My dear Bapi,
Remember that evening? Rishabh & I were sitting on bumpy rocks at an elevation of 8000 feet somewhere in the Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen is a charming place and the view from that elevated vantage point was phenomenal under the glow of the setting sun. Then, twilight came and went letting the dark night settle upon us. Usually, – as I was at his tender age – Rishabh is afraid of the dark (he insists, he is 'creeped out', not afraid). However, underneath the moonless sky that evening, he was embracing the star-lit darkness and soaking in all its beauty with enthusiastic purity of a seven-year old. This was his first viewing of the Milky way galactic center and it was my first night out with my son in laps of nature’s panacea. We were both a bit apprehensive but were nonetheless quite excited about the whole sky that was blinking all over so brightly. I told him about constellations – as you had told me many years ago – and then pointed a few out. After I explained and pointed at the Scorpius constellation right above our head, he said - “It looks a bit like a panko-breaded deep fried shrimp”. Deep fried shrimp? Panko-breaded? Really? I couldn’t help but laugh. While doing so, I saw the bright star right in front of us twinkling vibrantly. Giggling at the silliness of your grandson, dad, was that you?
PS: It’s been three years now. But you are still here, right where you should be… with folks who adamantly refuse to let you go. Rishabh & I love you more than you will ever get to know. You know that, right?
Tags: MtLassen NationalPark MilkyWay Night Sky Stars Father-son Memories Moments LightPollution LassenVolcanic LassenVolcanicNationalPark
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When summer turns to fall, leaves on our planet turn color, and sister planets of our solar systems take center-stage in the night sky.
After a wonderful sunset the other day at the Rocky Mountain National Park, Rishabh and I hung around the high perch of the Gore Range overlook at about 12000 feet for the night sky to come alive. The sky is usually crystal clear from such high elevation. However, light pollution from nearby Estes Park and distant Denver neighborhoods significantly diffuse the dark crispness near the horizon. On this particular evening, high clouds diffused out soon after sunset leaving only jets from the Denver airport to visually annoy me in the night canvas. After the astronomical sunset, Rishabh and I watched the milky way rise gloriously from its blue bath. From this elevation, its brightness was extraordinary. And then in the moonless darkness, we saw the autumnal assembly of our planets near the milky way.
To begin with, on the immediate west-northwest of the galactic center, Pluto and the ringed Saturn were close to each other near Sagittarius’ wings. Just north of the galactic center, the magnificent Jupiter could be easily spotted as a bright light. This luminous spot near the foggy center of the milky way appeared almost like a galactic lighthouse that could aid imaginary spaceships in their arduous inter-galactic journey. For most of 2019, Jupiter will remain perched within the constellation Ophiuchus – the serpent bearer. Mythology associates the snake bearer with the Greek healer god, Asclepius, who brought people back to life from the dead. In the northern hemisphere, as fall turns to winter, Ophiuchus – along with Jupiter and other planets – will switch over to the day sky, thereby remaining invisible. This was one of the last few opportunities in 2019 to catch the mighty Jupiter in Ophiuchus' cradle.
Tags: RockyMountainNationalPark MilkyWay GalacticCenter GoreRange EstesPark Colorado Jupiter Saturn Ophiuchus RamenSaha Astrophotography NightSky
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“Where is the Wizard Island?”
The Crater Lake National Park has some fine night skies for astronomy and night photography. On this particular night, we were within the teeny parenthesis of the astronomical sunset and the nautical moonrise of a last quarter moon, when unadulterated darkness bled from every pore of the universe. This darkness crawled over gazillions of timidly shining stars, interrupted only by the September Milky Way that ripped through the sky almost at its zenith. Everything looked almost poetically poised for awesome astro-photography. I had framed my pre-conceived image during the blue hour; the Wizard Island was set up as the foreground letting the night sky canvas the background. It was going to be an awesome shot, I pre-maturely thought, but reality turned out to be quite different.
The ultra-wide 16mm lens (108° angle of view) on my camera was not wide enough to cover the Wizard Island, the lake and then the sky with the Milky Way at its zenith – an expanse of about 130-140°. My pre-calculations were stupidly limited to the 90° stretch up to the zenith from the horizon forgetting those additional degrees of the foreground from the high vantage point. I had two options to resolve this unforeseen problem. Take multiple shots for panoramic stitching in post-production, or give my pricey but neglected, hefty 11mm lens a try. I opted – quite foolishly – for the latter. Try changing lens in total darkness without lighting up your phone or anything else out of courtesy for other photographers on the scene. It’s a nightmare. Then try focusing the lens for the hyperfocal point manually. At least 10-12 test-shots later, one will likely be in the ballpark, second guessing all the while. And finally, try composing in starlit darkness. Royal pain. With every minute, the Milky Way arch was crawling out of my frame and I was still fumbling for the right composition.
“Where is the Wizard Island?”, I almost blurted out.
After a bit of re-orientation with the barely visible Mt. Scott due east, I figured that my coveted foreground was around 100° azimuth. And there… you have the shot. Also in the frame, which I did not notice in my mild panic then, are two more gifts from the universe… the M31 (the Andromeda galaxy; 9 o’clock position), and a lovely shooting star.
So, what was at 100° azimuth from where I stood? The Wizard Island, the fervorous rendezvous with utter darkness and some self-rewarding melancholic brooding over technical aspects of art.
Tags: CraterLake CraterLakeNationalPark NationalPark WizardIsland MtScott MilkyWay Airglow M31 Messier31 AndromedaGalaxy ShootingStar Meteor Ramen Saha Night photography Sky Darkness
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Art and Science, they say, are polar opposites that must not be forked together. One is intuitive, inductive, and sensory, while the other is analytical, deductive, and logical. They must be held apart, for they come from different places and evoke different things in the practitioner while suffocating and/or rewarding them in unlike ways.
Now, is that true?
Let’s take the example of the String theory – a theory, which at its crescendo, posits the existence of eleven dimensions around us: ten of space and one of time (M-theory). On the surface, string theory is the child of Science: an analytical idea that was deduced in a systematic and logical way. It divides all particles in the universe into two types: Bosons and Fermions, and from there, attempts to explore the universe at the highest level of abstraction. At dizzying heights of such abstraction, this theory posits that a staggering 10^520 universes (Multiverse) may exist folded within the theoretical ‘String landscape’ of 11 dimensions. Intuitively, such abstraction is useless for an artist, who often struggles to portray three regular dimensions within restrictions of the two dimensional canvas. Instead, imagine portraying all 11 dimensions on a flat surface… it is forbiddingly disorienting!
Disorientation is not limited to artists; scientists suffer at the hands of this theory too. The String theory cannot be experimentally proven, or more importantly, disproven. To many scientists, what cannot be tested is not science. Period. And yet, generations of physicists have pursued the String theory with a creative madness rivaled in intensity only by lunacy of geniuses like Beethoven, Schumann and Vincent van Gogh. So, who are these physicists working their paint in mathematical formalization for three decades trying to birth their ‘theory of everything’ in some tangible form? Are they scientists – because they are using impeccable mathematics in their art; or, are they artists – because they are applying their top creative sparks and imagination in their science?
So, at the risk of offending a few prigs and pundits, I will leave you with the idea that Science and Art are perhaps like Bosons and Fermions, which according to an even wilder version of string theory (Supersymmetry), are contained in one another: every Fermion has a Boson, and every Boson a Fermion.
Tags: MilkyWay NationalPark BigBend BigBendNationalPark Night photography Night Moonset Tree Stars StringTheory Texas ArtAndScience M-Theory Physics Universe Ramen Saha ChisosBasin ChisosMountain
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In the celestial realm, Kohm Yah-mah-nee (the snow mountain) once fell utterly in love with the universe. Smitten, he would eagerly wait for the nightfall to be with the Beautiful. As beautiful as she was, however, it never escaped his attention how far she always remained. Despite the aloofness, she was the pain that took all his pains away. He could not have her but never could he give up on her either. So, there he stood frozen in time, waiting for her tear-river to touch him every night when he wailed in silence. In despair, his snow blanket felt fiery and the molten lava within gurgled. But with time, the agony felt rewarding. Now, the mighty Kohm Yah-mah-nee still waits eagerly for the nightfall to be with his beautiful pain that eventually takes all his pains away.
Tags: KohmYah-mah-nee LassenPeak LassenVolcanicNationalPark Ramen Saha NationalPark MilkyWay Stars Night photography MtLassen AndromedaGalaxy
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