Astro-image of the day: invisible observatory dome, lightning

[mckitterick]

This is gorgeous.

Click the image to see the story.

I usually try to find astro-images that aren't from the Astronomy Picture of the Day site because, well, you could just make that a favorite and check it daily rather than read my astro-image LJ posts. But this just tripped too many triggers for me: dynamic sky, telescope, observatory, stars, clouds, sexy photography... so here it is. I hope you enjoy, too.

The sky over Lawrence is exciting tonight, too. adammaker rode with me to and from my KU-Edwards Campus class tonight (he's doing lab work in the biochemistry lab while I teach Foundations of Technical Writing), and on the way back, zowie! The sky is streaked with branching lightning, and the occasional jagged bolt blasts down from the sky, all orange or red with distance.

Photo from NOAA.

What a lovely drive.

Best,
Chris

Comments

[silvergoth.livejournal.com]

Oh my god! Did you take that lightning photograph? It's magnificent!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

How I wish I had! No, it's just a really nice NOAA stock photo that I had to share. The sky looks like that here, tonight.

[silvergoth.livejournal.com]

I'd be envious but, let's face it. You're in the midwest. That's Darwin's waiting room. "Hold my beer and watch this" country. They just don't make lightning good enough.

I do miss you though. Move back someday!

In only marginally related news, boyfriend Matt and his family decided this last Saturday morning at 3 AM not to catch their scheduled flight to Honduras. Good thing, too. Their hotel was evacuated today in advance of hurricane Dean.

Matt tells me that even "tropical storm force" winds make SCUBA diving pretty heinous, and lightning pretty much puts a halt to diving altogether. Plus, they would have been staying on an island in a hut out over the water. Yee-Haw. Not so much fun trying to evacuate with 2 kids during a nasty storm. They may actually get to go next week, if the resort is still standing.

Glad I'm warm and dry,

- S

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Hey, now, Lawrence isn't Kansas, y'know. Sure, it's a ten-minute drive to folks such as you mention, but the people I see regularly are clever, interesting, and... um, equally skeptical about the chances of converting the rest of the Midwest to progressive ways of thinking. Okay, never mind.

Oh, and one of my friends (hi, Jeremy!) is teaching his daughter how to hunt. She got her first deer last fall and is looking forward to her next this coming season. And she goes to the demo derbies with us. She knows not to drink and then shoot. Do I trust the other hunters out there not to mistake her for a deer in their drunken point-of-view? Well... hmmm, this isn't working to convince you of anything, is it? Anyhow.

I miss you, too! I think of you often, and talk about you (and the other Seattle folks) with my local friends often. I hope to visit again before too darned long, especially now that one of my Lawrence friends has moved to your neck of the woods to work for Boeing (that'd be cba1282zyx). Can't say that I'm planning on moving back any time soon unless the UW offers me a job. Hm.

That's scary-exciting about Matt. Glad they didn't get stuck (or drowned) down there.

Best,
Chris

[radcliffe.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!!!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I know - I love this pair of photos!

It seems to have stopped lightning-ing outside, *sigh*

[fortyozspartan.livejournal.com]

I always thought lightning-ing was funny to say.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Me, too! And everyone knows what it means.