Some nice clouds yesterday

[Grampa Don]

Since I took up amateur astronomy, I've noticed clouds more. Clouds, along with light pollution are an astronomer's bane. The sky can be perfectly clear all day and even at sunset. You set up your scope and accessories for an evening of observing, and bang, here come the clouds. There is a joke among sky gazers that buying new equipment guarantees days of cloudiness.

So, I started watching them. We have a lot of hazy days here in the L.A. basin with generally thin overcast. Nothing worth looking at. But, after a storm blows through, the sky can be spectacular. Yesterday was like that, so I took a picture from my driveway.

Don

 

[hollydolly]

yes our skies are like that most days Don....

 

[SeaBreeze]

Beautiful photo Don, I never tire of watching the skies and interesting clouds. :cool2:

 

[hollydolly]

Here you are some similar from our place...

 

[Grampa Don]

I have to admit, the view from your place is much prettier than the view from mine. I bet you have some dark nights too. Can you see the milky way?

Don

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

Very nice photos. I love cloud formations as a child I would lay in the grass and try and find images in the clouds.

 

[hollydolly]

I have to admit, the view from your place is much prettier than the view from mine. I bet you have some dark nights too. Can you see the milky way?

Don

yes indeed we can very often see the milky way on a clear night..

 

[Lara]

Beautiful sky, Grampa Don. It's interesting to see how similar yours is Holly.

 

[hollydolly]

We have lots of cloud formation here...especially during autumn and winter...



here's a nice shot I took at our local nature reserve just as the sun was setting after a cloudy day...

 

[Grampa Don]

Hollydolly -- You are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place. I wish I had a darker sky. Here is an image I downloaded of the L.A. basin a while back. It's from the Mt. Wilson observatory web cam. I'm out there in the distance somewhere.

Don

 

[RadishRose]

Breathtaking!

 

[hollydolly]

Hollydolly -- You are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful place. I wish I had a darker sky. Here is an image I downloaded of the L.A. basin a while back. It's from the Mt. Wilson observatory web cam. I'm out there in the distance somewhere.

Don

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WoW!!! That's stunning...I bet you wish you'd been able to take that photo yourself Don...

 

[Grampa Don]

Notice how the light reflects off the layer of haze. My sky never gets dark. On a good night maybe a dozen stars are visible with my naked eyes. Luckily, magnification with a telescope brings out many more, and there are still a lot of pretty things I can see. The planets and the moon are not affected at all.

Don

 

[hollydolly]

Notice how the light reflects off the layer of haze. My sky never gets dark. On a good night maybe a dozen stars are visible with my naked eyes. Luckily, magnification with a telescope brings out many more, and there are still a lot of pretty things I can see. The planets and the moon are not affected at all.

Don

You should come and visit my daughters' home on the top of a mountain in Southern Spain....she lives miles off the main road... there are no lights of any kid leading up the cliff road to her house...no light pollution whatsoever...so on any night at all you can see more stars with the naked eye than you could ever dream of seeing.... it's spectacular....

Unfortunately my camera is no good at taking night pictures otherwise I would have taken plenty...



here's another typical cloud formation from over my house...

 

[Grampa Don]

Hollydolly -- I would love to see that sky. Actually, there are some pretty dark areas in our local deserts. But, I don't travel much anymore, so I'll have to settle for what I have. Lovely photo.

Don

 

[Grampa Don]

Here is a shot I took yesterday as the sun was going down. I took it with my little 4 megapixel Canon A520 camera that I got on Ebay for $12 including shipping. It was cheap because the shutter over the lens was sticky. But, I was able to fix it, and it works great.



Don