'The sky is that beautiful old parchment wherein the sun and the moon keep their diaries'.
Alfred Kreymbora

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Skywatch Friday

October 8th, 2010

A Cameo of the daytime October Skies we are blessed with here in the Similkameen


In the early morning before the stars fade and the light of
dawn runs faintly across the mountain tops
Caspar and I make a quick relief trip.

For the last week we have been rewarded with great brilliance in the Heavens.

The Milky Way crosses the sky in a great arch, and in the south we see enormous star and dust clouds as we look in the direction of the Milky Way's core.

Our local astronomer, Ken Tapping from the White Lake Observatory tells us that when we look at those great star clouds, especially if we are using binoculars, we get the impression we are penetrating deep into our galaxy, although we are actually not seeing that far at all.

The stars in our night skies are all close neighbours, (comparatively).  all within a few
thousand light years.

The stardust making up the stream of the Milky Way is further away, but still relatively close.
When we look in the direction of the core of our glaxy we are seeing only a little bit of the way in.  Our vision is blocked by great clouds of gas, dust and stars.

I haven't the knowledge or equipment to take a photo of
this beautiful sight, but here is the way
docteurseb.com  depicts it.



and perhaps this is the way Vincent Van Gogh marveled at it...


The latest news on the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds that
trail along with it can be found here, at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100929123639.htm

Very interesting.....and the gorgeous sky is certainly worth getting up for!

For more sky photos from around the world visit 
Skywatch Friday, here.

9 comments:

  1. Love that blue blue sky

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  2. The sky is a beautiful blue and the leaves are brilliant.

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  3. Such superb captures! Love the blue, blue sky and the brilliant leaves! I also love the starry, starry sky and Van Gogh! Have a wonderful weekend!

    Sylvia

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  4. What a fantastic post! The nigth shot is marvellous.
    Greetings:)

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  5. The leaves against the sky are wonderful.

    Kay, Alberta

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  6. That is one remarkable photo of the sky and milky way as is your expansive header photo. Stunning!

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  7. great post
    love the view of the changing leaves and thanks for sharing the photo of the milkway too, that is impressive

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  8. Both photos are excellent! When the letters U and V are having their turns I am going to post entries about Vincent(van Gogh) and the universe.

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  9. Beautiful autumn foliage against the blue sky and a wonderful post.

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