I’ve been looking up 2012 movies to see how they compare with the one I’m working on. To my surprise, I’ve seen trailers for 2012 movies with what appears to be Tibetan Monks, something about the dead coming alive, a talking head movie of a young guy with such poor audio I can hardly hear what he’s saying who is denouncing the whole thing as a scam to make money, another talking head view of young man speaking at a conference.
Isn’t 2012 about December 21, 2012, the end of the Long Count Calendar of the ancient Maya? It appears as if there are few 2012 movies about the Maya people, ancient and modern, of Mexico. That’s what my 2012 movie is about.
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Do you know that an asteroid passed closer to the earth than the moon on Monday? It was relatively tiny – only 200 feet wide – which probably explains why astronomers did not see it until three days before it whizzed by? It is amazing to me that it passed only twice as high as telecommunication satellites. It makes you wonder if the predictions about 2012 are about a larger asteroid hitting earth.
A small asteroid buzzed by Earth Monday, though only real astronomy geeks in the Pacific would have noticed.
The rock, estimated to be no more than 200 feet wide, zoomed past our planet at an altitude of 40,000 miles at 1:44 p.m. universal time — or 8:44 EST.
Dubbed 2009 DD45, it was discovered only on Friday by Australian astronomers.
Forty thousand miles may sound like a lot, but it’s only about one-seventh of the way to the moon, and less than twice as far out as many telecommunications satellites.
Had 2009 DD45 hit the Earth, it would have exploded on or near the surface with the force of a large nuclear blast — not very reassuring when you consider humanity had only about three days’ notice.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com …
Surprise Asteroid Makes Near-Miss of Earth (Missed by 40,000 miles)
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I’m happy to say that the photographs that resulted from that part of my brain that wakes me up to take photographs are fantastic!
Both images of the Galactic Center sandwiched between Sagittarius and the circular tail of Scorpius with palm trees below and also the constellations – including all of Scorpius – turned out beautifully.
The digital photographs were taken at the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys.
I took the photographs to illustrate the location in the sky of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy because there will be an alignment of the sun and earth with the Giant Black Hole at the Galactic Center on December 21, 2012.
I am very happy. And, I thank that part of my brain that wakes me up to take photographs!
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These were the last two days of the Winter Star Party. Knowing how pragmatic my amateur astronomer friends are, I decided to wait until the last two days to interview people about 2012. That way, they would have had time to get to know me during the first part of the week and be comfortable with me. I surmised that if I started the week with questions about 2012, the end of the world, spiritual awakening, and a projected alignment of the earth and sun with the galactic center,they would have considered me to be pretty weird.
I was right. Even with my careful planning, I received numerous good natured reassessments of my character. They now know who I am. Nonetheless, a number of friends agreed to be interviewed on camera and have allowed me to include them in my 2012 movie.
After a number of hours of star gazing – it was a beautiful clear sky full of glowing nebulae, galaxies, and globular clusters – I went to bed content and satisfied that I had accomplished all that I had meant to do at the Winter Star Party.
As I drifted off to sleep, I instructed that part of my brain that wakes me up to take photographs that I already had two adequate images of Sagittarius and Scorpius with the Galactic Center sandwiched between them. And, I preferred that I NOT, I repeat NOT, want to be awakened at 5 AM (when these two constellations are enough above the horizon for picture taking) UNLESS, and I repeat UNLESS, the sky was absolutely perfect, and I mean PERFECT, which meant absolutely NO haze at the horizon where these two constellations sit this time of year.
Since a bank of clouds had begun to obscure the stars at around 11 PM because of a cold front descending into the Florida keys from the north, I felt pretty secure that I would be able to get a full night’s sleep for the first time since the beginning of the Winter Star Party. Days of clear skies have led to a serious lack of sleep.
However, you can imagine my consternation when my eyes popped open at 5 AM on the button! I argued with that part of me that wakes me up to take photographs that this was likely a mistake and the sky couldn’t possibly be that good. I listened for muted voices around the telescopes. If I can hear people talking outside my cabin, I know the sky is good enough that they are awake viewing. I heard nothing!
Content, I drifted off to sleep until I woke up abruptly at 5:27 AM. Still no voices! But, I could not drift back to sleep. So, just to prove to myself that there was no reason to wake up and take photographs, I felt around for my red flashlight, turned it on, located my socks and shoes, put them on, and stumbled out into the darkness.
Immediately, I saw a moving dark form – one of my friends. By the way the man moved, I surmised it to be Dan, the fellow who taught me where to find the Galactic Center.
“Is that you, Carol?” he asked in a hushed tone so as not to wake up our friends sleeping in cabins and tents around us.
“Hi Dan,” I said.
“Thank God you’re up,” he said, “Sagittarius and Scorpius are fantastic – the best they’ve been this week! No haze at the horizon either! They’re already over the treetops!”
I grabbed my gear, attached my camera to its tripod using the red light from my flashlight, and took 60 second exposures of one of the most magnificent areas of the sky – the warm glow that marks the magnificent Giant Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way.
I kept holding the shutter down until the rising sun lit the sky so bright that I could no longer see the stars.
How does that part of me that wakes me up to take photographs know these things!!!!
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After my great success making a digital photograph of the galactic center yesterday morning, I awoke this morning at 2:30 AM full of enthusiasm for making a videotape of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The galactic center is the place with which the earth will be lined up on the winter solstice, December 21, 2012. Many people believe this momentous event will herald great changes on earth.
Therefore, I wanted to photograph the galactic center which happens to be in the constellation of Sagittarius close to Scorpio. And I did.
However, when I woke up this morning and tried to take a videotape of the center of the Milky Way, I was not successful at all. As one of my amateur astronomer friends explained to me today, since the video camera shutter operates at 1/30th of a second, it is simply too fast to capture the night sky.
Yesterday, I had called my camera manufacturer and asked one of their technicians how to set the camcorder so it would videotape star constellations. The technician said it could NOT be done. I had to try anyway. I set the camcorder on “night” and gave it a try. As I said, it did not work. Now I know.
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I am so happy because last night – actually between 4 and 5 AM – I finally got a photograph of the galactic center. It is so cool!!!
You can see Sagittarius and the tail of Scorpio right beside it. And, there, glowing quietly, the galactic center.
The problem has been clouds and haze. I’ve woken up four mornings, crept around in the dark to the “berm” where you can see the whole sky . . . and have only seen haze covering the stars.
This morning, the big problem, even though the stars were visible to the horizon, was wind. I feared that with such long exposures – over 30 seconds – I would only get blurry light spots. However, I held tightly to my tripod so it would not quiver in the gusts. The result? I have at least one photograph that beautifully shows the constellations and the center of the Milky Way!
Yay!
On December 21, 2012, the earth and sun will line up with the galactic center. Some think this will create momentous events on earth. We shall see!
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My brother has called my husband Mr. Gadget. I can see why. During this trip to the 25th Annual Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys, I am, for the first time, writing on my laptop and, at the same time, connected to the internet.
I’m using a broadband cellular modem. It is mine so I guess I’m a bit of a Mrs. Gadget.
However, here’s the part about Mr. Gadget. It wasn’t enough for John to use the laptop on battery. He needed to charge its battery as we went along with this gadget he bought at a Roger Wilco truck stop service center. It’s called (and I quote) “It’s a 200 watt power inverter that takes 12 volts DC from the car’s electrical system through the cigarette lighter and provides 120 volts 60 HZ AC. So, it’s like being plugged in! And, it runs cool as a cucumber. It’s got a fan in it. The inverter sits in the drink holder so it remains in a fixed position when you have lateral G forces induced by cornering and longitudinal G forces from braking or acceleration.”
John wanted me to use the laptop while we drove along as an experiment to see if we would have any interruption in internet service as we cruised past cell phone towers. I am happy to report that we seem to be having NO trouble seamlessly receiving signals from one cell phone tower after another as we go barreling down Florida’s I95 toward the Florida Keys.
As I said yesterday, we’re taking our yearly 1000 plus mile trek to the Keys to attend the 25th annual Winter Star Party hosted by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society. I hope to interview people specifically on the Milky Way’s galactic center and its association, if any, with the last day of the Mayan Long Count Calendar on December 21, 2012.
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We’re on the road again on a quest for greater understanding of what to expect in 2012.
This time, we’re going to the 25th annual Winter Star Party hosted by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society where we hope to learn more about the earth and sun’s alignment with the galactic center on the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012.
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