Something Shiny

Lunar Occultation of Mars

Verna and I witnessed the occultation of Planet Mars by Earth’s Moon this evening. At about 7:32 PM Arizona Time, Mars could be seen to disappear behind the Moon and would emerge again about an hour later on the opposite side of the Moon. In the image above (courtesy Griffith Observatory) you can see the tiny Martian dot just below and to the left of the Lunar limb. This is just about the same as we saw it around 7:30PM tonight. We came back outside at 8:30PM and witnessed the re-appearance of the Martian dot on the upper right Lunar limb – very impressive (and nerdy). We both enjoyed it and commented that it was a fun thing to do. We also had witnessed a visible flyover of the International Space Station about fifteen minutes prior to the beginning of the occultation.

From In The Sky — About this occultation:

The Moon will pass in front of Mars, creating a lunar occultation visible from parts of the Americas, Europe and Northern Africa.

Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a small fraction of the Earth’s surface. Since the Moon is much closer to the Earth than other celestial objects, its exact position in the sky differs depending on your exact location on Earth due to its large parallax. The position of the Moon as seen from two points on opposite sides of the Earth varies by up to two degrees, or four times the diameter of the full moon.

This means that if the Moon is aligned to pass in front of a particular object for an observer on one side of the Earth, it will appear up to two degrees away from that object on the other side of the Earth.

At the time of the occultation, the Moon will be 15 days past new moon and will be 100% illuminated.

Charity Car Wash

Yesterday, the 6th and 7th graders who attend the Wickenburg Christian Academy (WCA) participated in a car wash event to raise funds for a trip to Catalina Island. I spoke with one of the teachers who said they were going to learn about ocean biology when they get there. Of course, there is much else to see and do on the island.

Verna and I were married over 20 years ago in Avalon. We’ve been there many times together, and visited the island in our earlier lives as well, so that sort of makes us SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) on Catalina. We celebrated our anniversary by going back to the island for several years, but the combination of increased expenses (transportation, lodging, souvenirs and food) and an uptick in crime in the area eased us out of our annual pilgrimage.

As for the car wash, the kids and their teachers did a very good job on the truck (clickable image above); we made a reasonable donation to their cause. We support WCH and make annual contributions to their scholarship fund, which is adequate as a federal write-off and gets us out of Arizona Income Tax altogether.

Sun Dogs over Wickenburg

  

A lovely pair of “sun dogs” appeared over the western horizon this afternoon a little after five P.M. The combination of high clouds and frozen water crystals made for a brilliant display of colors in the sky.

No special camera settings were needed – just a little help from the patio post to block out the sun. Click on either image to view in the vernabob.com image viewer.

Belated Gifts for Verna

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise and Coral Set  Kingman Turquoise Set

Since Verna’s Birthday and Christmas are very close together, we celebrate each separately, including gift-giving. No “combination” gifting allowed. No Sir. That is the case for this winter season when we went shopping for a birthday and a Christmas present for her. Also, since I have no calibration on what she considers a “perfect” gift to be, she goes with me to pick and choose.

We were both not particularly in the mood to do any shopping prior to last month’s holiday, so we mutually decided to forgo any shopping until after the crowds dissipate post-holiday. Today is our weekly shopping day for groceries, etc. and since we get out of our jammies on shopping day, we went to the Old Livery Mercantile in town (technically, a touristy souvenir and gift shop) to see what might be suitable as a birthday and then a Christmas gift.

Verna has long wanted a nice Native American Squash Blossom Necklace, so we started looking in the display case where many beautiful examples of N.A. crafted items are located. After several trips around the jewelry cases, she was split between the two pictured above. I suggested that she could have one for birthday and the other for Christmas. So she got ’em both.

The one on the left is Sleeping Beauty Turquoise with Coral and the one on the right is Kingman Turquoise. Both are hand-crafted by Native American Artists in the Southwest, not sure if Hopi, Navajo or ? but they are both beautiful. Click on either image to enlarge.

Our Twenty-First Anniversary

three-jewel-ring.jpg

One of these days, the ring depicted in the photo message above will be delivered. In the meantime, we only have a likeness of the actual gift (in addition to the earrings already given) until the package arrives. We inadvertently chose an east-coast Amazon Marketplace affiliate with poor shipping practices. Verna will have the new ring and I will post a photo of her wearing it in a few days.

UPDATE: Verna’s new ring showed up today (09/13/19). Very nice . . .

Verna’s new ring