Originally Posted 11/11/08:

News from the observatory:

The cows enjoying one of the last few warm days of Autumn.


I don't know why they do this, and I don't know what they're called, but you can always tell Winter is here when these little weeds form ice on themselves.


And the airplane picture.


My telescope happily following the Moon across the sky. When it's tracking something, it makes little chirping sounds like a cricket. Sounds like it's from outer space itself!


The Moon and the Seven Sisters on the rise. The Seven Sisters are the little dipper looking thing (but not the Little Dipper) under the tree branches, left side.


The waxing gibbous Moon. This picture was actually taken through high thin clouds.


- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!

UPDATE:

ICE FLOWERS: Temperatures across much of the United States have plunged to record-low levels. It's so cold, ice flowers are sprouting from the ground:



"When I went out to get firewood on the morning of Jan. 16th, I noticed these little luminous beings of ice scattered all around our yard," says photographer Chyenne M. Star of Edgemont, Arkansas. "I have never seen them before - or anywhere in our area."

Scientists have been studying the ice flower phenomenon for almost two hundred years. Botanists, physicists, geologists--all have puzzled over the fragile ribbons of ice that wrap themselves around the stems of some plants during winter. Over time, the following consensus has emerged: Liquid water from deep soil flows up into the stems. Linear cracks in the stems expose the water to freezing air. Water turns to ice, and the ice extrudes from the cracks in thin sheets.

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