Verna and I were at the pharmacy picking up a prescription today, when an old gentleman drove into the lot in this gorgeous 1958 Chevrolet Apache pickup truck. Verna took several pictures of the truck and I discovered that I could merge two of them into this anaglyph image.
You will need your free pair of 3D glasses to view the image (click image to enlarge). As usual, I have posted the 2D version here.
I found this 3D image on the Astronomy Picture Of The Day today. You will need your free pair of 3D glasses to view properly. Sorry, no 2D image available. Click on the image to enlarge.
The panoramic stereo view is composed of images from the roving Curiosity’s Navcam taken at a rest stop during a 100 meter drive on Sol 548 (February 19). The 5.5 kilometer high peak of Mount Sharp, also known as Aeolis Mons, is on the horizon, its base a destination for Curiosity. In the foreground are rows of striated rocks along the Junda outcrop. Centered toward the south-southeast the scene spans 160 degrees.
After dinner today, Verna looked out of the front window and saw a cloud that appeared to look like the silhouette of an aircraft. She grabbed her camera and got this image of the phenomenon before it morphed into a randomly shaped cloud.
I remembered that there is a term to describe seeing objects in nature that one perceives as resembling something else. However, I could not remember the exact term so I did an internet search on “clouds that resemble things” and found the following result on Askville which led me to Wikipedia:
Pareidolia
Pareidolia (parr-i-DOH-lee-uh) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.
Interesting. And I’m still a nerd as a senior citizen. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: Seeing extraterrestrial alien faces in Ice Cream: Alien Frosty Paws.
One of the biggest sunspots in years is crossing the center of the solar disk, putting Earth in the way of potential eruptions. The sprawling sunspot contains dozens of dark cores, the largest big enough to swallow Earth three times over. This makes it an easy target for amateur solar telescopes — or even regular cameras.
I took this photo this morning using my Canon SX40 camera with a Rainbow Symphony solar filter. I added the sunspot group designations to the original photo. Click on the image to enlarge.
Update from NOAA/NWS:
2014-01-09 00:03 UTC S3 (Strong) Solar Radiation Storm In Progress
The ongoing S2 (Moderate) Solar Radiation Storm has intensified to an S3 (Strong) event as of 2320 UTC (6:20 p.m. EST) today, January 8. Protons should stay at this same approximate level for the next few hours, then likely take another jump with the passage of the shock ahead of the CME, expected to occur around 0900 UTC (4:00 a.m. EST) tomorrow, January 9. However, this increase is not expected to exceed the S3 level. The CME is forecast to set off G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm activity through January 9 and 10. Aurora watchers should be ready; updates here as things unfold.
I took a pair of images of our courtyard a couple of month back in an attempt to get a three-dimensional anaglyph image. Using a couple of software tools, I merged the two images into this red/cyan monochrome 3D image. I had to render it in “shades of gray” because our house is too red and the sky is too blue for comfortable viewing using a red/cyan color image.
I cropped one of the image pairs to render the color 2D version at the left. As you can see, the sky is very blue and the house is Sedona red. Also, the flowers in the garden are red and yellow.
Click on either image to enlarge.
Of course, you will need your free pair of 3D glasses to view the anaglyph image
During the fall and winter months, the sky is frequently covered with high, thin cirrus clouds. At that high altitude, clouds are mostly composed of ice crystals which act as little prisms to refract sunlight. A couple of days ago, the sun was surrounded by a halo demonstrating this effect. I took a picture of the phenomenon using our big saguaro cactus to block the direct sunlight. Click on the image to enlarge.
