You might not have heard, and almost certainly didn't see, Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1), zip by Earth over the past week and a half or so. Discovered last year, it was expected to brighten up and make a good showing as a binocular comet through January 2018, but it's still very dim, at Magnitude 9.5. …Read more History’s Most Important Comets (Astronomy: Week of 1/14/18)
Advection Fog
Beautiful pic from our run this morning. 60deg warm, moist on top of the snow made for some nice advection fog views. This is on the Assabet River Rail Trail. Photo Credit - Tom Hesbach
Ice Giving Way To Fog
We've actually seen temps crack above freezing this week, and the warmer air can hold the moisture of the melting ice and snow. Photo Credit - Lynn Abbott
Patterns in the Ice
The frozen surface of a tidal river - the ridges and patterns that form with the push and heave of changing tides are really interesting. Almost like a terraced garden. The Arctic in minature? Photo Credit - Lynn Abbott
Astronomy Videos
Hey all. As I mentioned recently, I've been having fun with YouTube, just about as much as I have writing here. I recently had one of my YouTube buds ask about astronomy, and when I mentioned I write about it occasionally, he encouraged me to try to incorporate a YouTube adaptation... I was skeptical, but…Read more Astronomy Videos
Ice Boats?
The sailing fleet is stranded, and there are no ice boats around to take their place. It's so rare to see this (brackish) river frozen over, I guess nobody thought they'd be needed! Photo credit - Lynn Abbott
Conjunction Junction (Astronomy: Week of 1/7/18)
Whew! Compared to last week, this week is pretty quiet, so I'm going to keep this one short... Our wintry nights are still long, here in the midst of "Deep Winter" (more on my 8-season outdoor calendar to come, later...), and I, like almost a third of the US, am REALLY cold. But those long…Read more Conjunction Junction (Astronomy: Week of 1/7/18)
Force Field
Evergreen trees come equipped with a snow force field.
It’s Cold Outside
It's cold outside! Ice crystals on glass
Waning Wolf
The first full Moon of 2018 was a Supermoon, and also the Wolf Moon. Here, the visible ragged crater edges on the western (top) flank indicate this is no longer full - it's technically a waning gibbous. But it's in the single digits out there, I wouldn't be surprised if the wolves are still about!
New Year’s Tradition
Where I come from (not necessarily where I AM), eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day brings good luck for the year. Who else had some? It's great that little cultural things like this persist even as the world gets smaller and homogenized. Happy New Year everybody!
One Year in the Blogosphere – Lessons, Trials, and Tribulations of a Social Media Noob
A year ago, I stumbled eagerly (and ignorantly) into this whole existence I call "Flying Squirrel Outdoors". My mission had nothing to do with blogging, or a social media presence - it was (and is) really about the observation that we are increasingly turning inwards toward things of our own creation. These things are, themselves,…Read more One Year in the Blogosphere – Lessons, Trials, and Tribulations of a Social Media Noob
December Photo Summary
I took so much time off around the holidays, the photo list is a little light this month, but in case you missed them, here they are! I'm planning on doing something a little different with photos in 2018, we'll see how that works out. Happy New Year, everybody!!
Super-Everything to Kick Off 2018! (Astronomy: Week of 12/31/17)
OK, so... there might be a little bit of exaggeration in this title, but not much! Let's get to it! First off, we'll be ringing in the New Year with the year's first Supermoon, on New Year's Day! It's bigger, it's brighter! Because it's closer... the full Moon just happen to occur within a day…Read more Super-Everything to Kick Off 2018! (Astronomy: Week of 12/31/17)
Birds of 2017
This week's photo challenge suggests we look back on images of 2017 - of course it IS coming up on New Year's Eve, and that's what we do, right? As I looked back, I realized just how many birds were "shot" this year... so rather than picking a favorite, I'm sharing a wide selection of…Read more Birds of 2017
Flying Squirrel Outdoors 