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I'm not sure if this video was ever posted before (I didn't find it on a search), but it's a few years old so worth watching again.
Mauna Kea throughout the day & night, the Milky Way, Saddle Road car lights at night, and the observatories at work:
https://vimeo.com/10116116
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Mahalo, love the Milky Way rising out of the golden pool of Hilo (Yay, I know astronomers are not as keen on the golden pool)
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Thanks, HOTPE, nice! I haven't seen the video before.
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HOTPE,
The end of that video had me baffled for a a few minutes but think I've figured it out. At about the 1 minute mark you see a setting sky with a bright glow in the sky. I knew it wasn't the Milky Way but it looked liked something called the zodiacal light and I'm used to seeing it before dawn rather than after sunset. Then I realized that bright light that set was Venus so was watching the zodiacal light in the west after sunset.
The light is caused by dust particles left over from our own solar system's formation billions of years ago that reflect sunlight to us. It's very faint but you can see it when you're dark adapted on the mountain and can probably see it from Puna on really clear and dark nights just before dawn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light
Thanks again for the video.
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I think I posted the link to this video here before, but apologize if I didn't. This was created by a good friend and colleague, Will Montgomerie, a couple of years ago.
Starlapse: The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.
https://vimeo.com/120759427
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Mahalo so much for these links, HOTPE,Mr. Tom, and Gypsy. Fantastic! [
] This is what reminds me to find balance (in all things...).
gypsy, most interesting. Someone will explain, I'm sure.
Watching these made me think of a classic expression (by the Brothers Cazimero) of our aloha for Mauna Kea:
"The Beauty of Mauna Kea"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3OTJKUosEI
Lovely.
Mahalo ke Akua, e na Aumakua, e na Kupuna.
Enjoy the evening all. [
]
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Opihikao - that "bubble" mystery was solved years ago. It was caused by the third stage of a Minuteman ICBM launched from Vandenburg. It was a planned explosive venting of fuel in space (it's what those rockets do). The rapid expansion is because 1) it was explosive and 2) it was above the atmosphere so there was no resistance to a very rapid expansion of the fuel. The reason it's done explosively is to get rid of the mass very quickly so the motors turn off instantly which allows accurate targeting of the warhead.
Not a subject I'm proud to know about, but there you go.
ETA. I no longer respond directly to gypsy's posts because he is a troll.
