Pelican above the bluffs

Walked down to the pier on a gloomy day while my car was in the shop. People were pretty good at spreading out and wearing masks (prob. because the city started fining people back in summer).

Among other shorebirds, I saw a group of a half dozen pelicans whirling around and diving for fish.

#birds #sky #pelican #photo #gloomy

On Photog.Social
On iNaturalist (crop)

A bright sundog next to a glass-sided building

A bright #sundog next to a glass-sided building. The sun is off to the left out of frame. The sundog had a bit more color and more of the spectrum in it as seen through my polarized sunglasses, so I kind of wish I'd taken a shot through one of the lenses, but at least you can see how bright it was. I haven't adjusted the color on this image at all - except for cropping, it's straight out of my phone. #sky #halo

A bright #sundog next to a glass-sided building. The sun is off to the left out of frame. The sundog had a bit more color and more of the spectrum in it as seen through my polarized sunglasses, so I kind of wish I'd taken a shot through one of the lenses, but at least you can see how bright it was.

I haven't adjusted the color on this image at all – except for cropping, it's straight out of my phone.

#sky #halo

On PixelFed.Social
On K2R

Some recent sun halo displays I’ve seen in the last 2 weeks

Some recent sun #halo displays I’ve seen in the last 2 weeks: An upper tangent arc (my first!), the top edges of a circumscribed and 22° circular halo, and most of a 22° circular halo (with bonus contrail shadow on the cloud layer!)

All shot on my Pixel 2 with levels adjusted.

These are all formed by reflection and refraction of light in ice crystals. (A great reference: https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/common.htm )

Also, all seen from Los Angeles, which isn’t freezing…at ground level.

#Photography #sky

On Photog.Social

Shortly before sunset, Katie noticed a really yellow quality to the light outside the window, …

Shortly before sunset, Katie noticed a really yellow quality to the light outside the window, like an eclipse (we’re *way* outside its path) or inside the smoke plume from a large fire. I went out to see. As near as I can tell, it was the reddish/golden hour light from the sun reflecting off of the cloud layer above us that was making everything look yellow. J came out too, and while he wasn’t terribly interested in the clouds or sunset, he had fun watching cars and people and looking at stuff down here on the ground.

St. Patrick’s Day Moon & Jupiter

St. Patrick’s Day Moon & Jupiter on Flickr.

Yesterday I looked at the moon and Jupiter and thought, there’s going to be another conjunction tomorrow, isn’t there? Then I forgot, but fortunately I had to make a grocery run.

I took this photo just minutes ago. If you’re in the western half of North America, and the sky is clear, you can walk outside RIGHT NOW and see this.

Looking for comet Pan-STARRS last night. A lot of people had chosen the same hillside park…

Looking for #comet Pan-STARRS last night. A lot of people had chosen the same hillside park and were sharing their telescopes and binoculars as we watched the #sunset over the clouds, then the barely crescent #moon coming into view, and finally the comet itself. More at K2R: Comet Watch