In the early hours of August 16, 2020 an unusual weather phenomena took place in the Bay Area of Northern California. A dry thunder storm moved through and over the next day and a half more that 12,000 lightning strikes sparked over 615 separate fires in the state. One would never have thought such a violent storm was on its way given the calm quite serenity that came just prior to sunset.
The Clam Before The Storm
The following day 5 spot fires along the peninsula were actively burning and within one day those five spot fires became one big fire burning north into San Mateo county as well as south in to Santa Cruz county called the CZULightningComplex Fire. It was burning in wild lands that I had spent much time in.
From when I first arrived in the Bay Area back in 1990, I found myself wandering the Santa Cruz Mountains in both of those counties amid the old growth redwoods, sloshing around in the many creeks, and sitting atop the many ridge lines just soaking in the view, the serenity, and the sublimity of what the these mountains are. I always dreamed how nice it would be to live deep in these mountains, never really thinking that such a dream would be a reality. Fast forward 25 years I find myself living with my wife and children in a home we purchased literally among the redwoods. Truly a dream come true.
However, following that dry lightning storm on August 16th, the fires that broke out became very serious. Tuesday night on August 18th, the smell of smoke was very thick and safety alerts were popping up on my phone indicating that a fire was very close to home. With the help of my son, we roamed the neighborhood searching for any fire and met up with many mountain neighbors doing the same. No fire was ever found in our immediate area. By August 19th, just three days later, as seen from a ridge near my home, and possibly 10 to 13 miles away, the mountains that I so loved and grew with, were seriously on fire.
Fire deep in the woods
By the late afternoon the smoke from that fire had again reached the skies over our house and the smell of smoke was strong as it settled into the canyons in our area. Reports were coming in that communities to the west of us were receiving evacuation warnings as the fire had grown to 25,000 acres in 2 days! Evacuations were spoken of and we decided that we should start packing our cars with necessary items if we needed to bug out.
In Thick Smoke
By 6 am on Thursday morning August 19th, our area CRZ-E019 was put on an evacuation warning and the areas just west of us, parts of Zayante Canyon were put on immediate and mandatory evacuation orders. The fire had grown to about 40,000 acres and seemed to be growing out of control with only 591 fire fighters trying to stop it! By 6 pm we had pretty much packed what we needed and had taken our 13 hens to a friend’s house who offered to watch them for us earlier that morning, we had decided to button up our home and we left. We drove back down to Campbell, where we lived for 13 years and where family had offered to us accommodations to hold up in until the evacuation orders were lifted. While we were unloading our things, the mandatory evacuation order for our zone had come through at 7 pm. We were now in the endgame and all we could do was wait and monitor the fire growth.
By Saturday, August 22nd, news was starting to surface that Big Basin State Park was no longer in existence. The historic park facilities were burned to the ground. Some photos had made it on to social media and it was then that I realized, many of the canyons and places that I spent so much time in might all have been decimated by this fire. My thoughts about Big Basin burning greatly saddened me and I started wondering about some of the trees in the park. One in particular is over 2000 years old and was affectionately known as the Father of the Forest. A tree whose trunk at its base measures in at 70 feet in circumference and some 22 feet across. Looking up it stretched to 250 feet above the forest floor. No single photograph could capture its massive size. I wondered if the Father of the Forest was still standing
The Father of the Forest
I started wondering about the other places in the Santa Cruz mountains that I had visited and photographed for more than 25 years and had come to the realization that most of those areas are now gone as well. Even though I did pack my computers containing all the photographs of Organic Light Photography, I did not have the means to set them up properly so I went through my website and grabbed a collection of photographs that I have made wandering about Big Basin Redwoods and the surrounding sister lands and created the following video in memorium of Big Basin, a park that has been altered permanently.
In Memorium
After creating this homage to an area of the Santa Cruz mountains that is very dear to me, I have decided that I will be extending my support to Big Basin State Park and the other parks and public spaces surrounding Big Basin through the sale of the photos shown in the video. I will make a sizable donation from each sale to the restoration efforts that will surely follow the extinguishing of the fire. Since I am only an individual photographer and not a recognized organization, I will be reaching out to California State Parks as well as the Sempervirens Fund to find out how I can work with them to offer these photographs as a means to help raising the funds towards restoration. As soon as the details are worked out I will inform you all.
In the time being, I wait to see if I will have a home to return to. I know the firefighters are doing their best to extinguish this fire, and my hopes and prayers are with them to get the job done. I encourage everyone to put your support behind them as they contend with the 615 fires now actively burning in the California.
On March 27, 2020, a new comet was discovered. It was the third comet discovered in the year 2020, however the first two comets, SWAIN and ATLAS, disintegrated as they approached the sun. As this third comet approached, hopes were that this comet just might make its transit around the sun intact, and sure enough it did.
On July 5th the comet, now designated as C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, reached perihelion, the closest point to the sun along its path and given the dynamics of how comets become visible, reached its peak brightness, a brightness level high enough that the comet became a naked eye object. From that point on the comet will be moving away from the sun, losing brightness, and on or near July 13th, it will make its closest pass by Earth.
C/2020 F3 NEOWISE at first sighting 4:40am, July 10, 2020.
On July 10, in the predawn hours I ventured out in the hopes of seeing and photographing C/2020 F3 NEOWISE. As I stood out there in the dark scanning the horizon and checking my notes on where the comet was supposed to appear and then scanning the horizon again I started to wonder if I would see it at all. Suddenly I look up and see the comet’s tail has appeared above the horizon and slowly grew in intensity and breadth. It was awe inspiring seeing something made of ice glowing in the night sky.
As a frozen chunk of matter approaches the sun, the ice start to sublimate into a gas and the radiation and heat from the sun causes the gas to start glowing. A comet’s journey begins from as far off as the Kuiper Belt or even further from the Oort Cloud, the physical limit of where the gravity from the sun ceases to be effective in holding anything in orbit. The journey is fraught with peril as along the traverse through space a comet could end up hitting a planet, or possibly an asteroid and never make it even close enough to start glowing. If it makes it close enough to the sun to start the sublimation process, now it must survive the force of gravity as it accelerates the comet to even greater speeds. This is a crucial time for a comet as it could start breaking up into smaller pieces and just vanish, or it could get pulled directly into the sun and vanish into the all-consuming ball of plasma that is the sun.
I’ve had the good fortune of seeing comets in the night sky before. I witnessed Haley’s Comet the last time it appeared in 1986, as well as Comet Hale-Bopp in 1995 and the Comet Hyakutake in 1996. I even tried to photograph Hyakutake, with little success, as I was only a fledgling photographer then. All three of which I will probably never seen again in my lifetime. So when I learned about comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, I thought I had better make an attempt to capture it. I think what struck me first was how odd its name was given all the other comets I had seen had names associated with either the astronomer(s) who first witnessed it, predicted its arrival or studied its orbit. I think the most intriguing part of the name is NEOWISE, I thought what could it mean? Well, today the modern naming convention is based on what observing telescope was used to first observe the comet. Therefore comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE was first discovered using the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The first letter of each word in this instrument’s name makes up the acronym NEOWISE. The F3 indicates that it was first seen in the second half of the month of March. Each month of the year is broken down into two halves. The letters A-H and J-Y are then distributed among the months. The month of March has the letters E and F, E for the first half of the month and F for the second half. Next is the ‘3’ in F3. This number indicates the that he comet in question was the 3rd comet discovered in the given year. Next, the year is part of the designation, in this case 2020 since this comet was first seen this year. Finally the C designates that this near earth object is a comet.
C/2020 F3 NEOWISE at 4:52 am on July 10, 2020
This comet will probably never be seen from Earth ever again. It is an ancient traveler from deep space. Its approach orbit was on the order of 4500 years and its outbound orbit on the order of 6800 years in an almost perfect parabolic path. It is definitely an old soul. Old souls usually have much to share with those who are younger if they are willing to listen. When I was young, I used to go to a retirement home to help out. I was always transfixed when I would sit with certain people as they told their stories. There was so much to learn, so much life to understand, so many different perspectives. The wisdom of the of the elders is priceless, it can’t be bought, it can’t be stolen, it can only be earned by painstaking patience through life and as each day passes we could only hope that more wisdom is accumulated. However there is one way in which we can attain that wisdom quickly; we can humbly sit at the feet of our elders and listen to what they have say, what life lessons they have learned along their journey, what advice they can give us. Times may changes but people do not. The problems we deal with now are the same perennial problems humanity has faced for its entire existence. In truth, we would have perished as a species on this planet long ago if we did not listen and learn from those who preceded us.
But I digress… So we have in our midst this ancient visitor to our skies. A visitor that is much older than any of us. Does it have any wisdom that it can impart to us? What does it have to say? What has it learned along its multi-millennial journey across the cosmos to meet us now in this most confusing and tumultuous time?
When we look out into the night sky we see darkness, a fathomless dark emptiness. This universe is not very dense at all; most of space is practically empty. On average the density of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is 0.1 neutral hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter! To put it another way, if you had a cup the size of a small Starbucks coffee in space with you, your cup would be holding about 24 hydrogen ATOMS! That is a pretty empty cup. At the same time, your body alone contains over 7*10^27 atoms (that’s a 7 followed by 27 zeros or 7 billion billion billion atoms)! And of all those atoms in your body 2/3 is Hydrogen, 1/4 is Oxygen and 1/10 is Carbon, and the combination of all those make up about 99% of your body. So yeah, space is empty.
However space is not all dark. There are these little twinkling lights, we call them stars, that adorn our night sky and they are ancient as well. Not only do the stars adorn the night sky but they are there as guiding lights in the darkness of night. We as humans have learned from them the skill of navigation, moving from one place to another without getting lost along the way. The stars guide us by the light that they send our way. On the other hand, during the day the stars seem to vanish from our sky. In fact, they are still there however they are eclipsed by the brightness of the sun. The sun is also a star, the closest star to earth and the most important star of all the stars. Without the sun, life on earth would not be possible. The light of the sun is the energy source that literally powers the earth. From its light, plants produce glucose through the process of photosynthesis. The plants in turn feed the majority of creatures on this planet. We too survive off of plants and on some of the other animals that rely on the plants. Likewise, it is from the plants and animals that lived tens of thousands of years ago that have become petroleum deep within the crust of the earth that we now use to fuel the machines of the world and build our infrastructure.
Without the sun, the land would remain cold and dead. When the sun appears over the horizon it starts to warm the land, causing the surrounding air to warm as well and start rising. This rising air in turn creates a pressure differential in the atmosphere that causes wind to start blowing. The blowing wind in turn moves moisture from the oceans and onto the land and as it continues to rise over mountains starts to condense into clouds and from the clouds, life giving rain comes down to the earth to quench the thirst of all that lives on it and enlivens the earth itself, bringing life back to dead land. The light of he sun is truly life giving and one of the greatest blessings we have.
So what does all this have to do with comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE? What wisdom does this ancient traveler have for us? Comets only become visible when they are close enough to the sun to both start sublimating into a gas and start glowing by the light of the sun itself. The tail of a comet always flares out away from the sun, or in other words, the head of the comet, the part of the comet that is still a solid, is always pointing towards the sun. It is as if the comet is pointing in the direction of what gives life, reminding us that life will only thrive in the Light. Life cannot exist in darkness. Of course I do not only mean that light sustains physical life, but light also sustains life metaphorically and spiritually as well.
The year 2020 has so far been fraught with many dark days. We entered in to 2020 with the entire continent of Australia on fire. And then the SARS-CoV-2 virus which emerged in China in 2019 but suddenly started to spread with pandemic proportions throughout the world infecting nearly 13 million and killing more than half a million humans worldwide at the time of this writing. It not only has taken life, but in our attempt to slow the spread, we have shut down both our societies and our economies further exasperating the trials of life on earth. And then, to add insult to injury, civil unrest has broken out in the United States over the oppressive behavior that some of our law enforcement officers have exhibited to the African-American community resulting in mass protests not only in the United States but across the world as well exposing a disease that no vaccine can ever prevent, the disease of racism. All the while the number of infections and deaths continue to rise and the ugly face of racism continues to fester in our communities. The future certainly seems bleak and full of spiritual darkness. What is the cure?
Enter our ancient traveler, comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, the old one with new wisdom, well actually, its old wisdom. The cure that NEOWISE is pointing us to is Light! The comet is pointing to the sun, the source of light and life on earth. The sun can be taken as a metaphor. When we look at the sun, what are we actually seeing? Are we seeing the sun, (by the way do not look directly at the sun with your naked eyes, they will be damaged), or are we seeing the light emanating from the sun. In fact we are only seeing the light coming from the sun. And the light from the sun is not the sun, it came from the sun but its not the sun. Just as physical light from the sun can dispel the darkness of space, the Guiding Light of our Creator, who has as one of the 99 Glorious Names, An-Noor, which is Arabic for The Light.
The Light of our Creator is there to guide us to what is good and life giving. From among the guidance that has come to us from our Creator is, by way of the Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessing upon him, to love for your brother what you love for yourself. Or by the way of the Messenger Jesus, peace be upon him, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or by way of the Messenger Moses, peace be upon him, Love your neighbor as yourself. And even outside of the Abrahamic Faiths, we find the same message. In Hinduism we find, one should never do that to another which one regards injurious to one’s own self. In Buddhism we find, hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
No matter where we turn we will find the Golden Rule that has come from the Light of our Creator to guide us to what is good and life giving. We are all human beings, all 7+ billion of us, regardless of the language we speak, the food we eat, the entertainment we enjoy, and most of all the color of our skin. We all desire that same things, good health, full bellies of food, warm clothing, a safe place to rest our heads at night, and the tender embrace of our loved ones. I know that is what I love and I also love those same things for my brothers and sisters, my fellow humans on this planet.
C/2020 F3 NEOWISE at 5:00 am July 10, 2020 pointing the way to salvation.
So take heed my fellow brothers and sisters. C/2020 F3 NEOWISE has come to point the way back to our salvation, metaphorically pointing to the Light of Guidance from the The Light – to love for your fellow human what you love for yourself. Until next time, may you all find the Guiding Light.
Just over a week ago, on February 5th, the new crescent moon of the 6th month of the Islamic calendar (Jamad al-Akheer) appeared. I anticipated that it would be seen here on the west coast and specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area. That sighting came on the heels of the 5th Central Hilal Committee annual conference on the tradition of moon sighting. I, as well as my moon sighting colleague, Zakariyya Twist, were invited this year to present at the conference. We went in with the intention to emphatically lobby for better communication between moon sighting groups, better verification of sighting reports, and presenting a unified front in advocating for this beautiful tradition to the larger Muslim community. So when the day arrived to sight the moon, I was quite confident that we would get many reports from all over the country as the other participants of the conference were just as excited as I and Zakariyya were.
The morning of February 5th emerged in the midst of the coldest storm of the year in the Bay Area. We awoke to snow falling at 1200 feet elevation. It was absolutely magical seeing snow fall at our home and playing around in the fluffy monster-sized snowflakes as they were lofting down around us. The skies were dark and overcast, the wind was blowing, it was roughly 32°F and the hopes of having clear skies later that evening were vanishing with every falling snowflake. The only consolation to that thought was the mesmerizing frosting that appeared across the Santa Cruz mountains as first light broke.
Frosted Morning
As amazing as the mountains were that morning, I had a teaching assignment that needed my attention and by the time I had completed that, the skies had cleared, the sun was shinning, the snow had nearly all melted away, while the air remained frigid near freezing. I had additional teaching assignments later that afternoon at Zaytuna College in Berkeley and I had planned to sight the new crescent from the new hilltop Upper Campus. Sunset had arrived and as I scrambled around the campus looking for a location where I could see the western horizon, I became frustrated that no matter where I stood, one or more trees blocked the view.
In my desperation, I left the hilltop campus and rushed down along Grizzly Peak Rd. to the first pullout overlook of the San Francisco Bay Area. The sky was glowing, the wind was brisk and the atmosphere was as clear as a bell! It did not take me long to spot it, one of the thinnest crescents I have ever seen.
1 Jamad Al-Akheer, 1440 (February 5th, 2019)
As I was photographing the crescent I received a text meassage from Zakarriya. He sighted the crescent as well, about three or four minutes ahead of me about 21 miles north west of my location on Mount Tamalpais. He was alone where he was and I was alone where I was and yet together in spirit.
Neither one of us had heard of any other sightings and that tempered my elation. Had our words just a few days prior fallen on deaf ears? Why hadn’t that congregation of sighters all seen it? Did they go out? Did they even look? Zakariyya reached out to some of them and after a few hours we did hear of some other sighting reports specifically from down south in San Diego from one of the conference participants who happened to be sitting next to us in the presentation hall. That lifted my spirits greatly.
It is such a subtle thing, that new crescent when it first appears. It is such a mystery to me how such a small sliver of light can illuminate my heart so fully as to cause me to exclaim in elation Allahu Akbar! (God is Greater!). I see it as a manifestation of God’s creative power to bring it into the corporeal world. I know the moon is there orbiting the earth, however to my eye, to my heart’s eye, its not existent. When it appears in the sky it as if it was brought out of non-existence and into existence right before my very eyes and that is incredibly thrilling. I do not think my explanations convey the “magic” of the experience and I can only encourage all to go out and experience it for themselves.
The next opportunity to see the new crescent moon will be on March 6th, 2019. That day will be 29 days from the sighting discussed above and will be the crucial day to go out and look for it. It might or might not be seen that evening. Only time will tell.
Tuesday October 9th was the 29th day of the month of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar and the evening of the first moon sighting in the Islamic year of 1440. I was teaching my astronomy course that evening at Zaytuna College and was planning on taking the class out to search for the new crescent there on the hilltop campus. By 5 pm that evening, fog had rolled in from the San Francisco bay and completely enveloped the campus. Sighting the new crescent moon from the campus was not going to happen.
Fellow moonsighter and colleague at Crescent Watch, Zakariyya, sent me a text message, at about the same time the fog had rolled in, indicating to me that we on the west coast might again be the only people to sight the moon. The probability map for that evening showed that most of the southern half of North America would be in a visibility zone that required perfect atmospheric conditions to see the crescent without an optical aid. I replied to him and informed him that he alone might be that person as I was fogged in. He was on his way up to the western face of Mount Tamalpais, north of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands.
Sighting Probability, October 9th, 2018
I quickly sent messages to my four assistants that they needed to make a concerted effort to meet at our near-home sighting location in the Santa Cruz Mountains. All four managed to congregate at about 7 pm at our normal viewing location. At 7:07 pm, I receive a phone call while in the middle of class. It was my oldest assistant contacting me to let me know that the moon was nowhere to be seen and asked for some additional guidance as to where they can expect to see it. There was some confusion among the team as to where to look. At that point in time the sun had already gone below the horizon 30 minutes prior and the moon, although a hand span or so above the horizon at the time of sunset, would now be much closer to the horizon itself. They had at that point possibly 20 minutes before the moon would drop below the horizon. I suggested looking about 2 finger widths above the horizon. No sooner did I finish that instruction to him that he exclaims “Allahu Akbar! There it is!” The entire astronomy class becomes gleeful as they all heard his exclaim coming through over the phone speaker. Suddenly two more voices rip out from the phone as the other two assistants saw it, and then voices clamoring as they pointed it out to my youngest assistant and suddenly all four are witnesses!
It was a joyful moment for all of us. I quickly sent a text message to Zakariyya, who by that time was on Mount Tam, that we had a positive sighting by three adults, 2 male and one female, in the south. His reply was one of relief as he informed me that Mount Tam was covered by clouds as well. Within the hour it was clear that no other sightings had been made and my four assistants, to the best of our knowledge, were the sole witnesses in the entire world! I was very proud of my four assistants for coming together and making the effort to keep this crucial tradition alive. However, within that same hour, we received word that another crescent sighting organization had announced that the crescent had not been seen and the month of Safar had not commenced. We quickly had to rally to correct the misinformation by passing along the sighting report to that organization. We had no doubt that they would want to interview my assistants on the sighting details.
I called my oldest and informed him that he and the others were about to be the object of scrutiny and to be ready for it and answer honestly. For the most part the interviews went well and all was done. However, on the next day my oldest received one more call from an obscure person who was not so interested in the sighting itself but in the character of my son. He questioned why his name had never come up before as a sighter even though my son claimed to be a veteran of moonsighting with more than a decade of experience. When my son informed me of this I was taken aback at first. My son was quite agitated by the man’s line of questioning. I counseled my son to learn how to grow a thick skin and that if you choose to be a guardian of this tradition that from time to time you will be the object of such behavior towards you. I will say this now, in my son’s defense, he has been with me at nearly every outing to sight the moon ever since his birth. When he became an adult, and I made a sighting report, he was my validating witness, even if his name never made it into the records.
But it made me think of the numerous times that we received sighting reports from unknown people and the line of questioning that we had to put them through. The interesting thing is that even though we did ask about their experience, we never questioned their veracity. Albeit I suppose someone could be lying about seeing the moon, but for the life of me I can not fathom why a person would do so of their own volition. Many times what they saw was clearly not the moon and such mistakes are not uncommon, but every time we saw a new name pop up on our radar it brought with it a sense of hope that this tradition is being revived. If we treated every sighting claim made by a new person with skepticism and questioning the character of that person making the report, we would alienate the community from carrying out this beautiful monthly tradition.
Finally, as I checked in on our social media outlet to see if the announcement of the start of Safar had been made, I came across a comment left by one of the followers of that account. It started off with “Pff. Is there a photo…”. I was shocked and at the same time felt somewhat guilty. For years I have been reporting the sightings of the new crescent and in almost every case I have always included a photograph of the crescent. I asked myself, have I created a culture of seekers that will only take as proof a photograph? The fact is the proof of the sighting comes only by the claim that it was seen by at least two credible male witnesses. Of course the more witnesses the better and when the sky is clear and the moon could be easily seen, even more witnesses are expected. For some, the claim of the sighting is taken without any additional questioning as to the veracity, not of the person, but of the details of the sighting itself, regardless of how incredulous the report could be. However, in this modern age where many things leave traces in the sky that could be mistaken for the crescent moon, some questioning of what was seen is necessary to corroborate the sighting against scientific data of the moon’s condition at the time of the sighting. Other than that no additional evidence is needed. Photographs do help if the sighter has one, but it is not necessary, nor is it proof that the moon was seen. If I was a deceitful person, I could pull out any of my myriad of crescent moon photos from the last 25+ years of sighting and claim it was the moon of the current month. How would one know the difference? Granted, today’s technology makes it a bit harder to falsify such things with the attached meta-data that is tagged with digital images, but nonetheless, it could be done.
We have to learn how to trust one another in an age when lying is believed to be true and truth is believed to be a lie. It is unfortunately a sign of the end of time as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, foretold us about in his many prophecies of the future. If nothing else I hope that this tradition of sighting the new crescent moon to establish the starts of months in this living Islamic calendar, will help build trust between us in the Muslim community here in North America and worldwide.
Given all that I have mentioned above the beauty of the new crescent moon still shines through. And even though I did not have the good fortune of seeing the crescent when it first appeared on the horizon, I went out the next night to capture a photograph of it. I did not have to go far, as I only had to step out of my front door to see and photograph it as it poked through the redwood trees surrounding our home.
Safar 1440, Day 2 Crescent
If you have never seen the new crescent moon on the first day when it is visible, then make the intention to go out next month to search for it. You most likely will not have to travel far at all, probably just out our front door as well. In case you wish to do so, mark Wednesday November 7th as that day. It will be the 29th day of the month of Safar and the day that searching for the next new moon will occur.
With that I wish all of you a Safar Mubarak and Peace.
Eons ago, light appeared. It gives us the ability to see. The light alternates with darkness giving us day and night. During the day the source of light, a star that is 93 million miles from the Earth, is so strong that we cannot look into it without harming our eyes. The sun that illuminates our world is not considered a very bright star among the myriad of stars that exist in the universe and yet it is the brightest entity in our sky.
However, as the sun drops below the western horizon at the end of each day the sky that was illumined blue turns dark and then a dazzling display of stars fills the night sky. For millennia the night sky has piqued the curiosity of humanity as we gazed out into the universe, and it still does the same today.
At any given moment, when looking at the night sky we only see that myriad of stars as points of light. What we cannot see is that the stars do move across the sky. Yes, we can tell they move as we see them rise in the east and set in the west hours later. However, at any given moment they are just fixed points of light, each slightly different from the other in either color, brightness, or twinkle.
We experience light with our eyes. However, as remarkable as our eyes are, they do not have the ability of persistence of vision. Our eyes function more like sieves than buckets. Photons, the tiny particles of light, that enter our eyes will either instantly be absorbed passing the information they hold to our brain if they happen to be photons in the visible range or they are just ignored. In either case the photons do not persist in our eyes as if they were captured in a bucket.
This lack of persistence limits us in seeing the history of motion that objects undergo. While at the same time it is fortunate that our eyes do not have persistence as our vision would be quite cluttered and possibly very confusing.
Yet with the proper tools we can experience the night sky in ways that elucidate it’s phenomenal nature. With technology at hand, we can augment our vision and see things very differently. The camera is that said tool. One might think that the latest and greatest camera would produce the best photos. While that may be true for most types of photos, modern cameras are starting to behave to much like our own eyes in that they start to fail in capturing light that shows persistence. If the camera keeps “looking” too long, then the physical limitations of the light sensor become apparent and the resulting image will be of very poor quality. The solution to the problem lies in older technology: film.
Film has the uncanny ability to work like a light bucket. Exposing film to light for a brief time causes a photo-chemical reaction to take place in the emulsion that is spread on the surface of the film itself. If exposure is continued for longer periods of time more reactions take place until all of the emulsion has reacted and the film goes clear; producing what is called an over-exposure. However, if the source of light used to expose the film is moving during exposure, especially in the dark of night, the film will not become overexposed even with very long exposures. The film will record where the light source is and through persistence, since once a chemical reaction takes place on the film it cannot be undone, we can see the history of the light source as well.
The Eye Of Night
It’s the perfect tool if one wishes to see how the night sky moves. As the stars move across the night sky, the film’s persistence of vision allows one to see the trails the stars took as they spanned our night sky. The great astronomers of past millennia had great imaginations that allowed them to see such trails in their mind’s eye. We however, due in part to the prevalence of technology, have lost that skill. Our mind’s eye has become dull and untrained. And while we rely on modern technology to see what our ancestors imagined, we still have the blessing of actually seeing the fantastic phenomena the moving stars are.
With the use of a camera and film, the trails taken by the stars as they move across the night sky become readily apparent. The trails themselves will appear different in a geometric sense depending on where the camera is pointed. Point the camera at the pole star Polaris and something amazing appears. Polaris does not move very much at all yet the stars near it seem to sweep out perfect circular arcs. Expose long enough to build the persistence and we start to see a structure that appears to be an eye itself.
I never reflected before on this apparent eye structure that appears in this photo even though I have taught astronomy for years and have watched the sky for many, many more and have imagined how the stars move. Now as I look up at the pole star and the stars that circumnavigate the sky near it, I can’t help but think that I am staring into the eye of night itself.
I further wonder, that as we have been looking up into the night sky for millennia marveling at the stars and the universe, that the universe has been looking back at us as well with one big eye. And if not the universe itself, maybe it’s Creator.
The year of 2018 started off with the rising of the year’s first full moon. It was also the rising of the first of two full moons in the same month giving the first month of the year a Blue Moon, or so its called now when a given month has two full moons in it. Not only that, but given that the moon was close to its perigee, the closest point in its orbit around the Earth, this full moon was also called a Super Moon. The full moon on January 1st of 2018 appeared 14.1% larger than average. So of course, it was a unique moon and what better way to bring in the new year than to go out and photograph it.
As I stood on a ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains not far from where I now live, I looked to the east in great anticipation waiting for the moon to appear above one ridge line east of my location.
Anticipation Rising
As the sky dimmed I could see clouds building to the east and hope of seeing the first full super moon of year started to wane. Then suddenly a dim glow started to appear behind the trees. It was coming! My shutter started to fly. Exposures changing. Compositions changed as well. It was clear though, the moon was rising behind clouds. I nearly gave up. But then, a definite arch suddenly appeared between the trees. The brightness of the moon penetrated the thin veil of clouds and made itself apparent in the sky. There is a reason it was called a super moon!
Super Moon Rising
That moon was phenomenal! As large as I think I have ever seen it, and so bright and full of contrast, just hovering there in the sky with the swirls of clouds surrounding it in a magical mist. I continued photographing it rise varying my exposures to hopefully develop a composite image the would faithfully convey to my readers what I was seeing. Expose for the moon, and the subtle clouds lit by the moon vanish in darkness. Expose for the clouds themselves, and the moon becomes nothing more than a pure white orb in the resulting capture. The dynamic range was so wide that I did not think a realistic image could even be developed. Nonetheless, I continued.
Later that evening, as I sat in my studio struggling with the exposure I had to make a composite, it became evidently clear to me that I just might not be able to convey what I saw. Not happy with my results, I shut down my workstation and retired. I turned my attention towards the end of the month when not only would I get a chance again to capture another Super Moon, although only 12.9% larger than normal, it would also be a Blue Moon, and furthermore, it was to coincide with a total lunar eclipse – A Blood Moon!
Fast forward three weeks. The moon slowly wanes to full. One week until January 31st and I arrive home not feeling well. I wake in the morning feeling the full brunt of influenza, I have contracted the virus and its wracking my body to shreds. I start fearing that I just might miss the Super Blue Blood Moon as it is now called. The moon on the evening of January 30 would be rising only 12 hours from being at 100% full. It will pass through midnight here in the Pacific timezone and then start its descent to the western horizon. Then approximately 4 hours before setting it would enter into Earth’s outer shadow, known as the Penumbra, and then approximately an hour later, into the inner shadow known as the Umbra and into totality. The peak of totality would occur at 5:31 am PST. I slept most of the day on January 30th, exhausted by the flu. That night sleep was light yet fearful of daring to trek out in the middle of the night as ill as I was to try to see the eclipse let alone try to capture it with the camera.
My oldest assistant, the one who accompanied me last August to see the total solar eclipse, was as eager as I to come along, but of course not at all afraid, and I was very happy to have someone of able body to accompany me. Normally, I would have witnessed and photographed the entirety of the event, however, given my condition, I was satisfied to see and capture just totality. We set our alarms for 4:30 am, giving us 1 hour to position ourselves along the same ridge I used earlier in the month to capture the New Year’s moon. It was a ridge that had good visibility to both the east and west.
We arrived with plenty of time. There was a slight breeze blowing at our arrival. It was not very cold at all, and bundled up as I was in my winter clothing I fared well out in the night air. We saw the moon enter into totality and carefully exposed the moon and then quickly exposing for the night sky as well to capture the stars that appeared in its vicinity. It was an event, a Super Moon, A Blue Moon, and A Blood Moon all occurring on the same night. It was an event that had not been seen in 150 years, and would not be seen again until January 31st of 2037! As 5:31 am approached I asked my assistant to keep me apprised of the time. I wanted to make sure I captured the moon at the peak of totality. As it occurred, I called out to my assistant and said “there it is, peak totality!”.
“Is That All!?”, asked my assistant, in a very disappointed tone.
“What Do You Mean, Is That All?, were you expecting a Corona or something?”
“It’s not a solar event, its much more subtle and quiet and most people would not even make the effort to go out in the dead of the night to see it. You should consider yourself fortunate to have seen it.”
And although it was a much photographed event due to the hype mustered about the rarity of this moon, most images I have seen left me flat. There is one special thing about a moon in the totality of the Earth’s shadow, and that is that it is dim and allows us to see the stars that are near the moon. Stars that we normally cannot see on a full moon evening because the moon is so bright that it extinguishes out such nearby stars much like the sun does in the day. Therefore, when I photograph the moon in a total lunar eclipse, I am as interested in the surrounding stars as I am in the moon itself. So without anymore delay, The Super Blue Blood Moon along with it’s accompaniment of stars in the constellation Cancer.
Super Blue Blood Moon and Stars of Cancer
Each star in the field was verified as an actual star and not a digital artifact using the Stellarium Ephemeris. I’ll just mention a few of them. The closest star to the moon at approximately 10 o’clock is HIP 43613 and is 673.88 light years (ly) away. The bright star in the upper left corner, HIP 43742 and is 514.44 ly away. The bright star to the lower left is 54 Cnc and is 124.96 ly away. The oldest star is HIP 43206 and is 856.05 ly away and is near the lower right but second from the edge. Several of the stars are unnamed so if anyone wants a star, contact the star registry!
Upon completing this image, I thought about the first New Year moon that I photographed and mentioned above. I yearned to actually develop a composite that would convey what I saw. So I opened those exposures and got to work once again. This time, I found the necessary ingredients needed to combine both the exposures of the moon with that of the clouds and came away with what I remember. There is a reason it is called a Super Moon. Heck, even if it is not “super” it is still a stupendous entity in our night sky. No wonder so much in the way of poetry is written about it, no wonder that it is used as an adjective to describe the radiance of the face of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it is truly a wonder to behold.
Truly, A Super Moon!
We started this year with Light. That is a good way to start!
Color is a fascinating subject to study. Apart from the physics of light itself and the wave lengths of the various colors that we can see, colors have a profound psychological effect on us. Blue is an interesting color in that it can effect us in many positive ways. Blue is a color that suggests peace. It’s the color of the calm sea and the clear sky, both of which are linked to inner serenity, calm and clarity. Blue was also shown to slow heart rate and breathing, so it can be a good color to aid in meditation or relaxation. Blue is associated with intelligence. It has been proven that different shades of blue can improve concentration, stimulate thinking and provide mental clarity. It also improves productivity. This is a good color for study and work, as it offers relaxation and stimulation at the same time. Blue is a color that is linked with confidence. Unlike red, which shows aggressive dominance, blue is related to a calm authority. Blue inspires trust, it is non-threatening and shows persistence.
Blue inspires many of the characteristic qualities of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. I found it interesting that this month the moon came in with the color of blue, in the Month of the birth of the Prophet. If there was one thing the Prophet came to spread in this world it was Peace. If there is one thing that we need more than anything else in our modern world it is peace. From mass shootings perpetrated by those who have become totally unhinged from reality to sexual assaults on our youth by depraved and debauched individuals to attacks on our security both physically and identity, our world is in chaos and turmoil.
So in this month of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, Rabi Al-Awwal, let’s honor him by carrying the torch of his mission of spreading peace, by doing the same. For he, peace be upon him, said, “Spread Peace, Feed people food, and pray in the night while others are sleeping and you will enter into paradise”. In this next month, Go around and just say “Peace To You” to those you meet and let them know that as a Muslim, you are committed to spreading peace in the world. Maybe, just maybe, we can succeed in bringing peace to a troubled world.
Did you see this last evening after sunset? If I was a betting man, I would bet that most people on this planet did not see it, in fact I would be willing to bet most did not even know that this fine crescent was something that was even visible, or that it cycles. This is not an uncommon occurrence, it happens every month and has been doing so probably longer than humans have been around, and will continue to do so far after we cease to exist.
Unseen Beauty
The moon goes through its monthly journey around the Earth, for the most part, completely unnoticed. It does not appear with great fanfare or make some big announcement that it is about to appear. It is one of the most beautiful objects in our sky. It’s subtle. It illuminates our nights with its moonshine. It is our celestial clock, and knowing its phase as well as knowing where it is among the zodiac will tell us the time of the year. When I look at the moon I only see beauty. And even though it is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it is also understood that beauty is universally recognized. One hallmark of beauty, according to James Thurber, is that “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention”. If you ponder upon this statement for a while I think you will come to the conclusion that the moon is certainly one of those things, and as it runs through it’s secret life, it does allow us to see it’s beauty, if we are willing to look.
