Full Moon Walk in Washington Park

If you are on Bonaire, don't miss the Full Moon walk in Washington Park on Friday, October 18.  Be at the park entrance, ready to go at 6pm.  Admission is free.
They suggest bringing a flashlight, sturdy shoes, and any snacks or drink that you might need.
Sandra and I went on a full moon walk in the Park back in 2009 and enjoyed it immensely.  Here are a few pictures from that event.

World Champion Windsurfer

Last week, in Germany, Bonaire's Kiri Thode was crowned Windsurfing World Champion in the Freestyle discipline.  Bonaire's Tonky Frans finished third and Taty Frans was sixth.
The guys returned to Bonaire last night to a hero's welcome.  There were so many people at the airport that the whole road from Bel Nem, past the airport to the Stadium, was packed bumper to bumper with cars.
Here is a link, I hope, to a facebook video documenting some of the excitement at the airport last night.
An award winning video documentary titled "Children of the Wind" chronicles the story of these guys.  Sandra has it on BluRay and she's bringing back home with her in a week or two.  My parents watched it already and really liked it, so I think I can heartily recommend it here.
Pa Bien guys!

3 Planets

Saturn and Venus were pretty close together in the evening sky earlier this week.  And Mercury got close to the star Spica.  I went out shortly after sunset on Tuesday and was able to spot the three planets, but not Spica.  By the time is was dark enough, Spica and Mercury had descended into a haze layer.  Binoculars would have made it easier, and they showed up in the photos I took.

This first shot is a wide angle view.  Saturn and Venus are pretty easy to spot.  Especially since I've labeled them, ha ha.  If you look at the full size version, you can also see Mercury if you know exactly where to look.  To help you know where to look, I've included a second cropped photo which zooms in on Spica and Mercury.  Once you figure out exactly where they are, then maybe you can go back to the first shot and find Mercury, and maybe Spica.


Here is the zoomed in crop of the above picture.  Spica and Mercury are to the left of the palm tree, about half way up from the bottom of the frame.  Mercury is brighter than Spica.  I actually enhanced Spica a little to make it easier to spot.  It was dimmer than this actually.

Update from Our Listeners

The work involved in operating and maintaining the station here on Bonaire is never ending.  For a glimpse into why we persevere, check out the following paragraphs from a report we received this summer from Alberto Gonzales, our TWR partner in Cuba. 

"I went to preach at an event for Christian disabled workers in the city of C******.  There were pastors, missionaries or home church leaders, some of them blind and with other physical problems, but anyway serving the Lord with joy. When I was presented to the people, quickly many identified themselves as listeners of TWR.  There was Luis R., a blind man with his wife.  (pictured left and center, with Alberto-right)   I hugged this blind brother and his wife who was crying besides him. It was a very touching moment and all the people were excited and clapping.  He knew complete passages of my books that his wife had read to him and the topics of the programs of TWR.

But the biggest surprise was still ahead…  I****, a Roman Catholic catechist, whom I had seen the previous day imparting a biblical study in another room of the building, got up and said:  "Pastor, when I saw you yesterday night while you passed by and I was teaching, I hadn’t any idea who you were.  If so, I would have invited you to enter to my class because yesterday I was teaching to my Bible Study group your book "Living the Gospel".  Since we have been studying your book we have become your listeners and TWR programs every night..!  Our knowledge of the Christian faith has improved and changed completely from then on. Can you send us more material to use in our class?" 

I was not prepared to hear something like that..!  The impact of TWR in Cuba is a lot more than we imagine.  So, I gave to the group the audio CDs of the four books of the serial "Living..." and a DVD with more than 600 programs of “Messages of Faith and Hope.”   Without a doubt, the Holy Spirit is moving in a very special way in Cuba and He is using TWR Bonaire to reach all the corners of the Island, winning people for Christ and encouraging the believers to a better knowledge of the Word of God.  In our office, we continue receiving an average of 200 letters each month from listeners and people requesting biblical materials.  Many of them are new believers.”

 

It is great to hear from our listening audience.  People usually correspond with our regional offices, rather than directly to us on Bonaire.  But I’ll take second-hand reports, like the one above, any day!  And now you are hearing it third hand.  J   I hope you are encouraged by what the Lord is doing through the broadcasts as well.

 

 

Moon and Venus

The Moon and Venus made a beautiful pair in the evening sky tonight.  The star Spica was to their lower right and the planet Saturn to their upper left.

The Moon actually appeared to go in front of Venus as seen from locations South of us.

This picture shows the Moon, Venus and Spica.  Saturn is out of the shot to the upper left.

More Bonaire Panoramas

I've mentioned the Bonaire panoramas Web site before.  Bill Heatley just sent me a link to a brand new one they shot at the top of Brandaris, the highest point on Bonaire.  We've had some really clear days (and nights) lately, in between the thunder storms.  I had been wishing I could get to the park to climb Brandaris, but now I don't have to!
Check it out.

New Swanson page on TWR.ORG

We now have our own page on the TWR Web site.  There is not much there except our quarterly news letters from 2012 and 2013, in PDF form.
Over the years, stuff generally shows up on this blog before it appears in the newsletter.  But during the last year or so, since I haven't been blogging that much, you'll probably find TWR ministry related stuff in the newsletters that never appeared here.
So check it out if you get a chance.

Milky Way Time Lapse Video

On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I shot pictures of the Milky Way passing behind the TWR antenna towers.  I made the Tue. night exposures at ISO 3200 and the Wed. ones at ISO 1600.  I like the Wed. results better, so here is a 28 second video made up images shot between 8pm and 2am on August 7.  Each image was exposed for 34 seconds and there was a four second pause between shots.



The original video is at 1080p resolution, so if you have a HD screen and a fast Internet connection, be sure to click on the size buttons on the bottom right part of the frame so you can see the higher quality versions.

Perseid Preview

Tuesday and Wednesday nights were pretty clear here on Bonaire.  So I was out late taking pictures.  The Perseid meteor shower peaks this coming weekend, but I've seen a few nice ones already.

One bright Perseid was low and slow and went right behind the TWR antenna towers.  It even showed up in this image.  But seeing it live was better!

Kibrahacha Trees again

We had some very heavy rains this past Saturday.

A few Kibrahacha trees seem to have appreciated it and have burst into bloom.

Here is the view looking east from the TWR offices.

Mountain Bike Fun Race

Frank Bohm, from the Freewieler bike shop, has been organizing a number of bike races this year.  He has been able to line up different sponsors for the different races.  A big thank you goes to the folks at FLOW for sponsoring this month's race.  And thank you, Frank, for the pictures.




I was able to participate this past weekend and had a great time, except for the three occasions that my wheels got totally locked by mud that got jammed between the tires and the frame.  Mud is not usually a problem here on Bonaire.  :)




There were 34 riders in total, which is awesome for a Bonaire bike race.  24 of the riders did one lap around the 17km course, and 13 of us did two laps.  You can't tell from the pictures, but there were quite a few female riders in the group.

Most of the course was on dirt roads or double track, with a couple short technical climbs thrown in as well.  The first half mile or so was on the paved Lagoon Road.  That is the scenic Bonaire landfill in the background of this last shot.

Super clear Skies

We had some heavy rains Saturday and a little bit Sunday morning.  The skies were crystal clear on Sunday and on into Sunday night.  Sandra's cousin, Bud Gillan, saw a great green flash at sunset time.
I set up an equatorial mount and camera in our back yard and shot a bunch of images of the area around zeta Ophiuchus.  There is a monstrously huge, but faint H-II emission region there. 
While those automated five minute long exposures through a h-alpha filter were happening, Bud and I drove out to the south end of the island to see the Milky Way.  It was truly awesome, as good as it gets here on Bonaire.
Here are a couple shots of the Milky Way stars with the lighthouse in the foreground.  It is the same one minute long exposure, one version has been sharpened more than the other.  You can click on them to see them bigger.  That yellow glow on the horizon is Venezuela.  You can use Google Earth to identify the cities, some 70mi. away.  The streak in the lower left corner, that looks like a meteor, is actually an airplane.  We did see some great meteors last night, but I don't know that I caught any of them in a picture.

Milky Way and Lighthouse

A bunch of us were out looking at the Milky Way with my 20x80 binoculars the other night, and a friendly guy came by and took some pix of the stars behind the Willemstoren lighthouse.  This was something I'd been meaning to do for years, but never got around to it.  But now I was inspired and we went back the next night and had a go at it. 
Here are two versions of the same shot, one or the other might look better to you depending on how bright your screen is.

Short Milky Way Time Lapse Video

I've assembled some 250 or so images of the Milky Way, from Tuesday evening, into a short time lapse video clip.  You can see the clouds and cars zoom by, and you can see the stars slowly move from east to west.
Here is one frame from the video.  Note the bright meteor to the right of the towers.  And you can see the "coat hanger" asterism at the top edge of the image, near the left side.  You'll need to see the picture full size to spot the coat hanger.  (which is rotated clockwise from vertical by about 120 degrees).

Here is the video clip.  If you have a fast internet connection and/or a HD screen, you can view this on YouTube at 1080p resolution.  I watched it at 720p and it looked pretty good compared to the very downsized version I have here.

Summer Milky Way at the TX Site

Back in October I took a couple pictures of the Milky Way setting behind the TWR antenna towers and made them into posters at Short Run Posters.  I particularly like their 18x24 inch UV coated posters at $5 a pop.  I've got a number of Bonaire scenes hanging on the walls of my office.

I've been hoping for a clear night or two this summer, while the Milky Way is positioned high in the southeast.  Tuesday night was relatively cloud free, but somewhat hazy.  I shot a ton of pictures which I hope to assemble into a short time lapse video clip.  I also combined some of the shots into an image that shows the motion of the stars across the sky over time.  You can see the stars near the south (right side) starting to curve around the south pole, which is below the horizon.  And you can just tell that the stars towards the north are starting to arc around the north pole.  The bright fuzzy patches right in the middle of the frame are the milky way star clouds.  The yellowish streaks towards the lower left are Bonaire clouds.

On Wednesday evening, the skies were wonderfully transparent, but there were quite a few clouds passing by.  I patiently waited for a few hours for a break in the clouds, and got a few shots that I think will be keepers.  Here is a first look at one of them.

3 Planets - Tue, Wed, Thur

This is a follow up to my recent post with pictures of Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury's close encounter in the evening sky.

If you look back to the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday pictures,  you'll see that Jupiter was to Venus's upper left, but was getting lower in the sky relative to Venus each succeeding evening.  Mercury was on the right side of Venus and was moving higher in the sky every evening.  Mercury was also losing brightness, but I don't know if you can see that in the pictures.

Well, this trend continued on into Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  In these three pictures, Jupiter continues to drop lower and Mercury continues to rise.  The pictures here are un-cropped frames made with the same camera and 85mm lens that I used on Sat, Sun, and Mon.  You'll probably need to click on these pictures to see the larger versions, in order to spot the planets near the middle of each shot.

Jupiter has moved to the lower left of Venus by the Tuesday image below.

Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury form a crooked line from lower left to upper right by Wednesday, as seen below.

The line made by Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury is straighter and more vertical by Thursday evening, as seen below.  Jupiter had almost dropped into the haze by the time is was dark enough to get a good picture.

Busy Weekend on the Water

The wonderful waters around Bonaire are going to be a busy place this weekend, from the tippy top of the wave crests all the way down to the deep dark depths.

The 9th annual Prokids Windsurfing event will have sailors zooming around on the water's surface.  Its pretty windy these days, so it could be good....

And a research submarine will be conducting surveys at those all so mysterious 60 to 300 meter depths.  They'll dive at the town pier, the WEB pier and the Cargil pier this time around.  Wonder if they'll find any hand blown bottles downtown, that we missed back in the day.  You know, if I were going to take a submarine ride, I'd pick Karpata and Slac Bai.  Those reefs seem to keep on going down forever.

Waiting for the Planetary Parade

I set up early at my shooting locations, and was treated to some nice sunset colors on Saturday and Sunday.  Here we see the Aquaspace glass bottomed sailboat heading back to town .
Venus is a little to the upper left of the dark U shaped cloud.  Jupiter is to Venus upper left right at the top edge of the frame.






Here is what the sky was doing while I was waiting for the planets to appear Sunday evening.  I can see Venus and Jupiter in this image, but you might not be able to spot them in this downsized for the Web version.

3 Planets Sat Sun and Mon

We went out and saw Venus, Mercury and Jupiter on Friday evening.  I've taken pictures on Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings.  You can easily see the planets moving with respect to each other from night to night.  I also was interested to see that the orientation of the planets with respect to the horizon appeared a little different than the simulation from Sky and Telescope, which was set up to show the skies much farther north and west compared to Bonaire.
These images are all full frame, (un-cropped) so the positioning of the planets from evening to evening can be directly observed.
The first image is from Playa Lechi, across the street from the TWR office.  The second shot is from the south end of the Plaza Resort, and the third shot is from a TWR house across the street from the Divi Flamingo hotel.


Here is what the planets looked like on Saturday evening.  Venus is at the bottom, Jupiter is well to Venus' upper left and Mercury is to Venus' upper right.  the planets are a little to the right of the middle of the shot, and in the blue sky just above the band of grey clouds.  The planets form an isosceles triangle pointing to the upper left.  You'll probably need to click on the image here to see a bigger version.






Here is what the planets looked like on Sunday night.  They were closest together on the 26th.  I shot this somewhat later than the Saturday image, so the planets are lower in the sky and the sky is darker.  The planets were getting into the haze at this point  This planetary equilateral triangle was quite striking to the naked eye, if one happened to look to the west at the right time of the evening.  It is still Venus on the bottom, with Jupiter to the upper left and Mercury to the upper right.  The star to the right of Mercury is Beta Taurus and the star to the upper left of Jupiter is probably Zeta Taurus.



Here is what we saw from our front yard on Monday evening.  We've been living in Playa Pariba for a few months while our Hato house is undergoing renovations.  Venus is still at the bottom, with Jupiter to the upper left and Mercury well to Venus' upper right.  The planets are in the large blue gap between the trees in the middle of the frame.  They form an isosceles triangle pointing to the upper right.

New Annotated Aerial Images of Bonaire

A big thank you to Susan Davis at The Bonaire Insider for alerting me to a new feature on the InfoBonaire web site.

There are 15 new aerial photos of Bonaire with click-able labels identifying many tourism related points of interest.  I don't think that the online version of these areal photos shows any more detail than what one can see in the latest Google Earth images of Bonaire, BUT these new images are not taken from directly overhead, like the Google Earth ones.  And they shot the pictures at the right time of the day so that the sun is in a favorable locaton.

That all makes it easy to orient oneself and identify roads and buildings on these new images.  I enjoyed looking at them.