Anticipating and Seeing a Circumzenithal Arc

I've been chasing circumzenithal arcs for some time. This is the first plainly visible one that I anticipated based on the conditions: sun low in the sky, cirrus clouds passing overhead, and no clouds dimming the sun. The photo below was taken about 1 minute before the arc formed using the maximum field of view for my 18-55mm focal length lens and has been cropped in width.

Moon and Venus, visual and in binoculars

Click on the above photo to see it in full size. It shows two photos of the Moon and Venus photographed on February 27, 2009. The inset was photographed through a small telescope that at prime focus gives a magnification comparable to what you get with 8-power binoculars. I was surprised to see the crescent of Venus in the photo.

Though I've seen the crescent of Venus many times at high power through a telescope, I rarely look through binoculars at a time when the crescent is at its largest size.

I caught two photos of Comet Lulin as it swung by Earth on the night of Feb 24 and morning of Feb 25. The two photos were 6 hours apart and I placed them on a wide-field photo I took the morning of Feb 25. (Click the photo above for a full-sized view.)

The 2/24 image was compromised by both light pollution and haze. Six hours later, the haze was still there though Lulin was above it, but more important, there was less ambient light at 3:30 AM.

Though the contrast between the two photos reflects weather conditions and height above the horizon, it also illustrates what we would have if our community fails to restrain the unnecessary upward pointing light. Contrast is everything to such an image and it is the first thing that is lost when too much light is shining upward.

An illustration based on Ray Pierrehumbert's Principles of Planetary Climate

Ray Pierrehumbert's book Principles of Planetary Climate (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press) should be mandatory reading for anyone wishing to express an opinion on global climate change. (My comment is a bit unfair and hypocritical, as I expressed opinions before reading it.)

The underlying theme of all illustrations and comments I'm making on climate is that lay people (non-scientists in this context, like me) should take it upon themselves to sample the primary scientific literature on subjects that get politicized, such as climate change and evolution. Reading a real science journal reveals how science is conducted and the consensus of opinion, while it supports science through a paid subscription.

Sampling a scientific journal for a specific topic is a bit like drilling wells. Each well reveals the layers of rock below it. You can compare wells and infer the extent of various layers, but there is a lot of information in between that is missing. Ray Pierrehumbert's book was like seeing a geological map for all the holes I drilled reading the journal Nature.

The illustrations above and below are from my notes made while reading the first chapter of Principles of Planetary Climate. The first chapter is written to a broad audience, and therefore, it alone should suffice as mandatory reading. These illustrations are part of a presentation I'm preparing for the Temecula Valley Astronomers on astronomical forcing on global climate.

Comet Lulin

Above is comet Lulin on 19 Feb. I took a wide-field exposure of about 1 minute to show where it is in relation to Spica, the brightest star in the southwest at 5:00 am. The close-up view is through my 3-inch scope and is a little brighter than what you'll see in typical 7x50 binoculars.

Lulin is bright in binoculars and very easy to find.

Carbon Fertilization

Update: I revised the graphic below to include source references and created an animated version of a the effect of diffuse light. Updates are available here:


Carbon Fertilization

Animated Diffuse Light Fertilization


Combining my interest in CO2 emissions, climate change, and botony, the above illustration summarizes some research on the effect of rising atmospheric CO2 levels on plants. I plan to animate this illustration, at which time I'll elaborate on the research. Look for the animated version on http://www.brightstarstemeculavalley.org/

Climate, Big Picture, a question I wish I could ask

The above picture is my take on the big picture of climate change science. I find this subject fascinating in part because of the implications to our society (eg., threat from global warming to extent to which people will disseminate disinformation) and that it connects with nearly every topic of earth science that I find interesting (e.g., sun, orbits, glaciers, geology, oceans, chemistry, biosphere). Climate change unites everything that is scientifically interesting to me, and so I'm trying to collect everything I read in a set of illustrations with the above as the main organization.

Any comments are welcome. More illustrations will follow.