Greetings from the Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park at San Diego, California, USA!
Photo was taken on Monday, August 27, 2007.
Day 2 of the overnight trip to San Diego started with the morning spent on Coronado Island, home to Hotel Del Coronado, a resort with ocean vistas and a distinct architecture. The perfect weather practically required us to dine outdoors at one of the hotel’s cafés. This easily beats working in an office cubicle under fluorescent lighting on a Monday (or any day).
The afternoon stop was Balboa Park where I toured a couple of museums. At the Automobile Museum the motorcycles and cars were great but the building was more oversized repair shop and less dealership showroom. By comparison, the Aerospace museum was a palace. Unfortunately my camera battery was nearly drained. Before the camera shut itself off, I was able to squeeze out a few shots including the photo of the week- a Navy fighter jet on permanent display in front of the building.
Speaking of space, you would think that I went to bed early when I got home that evening. But sleep had to wait. Eclipses are common but a total lunar eclipse completely visible from start to finish on your side of the Earth is not so common. With a fully recharged battery in my camera, I took a series of photos of the gradually disappearing moon from midnight to 3:00 AM. It would take another 2 to 3 hours for it reappear but would be competing against the light of the rising sun. Meanwhile the fight against sleep is a war you always lose, so I went to bed.
Lastly, while stretched out in a lounge chair watching the eclipse, I saw a shooting star. Just two weeks earlier I also stayed up late and went to a semi-rural area to watch the annual Pleiades meteor shower. I saw a few streakers in an hour or so before heading home. A half-month later I see one from my own patio. It’s more impressive when you realized that I was in the middle of a city where the urban glow diffused from street lamps, etc. drowns out a lot of light from the night sky. The brightness of a full moon could also outshine a shooting star but the total eclipse took care of that.
One night, two rare celestial events. I should have made a wish on the shooting star. Drats.
Angelo
Photo was taken on Monday, August 27, 2007.
Day 2 of the overnight trip to San Diego started with the morning spent on Coronado Island, home to Hotel Del Coronado, a resort with ocean vistas and a distinct architecture. The perfect weather practically required us to dine outdoors at one of the hotel’s cafés. This easily beats working in an office cubicle under fluorescent lighting on a Monday (or any day).
The afternoon stop was Balboa Park where I toured a couple of museums. At the Automobile Museum the motorcycles and cars were great but the building was more oversized repair shop and less dealership showroom. By comparison, the Aerospace museum was a palace. Unfortunately my camera battery was nearly drained. Before the camera shut itself off, I was able to squeeze out a few shots including the photo of the week- a Navy fighter jet on permanent display in front of the building.
Speaking of space, you would think that I went to bed early when I got home that evening. But sleep had to wait. Eclipses are common but a total lunar eclipse completely visible from start to finish on your side of the Earth is not so common. With a fully recharged battery in my camera, I took a series of photos of the gradually disappearing moon from midnight to 3:00 AM. It would take another 2 to 3 hours for it reappear but would be competing against the light of the rising sun. Meanwhile the fight against sleep is a war you always lose, so I went to bed.
Lastly, while stretched out in a lounge chair watching the eclipse, I saw a shooting star. Just two weeks earlier I also stayed up late and went to a semi-rural area to watch the annual Pleiades meteor shower. I saw a few streakers in an hour or so before heading home. A half-month later I see one from my own patio. It’s more impressive when you realized that I was in the middle of a city where the urban glow diffused from street lamps, etc. drowns out a lot of light from the night sky. The brightness of a full moon could also outshine a shooting star but the total eclipse took care of that.
One night, two rare celestial events. I should have made a wish on the shooting star. Drats.
Angelo
