Silent Night II~Moon and Veus

Since I couldn't get a good picture of the Venus and Moon alignment, I borrowed this one from Earth Sky  to show you what I saw tonight. I viewed alone tonight, but last night when they were side by side, the rest of the family humored me.  I just know they secretly love going along with my discoveries.

http://earthsky.org/tonight

Star Gazing
With Heart

Winter Wonder II~Monarchs in the Afternoon

I got my wish and went to Ardenwood Farm to see the Monarchs again.  One of my best friends went with me, and we both thought the trip worthwhile. What do you think?

This afternoon was warmer, in the upper 50's, sunnier, and as I predicted, the butterflies were more active. If you'll scroll up to the previous Winter Wonder post, you'll see less orange of the open wings showing than you do today.

Once the naturalist arrived and set up the spotting scope again, I took this lovely shot.

Here's a solitary butterfly on a eucalyptus leaf. Does this give you an idea of the numbers you might see high in the trees?

Now use your imagination to see a Monarch poised on my navy blue wind breaker. Yes, that happened! I called out to my friend Karen to see it and photograph it, but it flew away.

Imagining 

With Heart

Silent Night~Crescent Moon and Venus

Bodhi, the neighborhood cat is looking west in preparation for Monday evening's sky event. I'm letting you know so you'll be ready to also look west after sunset but before moonset at 7:27 PST on Monday, 12/26/11. We should be able to see the crescent moon just to the right of brightly shining Venus.

There are two great sites that help me with all things sky. One is Earth Sky at http://earthsky.org/ 
The other one is Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php.

Happy Viewing
With Heart

Winter Wonder~Monarchs in the Morning

Monarch butterflies have arrived to over-winter in a eucalyptus grove at Ardenwood Farm in Freemont, CA. This year there are more than 4,000 individuals at this site. I walked and looked until I found these brown leaf-like clusters high in the trees. 

I love this shot through a spotting scope the naturalist set up. I didn't know I could do that.

An even closer look as the insects warm up in the sun and prepare to search for food.

This one is warming up on a sunny leaf before it flies out for the day.

Can you see why I want to go again to see these beautiful creatures wake up?

Merry Christmas,

With Heart