Primera salida astronómica del año. Ya había ganas. El otoño ha sido bastante malo en lo meteorológico y unido a la temporada de planetaria con Júpiter, Saturno y Marte en su oposición daba como resultado que no tocaba el equipo de cielo profundo desde las vacaciones de verano.
Pero la llegada de una masa de aire siberiano (frío continental que habitualmente se traduce en cielos despejados y prístinos) y la presencia del cometa C/2022 E3 ZTF nos invitaba a salir en busca de cielos oscuros. La cosa no pintaba bien en un principio. Cuando llegamos al lugar de observación en Toledo teníamos el cielo lleno de nubes. La meteo nos había fallado y aunque en un principio pronosticaba que se despejaría al anochecer la verdad es que tuvimos que esperar hasta las 21:00 para poder empezar a hacer algo. Eso sí, cuando se fueron las nubes se quedó un cielo espectacular ¡Pero con un frío seco que te entraba por los pies y se te metía en los huesos!
Júpiter brillaba con fuerza aunque ya algo bajo en el cielo y Orión destacaba majestuoso así que me dispuse a sacarle fotos con la Canon 600D y la Star Adventurer. Auriga, Tauro, las Pléyades y Marte muy cerca casi culminaban en el cénit y más tarde Géminis, Cáncer e incluso Leo tomaron el relevo.
Tras echar mano de los pantalones de esquí y los calentapies la cosa empezó a ser llevadera. Un chocolate caliente, que se quedó sólido como el cemento armado lo que provocó la anécdota de la noche, terminó de hacer más placentera la observación cuando llegaron los -2ºC. Lo bueno es que no había nada de humedad.
Con el equipo de astrofoto me lo tomé con calma. Ajusté bien los cables, hice una puesta en estación a la polar doble (la primera vez debí tocar la montura porque se desajustó) y una calibración con PHD2 que me dió un guiado muy bueno durante toda la jornada. El objetivo fue la Nebulosa del Árbol de Navidad o NGC2264 que no he fotografiado nunca. Debido a que empezamos algo más tarde no saqué toda la señal que hubiera querido pero me dio tiempo de hacer una ronda LRGB.
Constelación de Orión con la Canon 600D y la Star Adventurer.
Mientras la Star Adventurer y la Canon sacaban fotos por un lado y el Esprit 100 sacaba fotos por el otro tiré de prismáticos 10×50 para hacer un poco de visual. El Cúmulo del Pesebre (M44), los cúmulos de Auriga, la Galaxia de Andrómeda, el doble de Perseo, la Nebulosa de Orión son objetos que no me cansaré nunca de observar. Me transporto a lugares remotos y me quedo absorto en viajes imaginarios a través de nubes gaseosas y conglomerados de estrellas.
Luego a eso de las 00:00 empezamos a buscar el cometa C/2022 E3 ZTF que está siendo el protagonista de los cielos durante este inicio de año. Ya lo conseguimos fotografiar desde casa con la contaminación lumínica de Madrid pero queríamos hacerlo bien desde el campo. No obstante nuestra ubicación no era la idónea ya que el cometa sale por el NE y al estar en Toledo nos pillaba toda la contaminación lumínica de Madrid en medio a pesar de estar a más de 100km de distancia. Aún así pudimos localizarlo fácilmente con los prismáticos 10×50 y luego con un telescopio refractor 100/600. Con prismáticos tenía un aspecto de cúmulo globular junto a un triple dueto de estrellas con distribución idéntica (HIP 75587-HIP 75425, HIP 76509-HIP 76376 y HIP 77370-HIP 77272) que causaban una sensación rarísima, como si alguien hubiera hecho un copy-paste varias veces en el cielo.
El campo visual con los 10×50 y el grupo de estrellas peculiar. Arriba está la Galaxia de la Astilla NGC 5907
A través del telescopio si que se apreciaba algo de cola con visión indirecta aunque ni rastro de color verdoso. Durante los últimos días el cometa ha empezado a presentar anti-cola a causa de que lo vemos casi de frente. También se había producido una desconexión de la cola iónica a causa del viento solar (todo esto solo apreciable en fotografía). En cualquier caso fue muy interesante poder observar el primer cometa desde que nos visitó Neowise hace un par de años. Durante los próximos días el ZTF irá siendo visible cada noche más temprano.
Aproveché también para hacerle algunas fotos con la Canon y con el telescopio y a eso de las 02:00 dimos por finalizada la sesión. Lo suyo hubiera sido quedarnos algo más para ver el cometa más alto en el cielo pero tras 8 horas en el campo y con las baterías del ordenador ya casi consumidas no quedó otra que retirarnos. He encargado otra batería de 50.000mA porque he notado que una de las 2 que tengo ya dura bastante poco.
El cometa C/2022 E3 ZTF con la Canon 600D.
En resumen, una noche muy disfrutada, que empezó con nubes y terminó con un cielo estupendo marcando el termómetro de infrarrojos -34ºC y el SQM 21.07. Esperemos que el tiempo siga siendo benevolente y nos deje disfrutar alguna noche más del cometa.
Ralph Thompson Crane III, 82, of Bryn Mawr, retired prolific architectural and interior photographer, Peace Corps volunteer, and self-described “obsessive handyman,” died Jan. 9, of multiple system atrophy at St. Francis Center For Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Darby.
Known professionally and by his family and friends as Tom, Mr. Crane’s photographs were published in many publications, including The Inquirer, for decades. His work is also found in books, online, and elsewhere, and he teamed with writer Roger W. Moss to publish Historic Houses of Philadelphiain 1998, Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia in 2004, and Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia in 2008.
Reviewers praised the Philadelphia books, which feature hundreds of Mr. Crane’s photos and detailed descriptions of the sites by Moss, as a “a feast to our eyes” and “a wondrous visual and historical tour of the city’s major places.” A reviewer for Maine Antique Digest said in 1998: “Tom Crane’s glorious photographs and Roger Moss’s enthusiastic descriptions will get anyone with the slightest interest in history, architecture, or the decorative arts on the way to spending a week in the City of Brotherly Love.”
Shadow and vibrancy, brilliance and contrast, were his tools of the trade, Mr. Crane told The Inquirer in 2005. “My whole being, my mode of operation, is determined by light,” he said.
Moss, former executive director of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, said in 2005 that he agreed to write the text for the books only because Mr. Crane provided the photographs. “The idea of expanding to three books came solely out of working with Tom,” Moss said. “It’s like the collaboration between a librettist and a composer. … Tom and I just work well together.”
Mr. Crane became interested in architectural photography in 1966 while serving two years in the Peace Corps after college. Working with Dutch soil scientists on a survey of floodplains in Nigeria, he was intrigued by the architectural designs of buildings along the Niger River, and, using a simple Kodak camera, returned to the United States in 1967 with an eclectic portfolio of amateur photos.
That collection was enough to earn him an apprenticeship with celebrated architectural photographer Ezra Stoller in New York. Two years later, he became studio manager for photographer and filmmaker Hans Namuth. He moved to Philadelphia in 1971, opened his own studio, learned on the job, and refurbished an old barn in Bryn Mawr in the early 1980s into a studio, office, and home.
Mr. Crane was a board member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Institute of Classic Architecture and Art, and his lifetime body of work was honored at the institute’s 2022 Trumbauer Awards gala in November. He conducted workshops over the years, lectured widely about photography, and welcomed interns from Drexel University into his studio.
“His work, energy, and spirit are always an inspiration,” a friend said in a tribute.
Born Nov. 26, 1940, in Montclair, N.J., Ralph T. Crane III graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies at George Washington University in Washington in 1965.
He married Kenni Durkin, and they divorced. He married Anne Loring, and they had sons Henry and Nelson. They divorced, and he met Diana Mizer in 2004. They married in 2011, and he welcomed her daughters, Abigail and Jessica, into his family.
Fascinated by the design and functions of mechanical objects as well as architecture, Mr. Crane fiddled with reclining bicycles, collapsible kayaks, radio-controlled indoor aircraft, aerobatic kites, and other items. He hung a trapeze and built a scenery cyclorama in his photo studio, mounted a rowing machine on exposed beams of his living room ceiling, and had handmade wood furniture and an open-air atrium in his home.
He used a Swiss-made Sinar view camera on a tripod for years. Later, as computer software flooded the photography market, he picked up editing tricks from his interns. “I’m so dependent on them it’s scary,” he said in 2005. “Today’s technology is capable of making Ansel Adams’ eight-by-tens look like a Kodak print.”
People who knew Mr. Crane, his wife said, “came away with a sense of his intense work ethic, incomparable eye for making a photo fully readable, and an understanding of what loving energy made that happen.”
She said: “He complemented that professional competence with a humorous, delightful playfulness that was addictive to be around. He was my wonderful man.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wives, Mr. Crane is survived by a sister and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
Services were private.
Donations in his name may be made to the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, P.O. Box 5193, New York, N.Y. 10087.
The city of Perrysburg is hosting a winter photography contest for its Sculpture Walk, offering a grand prize of $100 is offered. Here’s how to enter.
PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Editor’s note: The attached video is from an unrelated story that aired on Jan. 10, 2023.
If you’ve got an eye for art, try your hand at the Perrysburg Sculpture Walk Winter Photo Contest to celebrate creativity and expression–and for a chance to win several prizes, including a $100 gift card.
The contest, which is open to photographers of all skill-levels, runs from Jan. 30 through Feb. 28. During this time frame, participants are challenged to capture the beauty of select sculptures in Woodlands Park during the winter season. It is the second year the city has initiated a winter photo contest.
There are 17 kid-friendly, interactive sculptures located around the perimeter of Woodlands Park, which is located at 429 E. Boundary St. in Perrysburg.
In a map provided by the Perrysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, all 17 sculptures have been listed, including the name of the work and artist.
The Sculpture Walk is a year-long art installation funded by Visit Perrysburg with additional support from the City of Perrysburg, Southeastern Equipment Company, Welch Publishing, the Cultural Arts Fund of Wood County and Big Daddy Graphics. It is currently in its second year, which will conclude in August 2023.
Participants are asked to photograph these sculptures with special attention to how the winter landscape augments their beauty.
City officials say this month-long contest gives visitors the chance to enjoy art and nature in Perrysburg.
“We love this opportunity for guests to visit Perrysburg, enjoy the sculptures in a different season, and capture memories they’ll share and potentially win a prize,” Chris Best said in a press release. Best is the Executive Director for the Perrysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.
To enter the contest, select up to three high-resolution, original photographs to [email protected] and specify “Photo Contest” in the subject line. Additionally, you should include your name and any information you’d like the panel to know about your photograph.
A first-place winner will be selected on March 7. The winner will receive a $100 gift card, provided by Kohne Camera & The Print Refinery in Perrysburg, both of whom will also sit on the judges’ panel. Several runner-up prizes will also be awarded.
The last day to submit your photographs is Feb. 28, so get snapping!
Mercury is a rather tricky thing to see in the night sky.
The tiny planet orbits so close to the sun that the star’s blazing light simply washes Mercury out of Earth’s sight. The only time we get to see the planet is when it’s at greatest elongation, or its farthest points from the sun — that happens a few times a year.
Fortunately, we’re fast approaching Mercury’s next greatest elongation (Jan. 30), which means that the planet will be visible in the night sky for the next few weeks. And on Jan. 24, Mercury will reach its highest altitude during this Jan.–Feb. visibility period.
From New York City, Mercury will appear a rather measly 14 degrees above the horizon at sunrise on Jan. 24, according to skywatching site In-the-sky.org. That’s about the width of a fist and a half out at arm’s length. That altitude is just about average as far as Mercury goes — its maximum altitude ranges from 11 to 19 degrees.
Related: Mercury: Facts about the closest planet to the sun
Planets, winter stars and a comet in January 2023 NASA skywatching guide
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When it reaches its highest altitude, Mercury will be shining somewhat brightly at a magnitude around -0.2. But it’ll get brighter as it approaches greatest elongation, although it’ll start appearing lower in the sky.
You won’t have long to look at Mercury either. On Jan. 24, Mercury only rises at 5:36 a.m. EST (1036 GMT) — just about an hour and a half before sunrise. Eventually, the sun’s light will drown out Mercury in the sky.
But that brevity is true of nearly all Mercury sightings. The planet is only ever visible at twilight, alternating between morning and evening with each greatest elongation. Mercury’s next one will be on April 11 in the evening, so mark your calendars now.
To get the best view of Mercury, you’ll need to use a telescope. Check out our handy guide to the best telescopes for seeing planets if you’re in the market for a new instrument. If you’re looking to take some photos of the planet, see our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
It seems to be a bright and colorful solo travel; the disguise hides the traveler’s loneliness. The same red dress re-appears in the vivid scenery, but the trip seems to be a series of surreal scenes. It may be just a dream or just a sense of relief and escape.
Instead of staging the scenes and stories, this time I place myself, the traveler, in real landscapes, in real deserts, and on real highways. It was a real trip, but I intentionally made the scenes look surreal and staged.
Overall, this series starts inside of a very realistic scene. Then, surreal imagery is overlaid within the works, creating a temporary escape from the reality of the everyday. Most people have flashes from the subconscious where they want to escape from their daily bonds and cares, not to run away, but to break free. We can call it dissociating by drifting away, creating an instantaneous sense of freedom, but then returning to realism with a better sense of harmony.
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You can find Fang Tong on the Web:
Copyrights: All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Fang Tong. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners
In the beginning, God created film and the film was without color, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. In 1975, God said “Let there be digital,” and there was digital. God saw that the digital was good. In the years since these two photographic breakthroughs changed the way we see, capture and share our memories and personal experiences, all hell has broken loose.
In the year 2022, close to three years after the covid pandemic began, a new battle was being waged against photographers, writers and other artists across the globe. This new threat did not come from man himself, but from machine, promising endless and effortless art with just a few simple commands cast through the keyboard of their computers. Speaking art into the air like a wizard casting a spell with his staff. The rise of the Ai Machines had begun. To know where we are going, we first must look to our past.
The phosphorescent tendrils of a mineral-rich river spray across the mottled canvas of an alluvial plain in southern Iceland. The bright flow cuts through the ancient sands, leaving behind a chaotic impression, like the whorls in a burl of wood. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
Seasons Change
When the first digital cameras were introduced, many traditional film photographers rejected the technology, with their entire heart and soul, pledging allegiance to the film, in which it was developed, in liberty and justice for all. Digital was sin. The devil. It was cheating!
By the time digital cameras reached the masses and began largely replacing film-based SLR’s in the 2000’s, there were only a handful of holdouts. Lonely and long winded soldiers of yesteryear full of tales from the dark side with shoeboxes full of film rolls and desks stacked with drum scans.
Innocent Beginnings
With the ability to capture as many frames as your memory card would allow, along with instant feedback through the LCD, numbers of new photographers began to skyrocket, seemingly threatening the livelihood and the pride of film photographers everywhere. A craft that had once taken many years if not decades to learn was now taking mere months to learn the fundamentals, for those who were dedicated to learning and practicing the craft. Fear of the coming storm sparked battles across the inter webs but ultimately, digital was victorious.
The charging waters of a desert cataract plunge into a turbulent vortex as they wind their way across the eroded tablelands of the Southwest. Across the plateaus, the sinking sun paints the world in a sanguine glow. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
The Evil Force Known As Photoshop
This digital photography revolution, soon joined forces with a winged beast known as Photoshop, allowing reality to be warped, twisted and manipulated into gross representations of its former self. This pushed many of the Hasselblad and Pentax 645 toting photographers past their breaking points.
One lunatic even launched a kamakazie mission against notable digital photographers of the time including Marc Adamus, Miles Morgan, Ryan Dyar and the entire Photo Cascadia team through a ridiculous and disgusting battle known as the M.A.L blog. They even took a couple shots at me personally and I had only been a photographer for a few years at this point.
Today, these defeated and disgruntled film photographers are rumored to be rocking back and fourth in the corners of small, dark rooms, whispering to themselves about the sinful seeds of this demonic technology. They were so caught up in warning the world about the evils of Photoshop that they didn’t even see the real storm brewing….
The whites and ingidos of an alpine meadow of lupine mirror the crags and glaciers of Mount Rainier National Park’s eponymous peak. The highest summit in the Pacific Northwest, the dormant volcano slumbers peacefully beneath the quiet grandeur of a midsummer sunset. Fine Art Limited Edition of 100.
When photoshop and digital photography combined, almost immediately, nature photographers began testing the limits of their digital files. In the beginning, many grabbed their pitchforks and called for justice when a photographer would clone out unwanted objects, stretch a composition or god forbid, swap out a sky. Fast forward to today and there are artists who barely use their photographs as a base anymore, extensively changing the reality of the original through warping, multiple file blending, perspective blending and even multi day and multi location composites affectionally called time-blending.
My personal take, and my concerns with the potential affect on nature photography by Ai-generated art is based on this history. Today, there are already artists, claiming to be photographers who have begun blending Ai-generated art into their nature scenes. I ran across an instagram account the other day full of dramatic and colorful “photographs” from Patagonia, where in fact the artist had never even been to the location.
The possibilities here, aside from the negative impacts on artists and photographers themselves, truly are joy killing in nature. If a photographer can create an entire portfolio from their couch, what have they gained? I can tell you what they have lost. They have lost the chance at the experience, the friendships, the memories and the health benefits that all come from nature photography. While they still may be exercising their creativity, all other benefits are seemingly tossed out in the cold, where the heart of their creator was born. The heart of a machine.
A rush of clear water races down from the forbidden peaks of a range of misty mountains. Along the rocky banks, flashes of gold announce the arrival of autumn to the high places. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
What Is Ai Art?
Most of us are aware of what artificial intelligence is on a basic level and if you’ve been keeping up with news in the tech field, you probably know about some of the functions that AI serves. Art production has become another of AI’s many capabilities, and as such, AI art refers to pieces of artwork that are generated by an AI program. Maybe you haven’t seen any Ai art for yourself? Here is a collection of mind-blowing Ai generated art from an artist known as Midjourney.man.
Artificial intelligence has been a work in progress for a number of years, and much of the credit for sourcing its development goes to Alan Turing. Turing, who was a computer scientist and mathematician, designed the Turing Test, which was used to determine a computer’s ability to exhibit human-like behaviors, including the development of intelligence. Scientists expanded upon this test and invented new technologies, to extend the abilities of artificial intelligence.
Today, AI can create works of art thanks to machine learning (technology that enables computers to teach themselves skills and knowledge based on the data they’re provided). Results can vary depending on the data that AI programs are supplied, but in general, this development makes it possible for machines to learn artistry.
AI-generated art is generated when an artist provides the program’s algorithms with rules and parameters to follow during the creation process. These rules might encourage the machine to embrace a specific style or work with a desired theme. With these rules in mind, AI algorithms will create colors, shapes, patterns, and the like to produce a unique piece of work.
The desert sun shines down through an iridescent portal in one of Antelope Canyon’s famous slot canyons. Over the eons, the solid rock has begun to take on the shape of the wild rivers which have carved their way through it. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
Ai Art Applications
Several AI art generators exist online today, though, as mentioned above, the results produced can vary depending on the technology used and the input provided.
AI art can be generated in a couple of ways. One method involves typing in a prompt for the machine to follow. For example, if you wanted an image of a cat playing with a ball of yarn, you might create the following prompts:
“cat playing with a huge ball of yarn”
“Victorian-style painting of cat playing with a ball of yarn”
“cat ruining grandma’s knitting by playing with the ball of yarn”
The second method of creating AI art involves providing the machine with sample art pieces to use as inspiration. The first and second methods can also be combined to create a more well-rounded result.
Below is a list of several AI art generators available online. The cat prompts above were attempted through Google Deep Dream.
WOMBO Dream Gau-GAN2 ML5.js Google Deep Dream Starry AI DALL-E (now Craiyon)
A weathered sandstone cliffside becomes a bolt of lavender silk beneath the evening light at Factory Butte, Utah. The folds and furrows of the rippled face chart the path of desert rains as they traverse the striated chronicle of the rock. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
Ai-Generated Writing
In addition to AI-generated art, artificial intelligence is also attempting to produce written works. Like the process involved in creating AI art, users can provide AI programs with writing styles, samples, prompts, and more in order to produce a piece of writing.
Communities across the internet have posted the writing results they’ve collected from AI programs, and the overall quality varies in many cases. This far, AI performs quite well when it comes to producing well-outlined, repetitive, structured pieces of writing (emails and letters, for example). As such, it stands to become a time-saving tool for working professionals with the right prompting.
Utilizing AI tools for complex creative writing tasks might not be as effective as one would hope, though. Machine learning has come a long way since its inception, but it still has limitations to overcome in terms of quality, creativity, and authority.
A bubbled baubled wall of cerulean ice refracts the murky rays of the sun’s warmth like the core of a giant sapphire. Veins of frozen crystal swarm across the surface, recounting stories of warmer days gone by. Fine Art Limited Edition of 100.
The Impact of AI on the Creative Community
Professionals and hobbyists in the art community have mixed feelings about AI-generated art and AI art generators. It’s a hot-button topic at this point in time, so a combination of positive and negative impressions is expected.
Some artists and professional writers feel that AI programs present a threat to their traditional methods, while others are not concerned in the least. Of course, using AI art generation programs stand to change the way the world looks at creative labor, many artists and art enthusiasts find that the element of human creation remains an essential part of art’s value.
On the negative end, some programs have shown that they are capable of “stealing” work from existing artists, but in most cases, the concept of theft refers to the machine’s ability to mimic the unique styles displayed in the data they’re provided. For many artists, mimicking individual styles is enough to cause concern, as a machine’s ability to closely match the elements artists use to market their talents can lead to monetary loss.
AI has also proven to be a useful tool for other professionals in the art community. Because art is constantly evolving in its forms, some artists see the use of AI as the development of yet another way to enhance their creative processes. For example, some artists are using AI to explore their ideas and produce prompts that help guide them along the path they want a specific piece to follow.
Every artist and writer is entitled to their own impression of the way AI stands to affect their creative processes, and as of now, the larger implications associated with AI-generated art haven’t been fully explored.
Only Time Will Tell
Despite the impressive accomplishments made by machine learning, it’s difficult to imagine artificial intelligence programs replacing beloved artists. Regardless of the quality of the work created, artistry is still a human-dominated field. Though these programs are constantly developing the methods they follow to produce results, it’s unclear whether they’ll excel to a point where they become legitimate competition for professional artists. Some individuals feel that this issue is already a reality, but time will tell as further exploration unfolds.
Will natural nature photography prevail, or will the world of the future be full of portfolios that look like Avatar The Way of Water.
Striking white aspen bark, backlit by the glow of the morning sun, reflects across the surface of a pond in Telluride Colorado. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
MACKINAW CITY, MICH. — Summer stargazing plans start now, as Headlands International Dark Sky Park has announced its lineup of astronomy programming for 2023.
The park will be offering free weekly educational programing from May to October. Additionally, a staff astronomer will be on-site to provide nightly observing, star tours, and assisted telescope viewing on all clear nights from June through September, as well as on weekends through October.
“There’s something for everyone in the line-up this year,” said Jamie Westfall, park manager. “We invite visitors of all ages to join us at one of our many presentations this summer, or bring a blanket and chairs any clear night; talk to an astronomer, look through a telescope, and enjoy a Pure Michigan evening under the stars.”
In 2011 the Headlands became the first place in Michigan to receive the prestigious International Dark Sky Park designation, awarded globally to spots that offer exceptional night-sky viewing as well as dark-sky protection and education measures.
The park is free and open 24/7 for stargazers. Flashlights, cell phones, or any other white light emitting devices are not permitted in the viewing area.
Note that parking is limited; park officials advise that visitors arrive in time to enjoy sunset for a better opportunity to secure a parking spot. Overflow parking is available outside of the park, but it is a one-mile walk from the viewing area. Headlamps and flashlights are necessary for the entrance into the park, but once the vehicle is parked, all white lights should be stowed as a courtesy for everyone in the viewing area.
Programming Schedule
All programs are free of charge. For event details visit MIdarkskypark.org or follow the park on Facebook at acebook.com/headlandsdarkskypark.
WED. MAY 17 AT 8:30 PM: History of the Universe: From the Big Bang to Recent History
WED. MAY 24 AT 8:30 PM: The Effects of Light Pollution on the Ecosystem
WED. MAY 31 AT 8:30 PM: James Webb Space Telescope Mission Update
THURS. JUNE 8 AT 8 PM: Comets, Broom Stars of the Night Sky with Kevin Dehne
THURS. JUNE 15 AT 8 PM – 9 PM: Northern Lights and Spectroscopy with Aurelian Balan
WED. JUNE 21 AT 8:30 PM: Introduction to Binocular Astronomy
WED. JUNE 28 AT 8 PM: Dark Sky, Fireworks and Special Effects Photography at Night with Wayne Pope
MON. JULY 3 AT 8:30 PM: Telescope Tune-Up Workshop
WED. JULY 12 AT 8 PM: Introduction to Astronomy with Angie Morthland
WED. JULY 19 AT 8 PM: Totality! Solar Eclipse 2024 with Kevin Dehne
THURS. JULY 27 AT 8 PM – 9 PM: Explore Michigan, Explore Astronomy with Norbert Vance
WED. AUGUST 9 AT 8:30 PM: Why Do We Have Meteor Showers?
WED. AUGUST 9 AT 10 PM: Headlands’ Lights Out Challenge
TUES. AUGUST 15 AT 8 PM: How Cold is Outer Space? With Kevin Dehne
WED. AUGUST 16 AT 8 PM: Basics of Astrophotography with Robert Parrish
THURS. AUGUST 31 AT 8:30 PM: Explorations to Mars
WED. SEPTEMBER 13 AT 8:30 PM: Juno – Mission to Mars
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Jeff Parshley and his partner, photographer Adam Bouska, were not activists until 2008. What got them started that year was the passage of Proposition 8, which prohibited same-sex marriage in California.
“Adam and myself were among the people who were always saying Prop 8 will never pass in California. We are a liberal state. Marriage equality was legal already. They wanted to make it illegal, to take it back away?” said Parshley, who lives in Los Angeles.
When it passed, the men were in shock. In reaction, Bouska took a picture of Parshley with masking tape over his mouth and “NOH8″ painted on his cheek.
He posted the photo online. It went viral. Parshley and Bouska were approached by countless people who wanted to be photographed, too. Many of them were celebrities. The project grew and grew. More than 14 years and 65,000 photo shoots later, the couple is established as LGBTQ rights standard bearers.
The NOH8 campaign is returning to Hartford and West Hartford this month. On Jan. 29 from 2 to 4 p.m., Bouska will be shooting photos at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl St. in Hartford. On Jan. 30 from 6 to 8 p.m., he will be shooting at Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road in West Hartford.
“I am so happy we are doing it in both locations. It sends a stronger unified message if both of our theaters do this hand in hand,” said Tracy Flater, executive director of Playhouse on Park.
In West Hartford, the event is presented by West Hartford Pride and scheduled to coincide with the run of “Indecent,” Paula Vogel’s drama about a groundbreaking LGBTQ play.
“It’s a good fit with the play, which is filled with antisemitism, censorship, violence against women and prejudice about the LGBTQ community,” Flater said.
Any single person or group of people can show up to have their pictures taken. The cost is $40 for one person and $25 per person for a group. Reservations are not necessary. The photography sessions will be first-come, first-served.
Proposition 8 is no longer a factor in the battle for LGBTQ rights. It was later ruled unconstitutional and today, same-sex marriage is legal nationwide. But Parshley said his travels around the country have taught him that the fight against hate always will be timely.
“Sadly, hate is prevalent today. You don’t need to be in the LGBT community to relate to hate,” he said. “Everyone has their own reason for coming to pose. People come out saying I believe in this, I am hated on account of my size, my religion, my gender, what I wear, where I live. This campaign is an outlet for that.”
Joanna Schubert, co-chair of West Hartford Pride, agrees.
“In this atmosphere of growing partisan tensions, certainly there is a lot of hate. You see it in the rise of antisemitism, anti-Asian hate, the rise of violent incidents with firearms like Pulse and Club Q,” Schubert said, referring to two mass shootings at LGBTQ social hubs.
Rob Ruggiero, producing artistic director of TheaterWorks, invoked last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court to emphasize that even in a relatively embracing state like Connecticut, the LGBTQ community can’t become complacent.
“That made the LGBTQ community sit forward. You start to worry, are our rights next? Our marriage rights? Any other really important rights we’ve got?,” Ruggiero said. “In the political arena, it seems like an uncertain time. You want to make sure you stay on top of it.”
Those who want to participate must wear a plain white shirt in the style of the photo project. (Examples: noh8campaign.com/photo-galleries). Each subject must sign a release. Subjects will have a “NOH8″ temporary tattoo put on their face and their mouths will be covered with electrical tape. Cash and credit cards only. Fees cover services and costs for one edited digital print and do not include physical prints. noh8campaign.com/events.
New Delhi: To commemorate the National Girl Child Day and to recognize the voices of young women and girls, the High Commission of Canada, in collaboration with Pro Fit Sports and AIPL Gurugram, today announced a recreational Women’s Run under the theme “She Leads Here, She Leads Now”. The run will be held on March 5 in Gurguram.
As part of the “She Leads Here, She Leads Now” campaign, the High Commission recognized five young women change-makers from Delhi: Dwishojoyee Bannerjee, Anushka Singh, Komal, Raseel Arora, and Sarah Sinhal. They were recognized for doing exceptional work in the fields of gender equality, women’s health, climate action, and the promotion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The event was attended by representatives from corporations, civil society organizations and educational institutions, along with social influencers and community leaders.
Announcing the Women Run, Acting High Commissioner Strohan remarked, ‘‘She Leads Here, She Leads Now’ demonstrates the power and importance of young women and girls and how their meaningful participation can lead to more peaceful and prosperous communities. Canada is delighted to recognize the young women change-makers and their leadership to promote human rights. Today, I encourage you all to continue standing up for girls and women, now and into the future.”
The Run is scheduled for March 5, 2023 – in the lead up to International Women’s Day – in Sector 62, Gurugram. The event will promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and the building a more peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous global community. The Run will feature exciting activities such as a warm-up Zumba session, performances by local youth, information booths from NGOs focussed on women’s and girls’ empowerment, and other fun activities.
Details of Young Girl Change-makers:
DwishojoyeeBannerjee started her initiative ‘The Soft Move’ with the motto of helping young people move away from being ‘Noise-makers’ to being ‘Change-makers’. Dwishojoyee runs a 30-member team – ‘The Paperbag Project’ – that works closely with street vendors, helping them switch from using plastic bags to paper bags. As of May 2022, the team had engaged with over 5000 school students to produce paper bags from newspapers. The initiative helps students understand the ground realities of creating long-term solutions that work for all.
Anushka Singh is a third-year economics honors student at Delhi University. She found refuge in the Girl Up community in 2020. As President of Girl Up Ikhtiyar, she has mobilized and executed multiple projects. These include setting up an exhibition for women refugees from Afghanistan for the 16 Days of Activism campaign, distributing menstrual hygiene kits to over 1000 women, delivering modules on discrimination, ‘good touch bad touch’, and more. Previously, Anushka has been associated with the World Health Organisation as a changemaker, and volunteered with them during the pandemic. She is also a certified Master Trainer in methodologies for building intercultural and socio-emotional competencies by UNESCO and MGIEP.
Komal is 18 and is pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Application. She has been connected with Plan India for the past year as a Peer Group Member and has also taken Peer Educator training on Menstrual Health Management. She started participating in debates, open air ‘nukkad natak’ street plays, and speeches, which built her confidence and courage to speak for herself. Today, she is an active advocate of girls’ rights, working towards enhancing awareness of menstrual health and hygiene and combating the surrounding stigma. With the help of her friends, she came up with the unique idea of an emergency PAD KIT, which is affordable, has essential items, and is easy to carry. Her interest in nature photography inspired her to create a social media page that features nature from her perspective.
Raseel Arora is a 19-year-old climate and gender equality activist from New Delhi. As a Regional Leader, she leads Public Relations & various events at the Girl Up Campaign in India. Within her club, she has conducted workshops around STEM and climate change (on UN Women and WHO platforms) and supported Girl Up clubs across India. She also works globally on community building and universal climate education at ClimateScience.org. Raseel studies Political Science at Lady Shri Ram College.
Sarah Sinhal is a 17-year-old in their final year at the Mother’s International School. Currently, they serve as the Co-President of Girl Up MIS, having previous experience as a PR Manager for the same club. In the past, they served at Girl Up Delhi Coalition as the Social Media Head. Sarah planned and delivered a school-based seminar to create awareness about gender equity and inclusion. They also developed 3 modules to address adolescence, gender identity and sexual orientation. Their other accomplishments include leadership positions in school, such as Captain of the Girl’s Football Team and House Captain. They have also volunteered their time with over five youth-based organizations.
On Sunday (Jan.22) the solar system planets Saturn and Venus will make a close approach to each other in the night sky, separated by no more than the width of a finger.
At the same time, the two planets will share the same right ascension (the celestial equivalent of latitude) in the sky in an arrangement that astronomers call a conjunction. At the time of the close approach, Venus, the second closest planet to the sun, and Saturn, the solar system’s second largest planet, will be in the constellation of Capricorn.
From New York City, the conjunction between Venus and Saturn and the close approach of the planets to each other will become visible in the constellation of Capricorn at around 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 GMT) at around 14 degrees over the horizon to the southwest, according to In the Sky (opens in new tab). Following sunset at around 5:01 p.m. EST (2201 GMT), Venus and Saturn will sink towards the horizon and will set around two hours later at approximately 6:48 p.m. EST (2348 GMT).
Skywatchers not willing or able to brave the cold January evening to see Venus and Saturn can watch the event online for free thanks to the The Virtual Telescope Project. The project’s livestream of the conjunction of Venus and Saturn will begin at 11:00 am EST (1600 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 22)and will be available to watch online for free courtesy of the project’s website (opens in new tab)or YouTube channel (opens in new tab).
Related: See the conjunction of Venus and Saturn in free webcast on Jan. 22
During the conjunction, Venus will have a magnitude of around -3.9, with the minus prefix indicating a particularly bright object, while Saturn will have a magnitude of 0.7. The two planets will be separated by around half a degree, less that the width of the full moon in the sky, according to astronomer Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project (opens in new tab).
During the conjunction, Venus and Saturn will be so close together that the planets will be able to be seen together with a telescope. The conjunction will also be observable with binoculars or with the naked eye, though Saturn may be difficult to resolve due to the brightness of Venus.
The conjunction between Venus and Saturn marks the beginning of an exciting time for skywatchers to observe the former planet, as it marks the beginning of the evening apparition of Venus. This will see the second planet from the sun rise in the evening sky each subsequent evening, reaching its peak in late Spring by which point the planet will have more than doubled in brightness, according to Space.com’s Joe Rao.
As Venus is rising to its peak above the horizon, Saturn is following an almost opposite path reaching lower and lower points over the horizon each subsequent night and disappearing into the twilight as it does so. This will lead up to a solar conjunction between the gas giant and the sun on Feb. 16th, 2023.
If you’re hoping to get a great look at the close approach between Saturn and Venus, our guides for the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to take spectacular photos of the event or the night sky in general, check out our guide on how to photograph the moon, as well as our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note:If you snap the conjunction between Saturn and Venus, and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected].
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