Sad to say, the Winter Star Party is over. However, we had great viewing on our last night, in spite of clear sky reports to the contrary. Because of this year’s cold weather in the Florida Keys, many amateur astronomers had left, giving those of us remaining, the pick of the places to set up our telescopes. Actually, because it was so windy, the most sheltered spots were the best. And, to tell you the truth, many of us spent much of the night visiting with each other knowing that we wouldn’t see each other until next year. I feel happy to be part of this group. And, since I had the digital photos of the Galactic Center that I had came to take, it was easy to relax and reminisce about the week. I will be using the photos in my movie investigating the 2012 phenomenon.
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I am happy to say that I managed to get two wonderful photographs of the Galactic Center a couple of mornings ago, here in the Florida Keys. The weather for this year’s Winter Star Party has not been easy. Many nights, the skies are clouded over. However, on two nights, which also happened to be bitterly cold and windy, we had clear skies right to the horizon! Usually, the night sky over the horizon is hazy because of the surrounding water.
Fantastic! Especially since the Galactic Center rises out of the ocean on the southeast horizon at about 5:00 a.m. Unfortunatley, a sliver of the old moon was rising just behind the Galactic Center. Nevertheless, with my trusty Nikon set to take 30 second exposures, I did get both a horizontal and vertical image that, with Nikon’s Capture NX2 software, I was able to resolve a great photograph of the star constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio surrouding the Galactic Center. Many people believe that the line up of the earth and sun with the Galactic Center herald a new world on December 21, 2012.
We’re on the way to this year’s Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys. It is sponsored by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society. I hope to get better photographs of the Galactic Center for my 2012 movie. However, right now, it doesn’t look good. Lots of cloud cover.
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You are going to love this!
It is another link from my “2012, Edgar Cayce and the Maya” PowerPoint Presentation, as promised to the people in British Columbia who attended my seminar May 28th and June 4th. We were unable to connect to the internet at the event location, so here it is.
This time-lapse video was taken at the 2009 Texas Star Party on the night of April 21st and 22nd by William L. Castleman. The flashing red lights at the bottom right and left of the video are the red flashlights and red equipment lights necessary for maintaining night vision while viewing the stars. If regular white lights were used, a night sky phenomenon as dim as the Milky Way would not be visible to the naked eye.
Time lapse video of night sky as it passes over the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas. The galactic core of Milky Way is brightly displayed. Images taken with 15mm fisheye lens.
Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party on Vimeo
The video may take a little while to get started. At first, the screen will be totally black. Be patient. It’s worth it!
Copyright (c) 2009 Carol Chapman
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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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I sit in the dark with my laptop on my knees. That’s how I’ve been writing all my blog posts since I’ve been at the Winter Star Party if I write the posts at night.
It is nighttime now and dark outside. To guard our night vision, all bright lights have to be squelched. Only red filtered flashlights are allowed.
The inconvenience is worth it because our eyes are adjusted to the darkness well enough that we can see the Milky Way Galaxy, that band of stars that are our home galaxy.
It’s a good feeling to be among my amateur astronomer friends looking at the heavens.
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Tonight is a marvelous visible conjunction of the Moon and Venus.
Here, at the Winter Star Party, we can see, with telescopes, that Venus is a sliver of light similar to an old moon. The moon, on the other hand, is a new moon.
We’re looking at a New Moon and an Old Venus!!!
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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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Tonight, Tuesday, February 24th, at 8:00 PM is free teleseminar night.
Our guest tonight will be Jennifer Borchers from New York City who will tell us about a fascinating system she uses for dream interpretation.
During the telephone seminar, you will have the opportunity to:
For most people, during the last call, it was easy and quick to get on the call. However, some people received a recording saying that “all circuits are busy.” If you receive the recording, just keep dialing again until you are connected. It may take a number of tries. Do NOT give up. I’ve been using this service for a while and occasionally it is difficult to get on the call. Eventually you will get on the call.
At the same time as the call, I will also be connected to my email service. If you’re having trouble getting on the call, send me an email so I can send you an email to assure you that the call is progressing and that we are here waiting for you.
Remember, Edgar Cayce said that dream study is important because everybody can access soul guidance through their dreams. Cayce also said that the dreamer is the best person to interpret their own dreams . . . even better than the best dream interpreter.
If you’re interested in being on the call and do not receive my enewsletter, register for this blog and I’ll put you on the list to receive the telephone number and the passcode.
Talk with you tonight . . .
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We’re on Highway 1 in the Florida Keys where the speed limit is 45 miles per hour. It’s 4:54 PM. We have over 50 miles to go. Registration closes at 6:00 PM. We’d like to get to the Winter Star Party before registration closes for the day. Registration started at 1:00 PM. We wanted to avoid the line up of hundreds of people waiting to get in. However, there’s a good chance we’re not going to make it by 6:00 PM.
Nonetheless, hope springs eternal. We’ve been through the mangrove swamp, crossed a number of bridges over azure water, and passed people fishing. A pelican just flew over our car.
From my point of view, I am happy that we’re going to get there on registration day. In the past, we have occasionally arrived a couple of days late. Of course, those were days when it was raining and, frankly, those years, we postponed arriving because it is not much fun camping out when it’s raining. Much nicer to hole up in a warm, dry motel and wait for the rain to end.
But, today the sun is shining as it slowly sinks toward the horizon. Although there are clouds in the sky, there is also a lot of blue – hope of a good viewing sky tonight. There’s always such a rush to set up and get a glimpse of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter.
Even though there are many gorgeous photographs of these heavenly objects in books, movies, and on the internet, still, it is so special to see them in real time and real life, suspended in space, really and truly, looking so alive and vibrant. It’s always a thrill.
The real issue is not whether we will make it to the Winter Star Party before registration closes or whether we will have our first glimpse of Saturn tonight. We can always register and set up our telescope tomorrow. It’s all about the gate. At 7:00 PM, the gate slams shut. You can’t get in. It’s guarded by a police officer.
Headlights are not allowed once the sky gets dark and it’s simply too dangerous to drive in the campsite without headlights. If we don’t get inside the gate before 7:00, we’ll have to park on the road and haul our bed linens in on our backs.
Definitely, not preferred. It’s not much fun making up a bunk bed by a dim red-colored flashlight.
Everything and everyone uses only red-colored mute lights after dark. Otherwise, night vision would be compromised. The communal bathrooms are lit with red fluorescent lights. Mickey’s onsite grill switches from white to red lights. Many people wear a tiny red light that hangs from a lariat around their neck so other people can see them walking in the dark.
Uh oh! We’ve just hit a line of cars barely moving. What is it? An accident? A flea market? The stop and start traffic has got John sighing. It looked good until this traffic slow down. Will we make it through the gate in time?
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