Today Mercury reaches maximum elongation, the furthest point it will reach from the Sun in the sky and the highest it will be above the sunrise for this morning apparition. The planet is easily visible as a bright, starlike object about 19° above the rising Sun as the twilight begins. Over the next couple weeks Mercury will slide back into the sunrise, heading for superior conjunction on August 24th.
As Mercury passes through maximum elongation it is part of a trio of bright planets in the morning sky. Higher in the sky you will also see Jupiter and Mars dancing in the dawn.
Almost all the photos shown here on Darker View are cropped at a 2:3 ratio. The reason for this? I like it. And perhaps I am used to this ratio. It is very traditional, having been used for many applications for decades, including the venerable 35mm photographic film.
Common cropping ratiosA cropping ratio is simply the ratio of the dimensions in the image, height and width. if the print on the wall is 24 x 36 inches, it has a ratio of 2:3. This is calculated using the smallest common denominator… Remember that term from learning fractions in grade school? The images here on Darker View are usually 600 x 900 pixels, also a 2:3 ratio.
Any number of cameras produce images with a 2:3 ratio, including APS-C sensor DLSR’s like my Canon 60D. The ratio is by no means universal. Many cameras use a 4:3 ratio, most compacts do, including my Canon G12. Other ratios are popular, HD video is 16:9, spurring a rise in popularity of this wider format.
I have read a little about the choice in cropping, the argument regular rages in photographic circles. One article in particular got my attention, the author extolling the virtues of a square crop, a 1:1 ratio. Perhaps I am in a rut, and need to explore the use of other cropping ratios. I use 1:1 on occasion, usually for astrophotos. Perhaps I should experiment with other ratios more often.
Laurent’s hermit crab (Calcinus laurentae) peers out from under a shell
I dove with the usual crew the day before, but I did not go out with them Sunday. Now I am wonder if I should have. They came back with a fish tale and the video to prove it…
Lavern is a well known fixture around the entrance to Honokohau Harbor. She is big and easily identified through the messed up dorsal fin. She has not eaten any divers… yet.
As I came clear of the sea cave I knew I was right under the surf crashing on the rocks. Not truly dangerous, we would not have been out in a really big swell, bad enough if I had decided to go right into it. Kicking out a bit further I surfaced, into a swarm of needlefish hunting along the edge of the foamy water. These little predators appeared to be taking advantage of the reduced visibility and noise of the waves and bubbles to hunt. As they darted through the intense blue water, I attempted to take a few photos. First, get the camera out of macro, turn off the strobe, daylight color balance, anything else?
A school of keeltail needleflish (Platybelone argalus) hunt along a the edge of a surf zone.
The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak this weekend. This reliable shower usually produces 10-20 meteors per hour. The peak will occur on July 27th this year. As the shower has a broad peak there should still be a good showing a few days either side of peak.
As we are past new Moon there is some dark sky available in the evening, best viewing for this shower is in the morning, when a bright 60% Moon will rise. Moonrise will occur around 22:00HST on the 27th and 22:43 on the 28th. The radiant for this shower will rise at 09:22HST. This provides a slim window of darkness to attempt meteor viewing. After rising, the moonlight will dim the prospects for viewing the shower.
DarkerView is a substantial part of who I am. Recorded here are my writings, photos and experiences spanning years. A personal diary recording so much of my life. While my blogging effort goes back to 2005, it is only the last few years that are hosted on the newer WordPress based DarkerView. Still, I worry about losing it all, this would be a stunning blow, not something I wish to contemplate. Thus I make an effort to back everything up.
A Hawaiian double hulled canoe awaiting a crew below Pu’ukohala HeiauI use a plugin called, simply enough, WordPress Database Backup. The plugin is easy enough, just a few settings to make.
The settings are fairly stright forward to figure out… You can choose to exclude storing post revisions and any spam comments you may have not yet deleted. Any optional tables, not part of the basic WordPress setup, can be included. You can choose to set up an automatic backup at several different time intervals.
The plugin also gives you a few choices in what to do with the backup file. The backup can be stored on the same server as the site, emailed to the specified address, or simply downloaded to your local computer. I generally trigger my backups manually and download them to my local machine for storage at home.
The result is a compressed file containing the necessary SQL code needed to recreate the entire WordPress database. For DarkerView, a three year old blog with almost one thousand posts, the resultant backup file is just over a gigabyte.
Unpacking and perusing the resultant backup file is interesting. Laid before you is the entire structure and contents of the site in SQL query statements. In the case of DarkerView this currently results in over sixteen thousand lines of SQL. Not having really looked at the back-end database before it is quite interesting to examine.
The backup file does not include the uploaded files, the images and thumbnails. It is necessary to copy this section of the blog manually. This is easily accomplished with an FTP session opened to the hosting computer and a single copy command.
While science observations may be almost a decade away, the science possibilities of the Thirty Meter Telescope are already eagerly anticipated by astronomers. In the attempt to answer many of the basic questions of our universe, the limitations of the existing telescopes have become apparent. The eight and ten meter telescopes that represent the forefront of astronomy today are reaching their limit, a limit the research astronomy community is ready to step past.
An overhead view of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope, credit TMT Observatory CorporationTaking place this week is the Thirty Meter Telescope Science Forum. Over 140 astronomers and engineers representing all of the partner countries meeting in Waikoloa to discuss new science that will be made possible by the TMT.
One thing was clear from the science presentations… The science case for the TMT is compelling. The sheer size of the new telescope will allow observation of the early universe that is just out of reach of the current generation of large telescopes. The thirty meter primary mirror will provide significant advantages even over the next generation of space telescopes in resolution and flexibility of operation. The excellent site available on Mauna Kea allows advantages over the selected site for the European E-ELT in Chile.
While the goal of the conference is to look ahead. It is interesting that what is being presented is a wonderful summary of where current research stands today. In the effort to detail what research could be accomplish with TMT, the astronomers succinctly cataloged the state of current research as it is limited by today’s instruments and telescopes.
Much of the first day discussion was focused on the possibilities of observing the very early universe, the first stars and galaxies that formed in the era just after the big bang. Current telescopes can observe a few tantalizing glimpses of this era, just enough to show astronomers what they do not know about the formation of our universe. A few massive galaxies bright enough to be seen across the gulf of time, a few fainter galaxies that are luckily aligned with closer massive galaxy clusters. Clusters that form gravitational lenses that allow us to peer through a keyhole into the dim past. Astronomer have used every trick they can muster to allow observation of this first era. The TMT will open the door into this first era of stars, allow real study of the beginning of what we see around us today.
Planning for the TMT is in the final stages, where the capabilities of the telescope and the instruments can be forecast with reasonable assurance that those goals will be met. Astronomers can use the design data of the telescope to simulate exposures and signal to noise ratios of the data, on targets they can just barely see today. This sort of planning is critical to the astronomy community, it may be another ten years before science observations begin, but when they do the astronomers will be ready to use the telescope to its fullest capability.
This sort of feedback is critical to the engineers as well. As instruments pass through final development, it is important to know what capabilities are most valuable, what to prioritize when the final design is produced. Questions of spectral resolutions, throughput and exposure times are often heard in the discussions.
Through conferences like this one, the astronomy community will know what to expect when the new telescope comes online around 2022. They will be ready to push forward our understanding of the universe. We know what to expect. But, as Andrea Ghez reminded us, we must “Expect the unexpected!”. Many of the discoveries made by Keck and the other great telescopes of the current generation were completely unexpected. It is likely that the universe still has a few surprises for us.
Killer Tacos is not a tourist place. Hidden back in one of the little business strips in the old industrial park it is not likely to be found by wandering visitors.
The service counter at Killer Tacos, KonaWe often find ourselves looking for lunch in North Kona. Target, Pet Smart, and more, this is where the stores are, this is where we go shopping. There are a number of eating places in the Kona Commons shopping center, where we have often eaten in the past. This time Deb remembered another option, why not give it a try?
You can find Killer Tacos a couple blocks behind Target on Luhia, just past the four way stop at Kaiwi. Look makai for a busy little place in the middle of a strip mall of other, more industrial, businesses.
The storefront of Killer Tacos, KonaThe shop is a little reminiscent of mainland chains like Chipoltle Grill, with much the same basic concept. Bins and tubs of ingredients served in either tortillas or tacos, assembled in front of you the way you like it. It is a good formula, it works. As long as the ingredients are good the end product is good. No problems at Killer Taco.
When asked what meat I wanted my burro filled with I said “carnitas”. This received a funny look. Pork? Oh! I found it fun that staff serving Mexican food did not know the Spanish names of the items they were selling. Years past I often enjoyed eating Mexican meals in south Tucson, sometimes at places where you could not order without ordering in Spanish. This is however Hawai‘i after all. I continued to order in Spanish, it became a game, the gals behind the counter having fun trying to remember what each of the items was. Mexican food not made by Mexicans? It didn’t matter, it was still good food.
The food was a nice surprise, the prices were also a pleasant surprise. I suspect that not having to pay rent in a fancy neighborhood is an advantage. A meal for two cost us about what I would have expected to pay for myself alone. Fourteen dollars for two lunches and drinks. Good food, decent prices, and substantial portions… I may just be back here if I need a meal in North Kona.
