2012 – A Darker View

Darker View’s Top Posts of 2012

Looking through the site statistics is an interesting exercise. I get a chance to see what people are reading. The vast majority of readers do not write comments, the stats are the best tool for feedback I have. Perusing the stats is also an realization of one’s own vanity, a necessary motivation for all writers, not just bloggers.

Site traffic has taken a large hit with the transfer to the WordPress platform. I expected this, there would inevitably be loss of links and search engine traffic with the changeover. This has begun to recover, but very slowly. There have been 55 thousand views of the Darker View blog in 2012. Overall there were 66 thousand views of the entire site for the year, not just the WordPress material. This compares to 91 thousand visitors in 2011, about two-thirds of pre-changeover traffic. Total traffic to Darker View since inception in 2007 is now over 288 thousand visitors.

Continue reading “Darker View’s Top Posts of 2012”

2012 in Photos

For your viewing pleasure, here are some of the best photos from Darker View assembled into a gallery. New Year is a time for reviewing the year past. I have enjoyed the last year, with the photos to prove it. I hope that 2013 brings you the chance to collect your own gallery of photos and memories.

Riding Waipio — Karen, Darcy, myself and Deb horseback riding in Waipio Valley

Apple Banana — Apple bananas in our patch ready for harvest

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Pāhoehoe — A pāhoehoe breakout near Kupapa’u

Dolphin — A Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) leaps from the water near Seymour Narrows, British Columbia

Tools at the Ready — Tools and parts ready for use in the workshop at Lagoon Cove, British Columbia

Roedda — A fishing boat offloads fish at the packing plant in Petersburg, Alaska

Black Bear Fishing — A black bear (Ursus americanus) fishing at the Anan Wildlife Observatory

Workshop — A workshop at Lagoon Cove, British Columbia

40" Viewing — Visitors observe through the 40″ Nickel Telescope at Lick Observatory

Stars over the Nickel — Stars above the 40″ Nickel Telescope at Lick Observatory

The 36" refractor at Lick Observatory — The 36″ refractor at Lick Observatory

Santa Cruz Boardwalk — The roller coaster and rides along the boardwalk at Santa Cruz

The 16″ guns of the Battleship Missouri in Pearl Harbor

A Snowflake Moray (Echidna nebulosa) in the reef at Three Tables, Oahu

Turtle on the YO-257 — A green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) rests on the stern of the YO-257

Sea Urchin Crab — A female sea urchin crab (Echinoecus pentagonus) in the anal cavity of a large banded urchin (Echinothrix calamaris)

Attempting to Hide — An Arceye Hawkfish (Paracirrhites arcatus) hides from the photographer deep in a coral head

Diver Down — Diver Mark Devenot cruising the reef at Hoover’s Towers north of Honokohau

Hawaiian Toby (Canthigaster jactator) under a coral head at O’oma

Keferstein's Sea Cucumber — Keferstein’s Sea Cucumber (Polyplectana kefersteini) at 30ft, Puakō

Yellow-spotted Guard Crab (Trapezia flavopunctata) at O’oma

Fourspot Butterflyfish (Chaetodon quadrimaculatus) under a coral head at O’oma

Flowery Flounder (Bothus mancus) on the reef at O’oma

A pair of White-margin Nudibranch (Glossodoris rufomarginata), 25ft depth at O’oma

Blackside Hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) at O’oma

Gold Lace Nudibranch (Halgerda terramtuentis) in a small cave at 25′ depth, Puakō

What Monsters Lurk in Caves — You never know what terrifying monsters of the deep lurk in these caves… Oh.. Hello dear.

Lowering OSIRIS into Keck 1 AO — The Keck crew lowering OSIRIS into Keck 1 AO

Segment in the Hallway — The team moving a mirror segment from the telescope to the coating facility

Three Strikes — Three AO lasers aimed at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, the lasers are from both Keck 1 and Keck 2 as well as the Subaru telescope

Snowing — George Wall snowing the Keck 1 Primary Mirror

Hard Headed — Hard hats ready for use just outside the Keck 1 dome

Tools — A set of tools ready for use on the Keck 1 nasmyth deck

Both Keck lasers in operation — Both the Keck 1 and Keck 2 lasers in operation under a nearly full Moon

VLBA and Belt of Venus — The Belt of Venus rising above the VLBA antenna

CFHT Sunset — The glow of sunset illuminates CFHT

Gear for the Transit — The telescope setup outside the Keck 1 control room for the Transit of Venus

Venus Transit Second Contact — Transit of Venus 2012, second contact at 12:27pm

Mauna Kea Observing — A pair of telescopes set up high in the side of Mauna Kea

Omega Centauri, NGC5139, sum of 31 x 1min exposures, AT6RC and Canon 60D

NGC1976 The Orion Nebula — The Orion Nebula with and EOS-M, 40x30s exposures @ ISO12,800, AT6RC and 0.8x focal reducer

Cliff and the 24" — Cliff at the eyepiece of his 24″

Waikoloa Sunset — Sunset from the grounds of the Fairmont Orchid resort

Venus Transit in the Press

Public awareness of a unique astronomical event, the Transit of Venus, is appearing. While avid sky-watchers have been anticipating this event for years, the general public is mostly unaware of the event.

This seems to be changing… A number of articles have appeared in the mainstream press this last week, from MSNBC to Fox News, providing information about the transit.

Yes, it is the same article on all of the sites, all apparently picked up from the Space.com site. There is some lesson here on the nature of corporate news today. In any case it is nice to see an astronomical event getting coverage. Any opportunity to get more astronomy onto the public stage is to be taken advantage of.

A transit is a less spectacular event, not exactly a total solar eclipse. It is quite interesting from an astronomical and historical standpoint. There are other articles, the transit is getting more press as the date approaches. In the run up to June 5th it will be interesting to see just what the public response to this event will be.