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These hornbills are endemic species in the Malabar region - a large mega biodiversity hotspot hosting an amazing diversity of wildlife in the South Western part of India. These are the most common hornbills in the region and are well known for their cacophonic cackling and laughing calls which are quite loud and sound totally crazy. I think they are also the smallest of the 5 species of Hornbills found there.
We sighted a fruiting fig tree in a timber depot. It was a very large tree spanning a wide area and the tree was full of figs. And enjoying those fruits were a good variety of birds - Malabar Hornbills, Malabar Pied Hornbills, Coppersmith Barbets, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Malabar Barbet, White-eyes and few other species. The tree is ripe at the right season for these birds which are or had just started nesting. So the tree is easy food for many of them.
Thank you so much in advance for your views, faves, feedback and for reading the long writeup!
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
Could be awhile, folks. Sheep have right of way. Even today!
Somewhere on the old Rio Grande Southern narrow-gauge system. According to the old photo caption, this was Railcar #1. I'm dubious; see the nice WIki writeup that follows. My guess this is one of the later Pierce-Arrow derivations. There were a total of 7 of these, built in the railroad's Ridgway shops to hold onto the vital Post Office contract to serve the Colo. mountain towns. They did their job admirably. Remarkably, all 7 survive, in one form or another. All still run! Must be a trick, finding parts for a 1930s Pierce-Arrow . . .
[Answered my own question by reading the Wiki article more closely. By the time the Geese were retired or turned to part-time tourist duty, there was very little left of the 1930s-era originals. Some very ingenious practical engineers there in the old RGS Ridgway shops!]
Original photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_ride_on_the_Galloping_G... My cleanup, crop & restoration. PD per wiki.
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galloping_Goose_(railcar) for the story, which is cool.
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
In the hornbill species - about 9 of them in India in total - the male courts the female by offering her berries and figs. The female accepts it - sometimes from more than one - before she finally chooses a partner. And then the birds would find a tree hollow to set up their nest. This poor Malabar Grey Hornbill couldn't find a partner nearby, and he waited more than 30 mins with the fig in his mouth. We grabbed all the shots we wanted, but the poor chap didn't move.
These are endemic species in the Malabar region - a large forest hosting an amazing diversity of wildlife in the South Western part of India. These are the most common hornbills in the region and are well known for their cacophonic cackling and laughing calls which are quite loud and sound totally crazy.
Just like other hornbills, the female gets into a tree hollow and the male seals the entrance with mud or cement like material from her droppings. Only a small aperture big enough for the beak is left open. The male delivers food to the chicks and female for 90 days and drops it through the small hole. When the male comes with the food, he taps the tree to signal the female that he has arrived. If anything happens to the male, either the female breaks the seal or as few naturalists pointed out, she and the chicks sometimes die of starvation inside the hollow. We briefly observed that nest sealing behaviour in action and it was amazing.
Thank you so much in advance for your views, faves, feedback and for reading the long writeup!
In the hornbill species - about 9 of them in India in total - the male courts the female by offering her berries and figs. The female accepts it - sometimes from more than one - before she finally chooses a partner. And then the birds would find a tree hollow to set up their nest. This poor Malabar Grey Hornbill couldn't find a partner nearby, and he waited more than 30 mins with the fig in his mouth. We grabbed all the shots we wanted, but the poor chap didn't move.
These are endemic species in the Malabar region - a large forest hosting an amazing diversity of wildlife in the South Western part of India. These are the most common hornbills in the region and are well known for their cacophonic cackling and laughing calls which are quite loud and sound totally crazy.
Just like other hornbills, the female gets into a tree hollow and the male seals the entrance with mud or cement like material from her droppings. Only a small aperture big enough for the beak is left open. The male delivers food to the chicks and female for 90 days and drops it through the small hole. When the male comes with the food, he taps the tree to signal the female that he has arrived. If anything happens to the male, either the female breaks the seal or as few naturalists pointed out, she and the chicks sometimes die of starvation inside the hollow. We briefly observed that nest sealing behaviour in action and it was amazing.
Thank you so much in advance for your views, faves, feedback and for reading the long writeup!
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
Still in Oregon, I found this hoverfly on what looks like the Jacob's Ladder from two days ago, but is actually an either-inch flower, the Veronica persicar. The flower is also known as birdeye speedwell,common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It's a native to England, but not this one that was found near Klamath Falls. How it got there is just a guess.
The Hoverfly, one very similar to the "Marmalade hoverfly" of England, actually a Eupeodes americanus which is discussed about as much as the flower. There are over 6000 (!) species of hoverflies, and this is as close as I and a friend could get. Truth be told, half of you don't care, and the other 75% could care less.
Insects such as aphids are considered a crop pest, and therefore the aphid-eating larvae of some hover flies serve as an economically (as well as ecologically) important predator and even potential agents for use in biological control, while the adults may be pollinators.
There is a lengthy and very interesting writeup about hoverflies (also hover flies) in Wikipedia.
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
Featuring:
Lemon Trees: The Art Between Seasons
Frogmore 4.0
Ocho Tango
Angel's Palms
Read the full writeup Here
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
slowing down photo processing technique: www.box.net/shared/4z0jmqeg4c
when i get a chance i'll do a writeup on a more involved processing technique using picasa. take care all
So I don't remember how or why I found out about this but it's a thing, and boy is it great.
Pretty much back in the silver age, Moth was like an anti Batman and had his own Batcave called the Moth Cave. It is legit a cave with a wall and two tables; www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Killer-Moth-Batman-DC...
Also, Duncan Young made a pretty sweet one on his stream today so go check that out. www.flickr.com/photos/144751365@N08/29695094823
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
30,000 square feet, 250 years old, and left decaying and unoccupied for the last 40-plus years. Multiple owners have tried to resurrect this estate, the last giving up and putting it on the market along with 115 acres just last year for about one million Euro. A bargain, if you've got 20, 30, 40 million or more to fix it up. Here's a good writeup on the estate's history: connachttribune.ie/capturing-the-faded-glory-of-woodlawn-...
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
Five potent EMD locomotives, assigned as mid-train helpers on a combined D&RGW 735 and 785 coal train, roll westward up Price Canyon at the Nolan Tunnels on June 20, 1975.
The 735 and 785 were operated for U.S. Steel's Geneva Steel Mill six miles railroad-west of Provo, Utah. The 735 originated at the Carbon County Railway interchange at Columbia Jct., Utah, its cars loaded at the Geneva Mine six miles south, on the face of the Book Cliffs. The 785 originated at the Somerset Mine on Rio Grande's North Fork Branch 75 miles southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. Both mines were U.S. Steel operations, captive to the steel mill. Coal from both trains emptied at U.S. Steel's wash plant at Wash, Utah, east of Price, then after washing, reloaded into any empty cars available and continued to the Geneva Mill. The symbols carried through even though the trains did not.
Typically, the two trains did not combine into one from Wash to Geneva, 100 miles. Each train was normally 40 cars nominal, plus or minus 7 cars.
Caption writeup by Mark Hemphill.
Doug Harrop Photography • June 20, 1975
Ten EMD locomotives powered a combined D&RGW 735 and 785 coal empty up Price Canyon west of Lynn, Utah, on the afternoon of June 20, 1975.
The 735 and 785 were operated for U.S. Steel's Geneva Steel Mill six miles railroad-west of Provo, Utah. The 735 originated at the Carbon County Railway interchange at Columbia Jct., Utah, its cars loaded at the Geneva Mine six miles south, on the face of the Book Cliffs. The 785 originated at the Somerset Mine on Rio Grande's North Fork Branch 75 miles southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. Both mines were U.S. Steel operations, captive to the steel mill. Coal from both trains emptied at U.S. Steel's wash plant at Wash, Utah, east of Price, then after washing, reloaded into any empty cars available and continued to the Geneva Mill. The symbols carried through even though the trains did not.
Typically, the two trains did not combine into one from Wash to Geneva, 100 miles. Each train was normally 40 cars nominal, plus or minus 7 cars.
Caption writeup by Mark Hemphill.
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
UPDATE: Mystery solved after all those years, indirectly through the wonderful Jaap Best collection at Teylers Museum, Haarlem the Netherlands, also see: www.circusmuseum.nl
See posters and CDV:
www.flickr.com/photos/sanspareille/5549992916/
www.flickr.com/photos/sanspareille/5549992910/in/photostr...
www.flickr.com/photos/sanspareille/5549992908/
That the tiger's name was Emir comes from the writeup on a documentary on Legendary Women at Circus Krone from the Bayerische Feuilleton on Bayern 2, where she and the tiger's name are just mentioned in passing but nothing else.
www.br-online.de/bayern2/bayerisches-feuilleton/zirkus-he...
BUT then
Finally the answer, through the Friedlander poster number, was found in: Gobbers , Emil
Artisten - Zirkus und Varietè in alter und neuer Zeit 1.-5. Tausend
Düsseldorf - Droste Verlag 1949 which mentions Cilly in the discription of the poster:
"Cilly Hetterich aus Dinslaken bewarb sich beim Circus Krone für den Job
als Tigerbraut. Ihre ganze Erfahrung bis dahin - der Umgang mit Hühner und Katzen" translated:
"Miss Hetterich from Dinslaken applied herself at Krone for the job of 'the Tigerbride' . Her whole animal experience untill then limited itself to farmyard chickens and cats"
Looking in the 1915 German Lutheran registries in Dinslaken, a village just north of Duisburg I have found an entry for Friedrich Hetterich, born 1882, with a 'kleintierhaltung' a smallholding, a daughter Christa born 1909. If Miss Cilly is indeed Christa Hetterich, she would have been approx 25 when this picture was taken. The 1939 Berlin phone directory gives a Christa Hetterich, with the occupation 'woolshop'. It seems a bit hard to take in that someone would start a knitting shop after having carried a tiger about for seven years, but maybe she wanted some peace and quiet?
Miss Cilly was billed from 1931 to 1938 as 'Cilly, die Tigerbraut, the Sensation Die Sensation von Berlin' (Cilly, the Tiger Bride, Sensation of Berlin) at circus Krone, so she performed this trick for at least 7 years.
She is, despite an almost uncanny and possibly not altogether coincidental likeness, NOT to be confused with equestrian circus star, singing ringmistress and film actress Cilly Feindt from rival circus Busch.
It remains to be found who the actual animal trainer of 'Miss Cilly's' tigers was, as this was obviously a reprise (see probable explanation of the number in comments below).
River Nidd, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire
I was going to do a nice writeup about the history of this pub but thought sod it, why should I… it was shut when we visited!
Built by Plymouth Locomotive Works in December of 1942, weighing in at 18 tons with a 6 cylinder Buda gas engine and 4 speed transmission. Based on the writeup in the museum, it was quite noisy and lived up to it's name. First locomotive to operate on the Walkersville Southern.
OK, a non-silhouette one below too. But this one's prettier.
Check out all of my Species a Day writeups here.
a brief writeup on this lens mod:
aarondesigns.org/reversed-element-helios44/
shot with a fujifilm x-s10 and a helios 44m-4 with a reversed rear element, mounted on a 0.71x focal reducer
On the left is Tom Fitzgerald.. on the right Mitch Garman. Both original RSW men from '68. Toms dad Patty Fitz was an RSW condr also. These two guys worked together on and off their entire career in Beloit, Rockford, Ladd, Savanna, Milw both east and west, Amtrak and Metra. Even booming on the D&I. True hard core working milw men. They could switch cars, run thru freight, locals, sprint trains, passenger and jump in any card game to win the pot. Fitz was always in charge, Mitch followed. Perfect team. I was fortunate enough to work together with them exclusive their last 12yrs. There was nothing we couldn't do man. you know the days.. just like WC.. it was OUR railroad.
Writeup by
Adam Farence (center). Thank you for your information on this fine crew, Adam.
IC&E 4205,4208
Davis Junction, IL
April 15, 2008
A Danial Longley Photograph
I"ve been tagged by flickrfanmk2007
1 - I love flowers.
2 - As soon as I start speaking you know I'm a New Yorker, Brooklyn born.
3 - Dead things fascinate me. I've always wanted to watch an autopsy.
4 - I don't mind making a fool of myself.
5 - On a scale from 1 to 10 my tomato sauce is off the charts!
6 - Besides Flickr, www.icanhascheezburger.com is my favorite website.
7 - I've always wanted to cross the Brooks Range in Alaska. Someday....
8 - Mongolia here I come! Someday......
9 - I tell a good story.
10 - Does anyone know when Peanut was born? I'm having a senior moment.
btw, I'm having difficulty with my laptop, the mouse thingie bar has gone crazy and jumps all over the screen taking me to places I've never been before. It took me over 90 minutes to upload this photo and do the writeup. Will purchase a regular mouse tomorrow and use it until I can get the laptop to the repair shop. See you all soon......
I like the shape of that shadow, which was entirely due to the sun's angle. I spotted this pretty little jumper making its way around the top of one of those little solar stake lights in my dad's yard.
Instead of doing my own writeup this time, I will refer those of you interested to learn why they are called "dimorphic" to this great blog entry by Bug Eric Eaton.
29 Arachtober 2021
Dimorphic Jumper, Maevia inclemens
Hixson, TN • 24 July 2021
Missouri Pacific train DFZ (Dupo-Ft. Worth) for a while carried the Tennessee Eastman tanks between North Little Rock and Longview as , I'm guessing, the MF (Memphis - FTWR) train wasn't processed thru NLRK in a timely manner. The MF was the Southern Railway run thru that carried the Eastman tanks that originated in Kingsport, TN destined the Texas Eastman plant at Longview, TX.
In this post merger view is UP 5, one of 20 SD45's pulled from storage at Yermo in early 1984 and assigned to the MP, but reliability issues sidelined some of them by the end of 1984 for good. 10 were reassigned as pairs in hump service at NLRK, KCMO, and FTWR but that ended in 1986. For an excellent writeup of UP SD45's go here: utahrails.net/articles/up-sd45s.php
9-17-1984
Summer sunset at Castle Hill Lighthouse. Got lucky to catch some receding wave action by getting low on the rocks on this side of the light.
I did a writeup on photographing from this Lighthouse in Rhode Island for the Photographers Trail Notes website. See link below:
Explore: 12.14.2008 #123
A group of photography enthusiasts, the Flickristasindios, will have its first photo exhibit entitled "The Indios Experience", on December 15 to 19, 2008 in TriNoMa, Quezon City.
The Indios is an assembly of Filipino Flickr members bonded by their love for life through photowalks and charity works, weekly get-togethers, and most of all, by their serious passion for photographic art. The exhibit will showcase the works of these men and women ranging from the mundane to the surreal, from snapshots of daily life to the unexplored and magical worlds, and everything else in between.
-.bullish
Starring as Babs Johnson, the fashionable, gun totiing, filthiest person alive, in John Water's film "Pink Flamingos."
Now, don't go running out to your local Blockbuster video store to get the film, it's not for everyone. Read the Wikipedia writeup here:Pink Flamingos
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Blog Post: Where I Died
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Right where they left me...
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The Body Parts:
Head: LeLutka - Evo X - Avalon 3.1 - BoM
Body: MeshBody - Legacy - Classic - BoM
Flayed Head: ::Static:: - Mindflayed - Female - [Hallow Manor - October 2022] [Exclusive]
The Beautician:
Skin: .:Soul:. - [G3] Legacy F [H1] Toned - BoM
Face: .:Soul:. - [G3] Jalyn [H1] No Brows - BoM
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Hand & Arm Veins: VIENA. - Marks of the Gods - Unisex Fatpack - [Hallow Manor - October 2022] [Exclusive]
Cuts & Blood: {Demicorn} - Bloody Mary - BoM - Fatpack - [Hallow Manor - October 2022] [Exclusive]
At the Boutique:
Dress: Decoy - Horrorz Dress - Lavender
Time to Accessorise:
Book & Candle: Rame' - Hexes for my Exes - [Hallow Manor - October 2022] [Exclusive]
Time to Decorate:
Lamps: Violetility - Crystal Umbra Light - [Nightshade - October 2022]
Setting the Scene:
Backdrop: . PALETO . - Old Rail Backdrop
Pose: Luanes World - The Only - [Pose altered due to hand prop poses]
Important Stuff:
Sorry no writeups, I've been very ill with Covid 19
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(Rana [Lithobates] clamitans)
I first thought this was a not-so-green bullfrog, but the writeup at srelherp.uga.edu/anurans/rancla.htm describes the Green / Bronze Frog as having "dorso-lateral ridges that are well-defined, extending from the back of each eye down the back." The tympanum of females are about the same size as the eye.
11 Apr 2021, Timmerman Trail, Cayce, SC, USA.
Another look at the Denver City & County building in its holiday garb. The "back story" behind this shot is over on my blog. There's also a really nice writeup on the history of these lights over here.
This shot made it up to at least #13 in Flickr's Explore pages -- high enough at any rate to land on Flickr's front page (first time ever for me). Thanks so much to everybody for your comments and favorites!
Copyright © 2008 Old Dog Photography, all rights reserved.
“The term (political correctness) first appeared in Marxist-Leninist vocabulary following the Russian Revolution of 1917. At that time it was used to describe adherence to the policies and principles of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (that is, the party line).” – Encyclopedia Britannica
The communists killed millions and millions of their people in order to create a utopian society based on equality. In communism, one must be “politically correct.” If you say something wrong you might disappear in the night, never to be seen again. Of course, self-censorship and voluntary compliance are preferred by the regime. Indoctrination keeps an individual within the proper ideological bounds of the state.
“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.” – William Douglas
Many cannot recognize the threat of censorship, because they are ignorant of the crimes of communism. The public is more aware of the atrocities of the Nazis, as opposed to the atrocities of the communists. This is what happens when universities are bastions of Marxism, and professors are fond of Karl Marx. (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto). My grandpa, who went through the Great Depression, used to say, “People go to university to become socialists.” So this stuff is nothing new! This is what leftists call the “long march through the institutions.” The plan was to infiltrate the institutions of the West in order to transform them from the inside out. The Long March of the 1960s sowed the doctrines of critical theory (neo-Marxism). (Critical theory came out of the Frankfurt School). These seeds produced various kinds of critical theory: critical race theory, queer theory, postcolonial/decolonial theory, feminist theory, critical environmental theory, and critical pedagogy. Our children are being taught these subversive ideologies, even though they are rooted in evil. The fruits of these ideologies have produced mass death and misery. They gave us Stalin’s Great Purges and Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Indeed, the communists regulated speech, and millions died.
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” – Potter Stewart
Regulating hate speech is undemocratic; it is rooted in totalitarianism. Regulating hate speech is a way of enforcing the politically correct doctrine of the day. It suppresses free speech, and it suppresses open dialogue. It suppresses critical thinking, and it suppresses creativity. And it will eventually lead to the criminalization of ideological opposition.
“Misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and other risks to the information ecosystem are fueling conflict, threatening democracy and human rights, and undermining public health and climate action.” – United Nations
The West is losing its freedom of speech. People in England are being arrested for social media posts. In Germany, they are trying to ban a political party. We saw Western governments colluding with big tech to censor dissenting views during COVID-19. Various politicians want to fight misinformation and disinformation. The European Union also wants to crackdown on what it deems as misinformation and disinformation. What they are doing, however, is fighting against freedom of speech—against freedom.
“The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation threatens to erode the credibility of public institutions and limit their capacity to implement policies that enhance public well-being.” – World Bank
When central bank digital currencies and social credit scores are implemented, you better watch what you say or do. If you say or do the wrong thing, you will have your money frozen. You will be like the Canadian truckers, who had their bank accounts frozen during COVID-19. With quantum computing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data-driven technologies, a surveillance apparatus is being built. This Beast system will be an authoritarian dystopia like the world has never known.
“In this case wisdom is needed: Let the person who has understanding calculate the total number of the beast, because it is a human total number, and the sum of the number is 666.” – Revelation 13:18
Full writeup here: theastroenthusiast.com/arp-274-from-hubble/
To celebrate my 18th birthday, I decided to process one of my favorite Hubble images! This was taken back in 2009 to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy by WFPC2. Given that it was taken by such a low-sensitivity sensor, this image actually had a whole lot of noise to deal with. I spent a while carefully removing hot pixels and cosmic rays to make the image look better. In case you’re wondering what exactly you’re looking at, here’s a little explanation about the galaxies:
Arp 274 is a system of three galaxies that appear to be partially overlapping in the image, although they may be at somewhat different distances. The spiral shapes of two of these galaxies appear mostly intact. The third galaxy at far left is more compact, but shows evidence of star formation. Two of the three galaxies are forming new stars at a high rate. This is evident in the bright blue knots of star formation that are strung along the arms of the galaxy on the right and along the small galaxy on the left. The largest component is located in the middle of the three. It appears as a spiral galaxy, which may be barred. The entire system resides at about 400 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The colours in this image reflect the intrinsic colour of the different stellar populations that make up the galaxies. Yellowish older stars can be seen in the central bulge of each galaxy. A bright central cluster of stars pinpoint each nucleus. Younger blue stars trace the spiral arms, along with pinkish nebulae that are illuminated by new star formation. Interstellar dust is silhouetted against the starry population. The pair of foreground stars on the right are inside our own Milky Way.
Website: theastroenthusiast.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/
Comet C/2020 M3 Atlas in emerald green color passes by the main colorful nebula of the Constellation Auriga in this image captured and processed from Grand Mesa Observatory on 12/8/2020 by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson. This image was captured using QHYCCD’s latest offering the QHY410C Back Illuminated Full Frame one shot color CMOS camera that we have the honor of testing.
The main nebulae in this image are the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) the comma shaped red and white/purple nebula to the top and right along with the Tadpole Nebula (NGC 1893) located to the center left. Comet C/2020 M3 Atlas is seen almost ‘touching’ the Tadpole Nebula in this image. Distance-wise Comet C/2020 M3 Atlas was a mere 3.74 light-minutes from Earth when this image was captured while the Flaming Star Nebula is about 1,400 light-years distant and further still is the Tadpole Nebula which is roughly 12,400 light-years away.
Writeup on Comet C/2020 M3 Atlas: astronomynow.com/2020/11/18/see-comet-atlas-in-the-evenin...
Flaming Star Nebula Wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_405
Tadpole Nebula Wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1893
Technical Info:
Total Integration time 3.3 hours
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Date of capture: December 9th, 2020
Color RGGB 200 min, 100 x 120 sec
Camera: QHY410C Back Illuminated Full Frame Color CMOS
Gain 0, Offset 76
Read Mode: High Gain Mode
Calibrated with Dark, Bias and Flat Frames
Optics: Takahashi E-180 Astrograph
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6
Pre-Processed in Pixinsight, Deep Sky Stacker
Post Processed in Photoshop
Went on a hike to see this beautiful waterfall. Elk River Falls is considered a beautiful falls and the highest in Western, NC. It is billed as a .3 mile hike through beautiful mountain scenery. the writeup suggested 'some' rocks and roots could be encountered. My view of the trail and theirs did not agree. Would love to go back with the mountain laurel in bloom. See the next sign...
The Kennet & Avon Canal at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.
Due to the nature of my work, I have to travel all over the UK and stay away from home most weeks in places both nice and not-so-nice. I am fortunate in my current job to stay alternate weeks in Bradford-on-Avon, one of the most tranquil and picturesque places that I have ever stayed. Well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of 87 miles (140 km), made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section. From Bristol to Bath the waterway follows the natural course of the River Avon before the canal links it to the River Kennet at Newbury, and from there to Reading on the River Thames. In all, the waterway incorporates 105 locks.
The two river stretches were made navigable in the early 18th century, and the 57-mile (92 km) canal section was constructed between 1794 and 1810. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the canal gradually fell into disuse after the opening of the Great Western Railway. In the latter half of the 20th century the canal was restored in stages, largely by volunteers. After decades of dereliction and much restoration work, it was fully reopened in 1990. The Kennet and Avon Canal has been developed as a popular heritage tourism destination for boating, canoeing, fishing, walking and cycling, and is also important for wildlife conservation.
The Telegraph also has an interesting writeup on Bradford-on-Avon.
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“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? - Nora Roberts
Headpieces: Casstronaut
[I just got back from a trip to Tennessee to visit with my precious friend Cassie, who is hands down one of my favorite people ever. We always have such wonderfully goofy times together. Whether we're tromping through woods in the pouring rain with stormwatch towers screaming hysterically at us or wearing garbage bags on legs or footie pajamas by a creekside or grappling with my undeniable distractibility and mile-a-minute thoughts and nonsensical garbled sentences that tumble out of my mouth, there truly is never a dull moment. I feel grateful for the friendship I have with her, and for the unquantifiable allowance to simply be who I am, unabashedly, when we spend time together.
Okay okay, enough of the squishy writeup about friendship and its value. We shot this on the last day of my visit--I really wanted to have a nice portrait with her and I where she wasn't wearing a sheet for a dress or I wasn't flapping my arms like a walrus. What. Walruses have arms that they flap.]
Who knew this locomotive is in the Register of Historical Places??? Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive #1 , mascarading as Augusta Railroad #7 at the Fort smith Trolley Museum. A truely unique critter for sure as it is powered by a Hercules gasoline engine that will turn 1800 rpm and is coupled to the wheels through a 4 speed gear box to the counter shafts that turn the drivers through drive rods. I had no idea I was photoing such a significant piece of history. Attached is the writeup from Wiki, I recommend reading it for some fascinating information.