Saturday, November 30, 2013

Venus Setting

I was out to see if I could get a picture of the Small Magellanic Cloud.  I did, but you really have to know where it is to be able to spot it.  It is really really near the horizon as viewed from Bonaire.  So I'll not post it for now.

I snapped a few shots of Venus setting in the West too.
Directly to the left of Venus, about half way between Venus and the edge of the frame, you can (barely)see the globular cluster M55.  You'll need to look at the full size image to spot M55.
The lights on the horizon are two tankers waiting to dock at Bopec.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Bonaire Sky Park

I saw comet Lovejoy this morning at about 5:30am.  A big cloud bank swarmed up from the horizon while I was grabbing my camera to try to get a picture, so no photos.  Comet Lovejoy is easy to spot with binoculars.  Just follow the arc of the Big Dipper's handle for a short distance.  I'm wondering if I can get M51 and the comet in the same shot.  That would be cool.

Over to the South-East, the clouds were much thicker and I was not able to see Saturn and Mercury's very close pairing.  Comet Ison is even lower in the sky than the planets, so I'll have to wait until early next week when it comes back from its trip around the Sun. (assuming it survives)  I did see Comet Ison last week though.

It has been pretty rainy and cloudy here, but sometimes in between the clouds, the sky has been gloriously clear.

Friday, November 01, 2013

Rainy Season

October has been breezier than usual, so we haven't done quite as much sweating and sweltering as is sometimes the case.  It hasn't been too rainy either.  Lots of sunrise showers, but pretty dry most of the time.
According to our friend, Donna, our Republic /  Hato area had about 1.8 inches of rain during the day yesterday, and 2.7 more inches overnight.
 


But we've had loads of rain the last couple days.  I've got some plastic pans in the attic under a few leaks we've discovered in our new roof.  :)

Here is a shot from right in front of our house this morning.

And the view on the way to the office.