to be an X-ray source with an active corona.
Several other stars have also been catalogued as companions to Capella. Components I, Q and R are 13th-magnitude stars at distances of 92″, 133″ and 134″. V538 Aurigae and its close companion HD 233153 are red dwarfs ten degrees away from Capella; they have very similar space motions but the small difference makes it possible that this is just a coincidence. Two faint stars have been discovered by speckle imaging in the Capella HL field, around 10″ distant from that pair. These have been catalogued as Capella O and P. It is not known whether they are physically associated with the red dwarf binary.
Capella traditionally marks the left shoulder of the constellation's eponymous charioteer, or, according to the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy's Almagest, the goat that the charioteer is carrying. In Bayer's 1603 work Uranometria, Capella marks the charioteer's back. The three Haedi had been identified as a separate constellation by Pliny the Elder and Manilius, and were called Capra, Caper, or Hircus, all of which relate to its status as the "goat star". Ptolemy merged the Charioteer and the Goats in the 2nd-century Almagest.
In Greek mythology, the star represented the goat Amalthea that suckled Zeus. It was this goat whose horn, after accidentally being broken off by Zeus, was transformed into the Cornucopia, or "horn of plenty", which would be filled with whatever its owner desired. Though most often associated with Amalthea, Capella has sometimes been associated with Amalthea's owner, a nymph. The myth of the nymph says that the goat's hideous appearance, resembling a Gorgon, was partially responsible for the Titans' defeat, after Zeus skinned the goat and wore it as his aegis.
In medieval accounts, it bore the uncommon name Alhajoth (also spelled Alhaior, Althaiot, Alhaiset, Alhatod, Alhojet, Alanac, Alanat, Alioc), which (especially the last) may be a corruption of its Arabic name, العيوق, al-cayyūq. cAyyūq has no clear significance in Arabic, but may be an Arabized form of the Greek αίξ aiks "goat"; cf. the modern Greek Αίγα Aiga, the feminine of goat. To the Bedouin of the Negev and Sinai, Capella al-'Ayyūq ath-Thurayyā "Capella of the Pleiades", from its role as pointing out the position of that asterism. Another name in Arabic was Al-Rākib "the driver", a translation of the Greek.
To the ancient Balts, Capella was known as Perkūno Ožka "Thunder's Goat", or Tikutis. Conversely in Slavic Macedonian folklore, Capella was Jastreb "the hawk", flying high above and ready to pounce on Mother Hen (the Pleiades) and the Rooster (Nath).
Astrologically, Capella portends civic and military honors and wealth. In the Middle Ages, it was considered a Behenian fixed star, with the stone sapphire and the plants horehound, mint, mugwort and mandrake as attributes. Cornelius Agrippa listed its kabbalistic sign Agrippa1531 Hircus.png with the name Hircus (Latin for goat).
In Hindu mythology, Capella was seen as the heart of Brahma, Brahma Hṛdaya. In traditional Chinese astronomy, Capella was part of the asterism 五車 (Wŭ chē; English: Five Chariots), which consisted of Capella together with Beta Aurigae, Theta Aurigae and Iota Aurigae, as well as Beta Tauri. Since it was the second star in this asterism, it has the Chinese name 五車二 (Wŭ chē èr; English: Second of the Five Chariots).
In Quechua it was known as Colça; the Incas held the star in high regard. The Hawaiians saw Capella as part of an asterism Ke ka o Makali'i ("The canoe bailer of Makali'i") that helped them navigate at sea. Called Hoku-lei "star wreath", it formed this asterism with Procyon, Sirius, Castor and Pollux. In Tahitian folklore, Capella was Tahi-ari'i, the wife of Fa'a-nui (Auriga) and mother of prince Ta'urua (Venus) who sails his canoe across the sky. In Inuit astronomy, Capella, along with Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), Pollux (Beta Geminorum) and Castor (Alpha Geminorum), formed a constellation Quturjuuk, "collar-bones", the two pairs of stars denoting a bone each. Used for navigation and time-keeping at night, the constellation was recognised from Alaska to western Greenland. The Gwich'in saw Capella and Menkalinan has forming shreets'ą įį vidzee, the right ear of the large circumpolar constellation Yahdii, which covered much of the night sky, and whose orientation facilitated navigation and timekeeping.
In Australian Aboriginal mythology for the Boorong people of Victoria, Capella was Purra, the kangaroo, pursued and killed by the nearby Gemini twins, Yurree (Castor) and Wanjel (Pollux). The Wardaman people of northern Australia knew the star as Yagalal, a ceremonial fish scale, related to Guwamba the barramundi (Aldebaran).
Skulptur auf dem 37. Europamarkt der Kunsthandwerker in Aachen im September 2013
Sculpture at the 37th European craft market in Aachen (Aix-La-Chapelle, Germany) in September 2013
Working it's first public passenger runs for many years, the Epping Ongar Railway's Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) set is seen pausing at Blake Hall station with it's first working to Ongar.
Formed as class 121 Driving Trailer Standard (DTS) 56287 and class 117 Driving Motor Standard (DMS) 51384 whilst 51384's lifetime partner 51342 undergoes refurbishment.
51384 is here nearest the camera.
Taken with permission - no public access.
Blake Hall, Epping Ongar Railway
1st April 2017
Working it's first public passenger runs for many years, the Epping Ongar Railway's Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) set is seen at the Epping Forest stopboard prior to working back to Ongar.
Formed as class 121 Driving Trailer Standard (DTS) 56287 and class 117 Driving Motor Standard (DMS) 51384 whilst 51384's lifetime partner 51342 undergoes refurbishment.
56287 is here nearest the camera.
Epping Forest, Epping Ongar Railway
1st April 2017
An extremely modified, full card-reconstructed image originally illustrated by Hua Lu.
There are very few good images of Prince Imrahil available online – so I decided to take an original image by Hua and add multiple elements from elsewhere to repurpose the art as a never-before-seen-like-this Prince Imrahil alt art card.
The changes are extensive, and represent some of the most complex alterations I’ve attempted to date.
First, Dol Amroth is associated with the sea and shades of blue, so I removed the original neutral backdrop and replaced it with a blue shaded sky and cloud background of appropriate style (e.g. no noise).
I made the rider about 10% wider, as the original image had an overly narrow aspect to it. I then deleted extra armor extension pieces that did not fit in with my visualized final image.
A winged helm was overlaid on the original pot helm to represent Gondor and the Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, and modified the added helm further by adjusting the wing length and the reflective color of the helm. I bit of blur helps it fit in with the rest of the armor.
I then rebuilt the horse’s breast badge and added a bas relief swan figure on it to further identify the knight as being from Dol Amroth.
The original horse was quite problematic. Too small overall, badly proportioned to itself and the rider, and it looked like the rider was riding high in the air instead of being seated on his back.
It took me many GIMP layers to correct all the horse sizing issues. I ended up increasing the front half of the horse by ~15%, and the back by ~25%, as well as repositioning both halves and blending it back together.
I replaced the sword entirely, using an image of Anduril from the movies, and highlighting it where the light would strike it.
Last, I added a pair of sun-washed Dol Amorth flags to tower flag poles.
The usual sharpening and minor cleanup of items was also performed.
I hope you enjoy the final result as much as I enjoyed creating it!
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Card tag 1.3-50 denotes Progression Cycle 1 (Shadows of Mirkwood), Release 3 (A Journey to Rhosgobel), Card 30.
An exposure of 8 seconds was used and I got the model to move his arms from his side up to head height in a continuous motion in pitch black, whilst firing a flash gun every two seconds to get the effect created
Typical yellow signposts indicate the many Swiss hiking trails departing from this spot.
On Sonnenberg near Lucerne, with Rigi mountain panorama view.
Sailors of HMCS FREDERICTON observe the scenic coast of Crete as the ship enters Souda Bay, Greece during Operation REASSURANCE, on 21 February 2023.
Please credit: Cpl Noé Marchon, Canadian Armed Forces Photo
Des membres d’équipage du NCSM FREDERICTON observent de décor pittoresque de la côte de Crète alors que le navire entre dans la baie de Souda, en Grèce, au cours de l’opération REASSURANCE, le 21 février 2023.
Photo : Cpl Noé Marchon, Forces armées canadiennes
Attacus atlas, Heteropteryx dilatata, Tropidacris collaris, Damon diadema
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