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cecphotos · 4 years ago

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Reach For The Stars in Joshua Tree National Park

Price: $950, $250 dollar deposit required, Optional Post-Processing After Workshop for $125 More details on pricing and deposit below.

Join me May 14-16, 2021 in Joshua Tree National Park for a multi-day immersive experience amongst ethereal Joshua Trees, amazing rock formations and dark skies. This unforgettable photographic experience will include four Golden Hours and two nights exploring the vast arid landscapes in one of the country's most interesting National Parks.

Scroll down for all the details

About The Workshop

During this workshop, I will guide you through Joshua Tree National Park while helping you to translate emotion and vision through our photographic medium. I am dedicated to providing the best instruction on all aspects of the art of landscape photography and night photography. Whether you are just beginning or are a seasoned pro, I am ready to help you move forward with your photography as all levels are welcome to participate. Together we will create an unforgettable photographic experience this spring by chasing light and capturing the early spring night sky.

Itinerary

Tentative Schedule: Since this is a field workshop, we will remain flexible to weather and light conditions to ensure we are able to shoot during the most ideal conditions. The final itinerary with exact times will be made available on Day 1. Lodging, airfare, transportation, park fees and all meals are the responsibility of the attendee.

DAY 1: Friday, May 14th 6:00 PM Meet at Park Entrance (Meet and Greet) 6:30 PM Depart for Sunset Shoot 8:00 PM Depart back to Dinner and Rest For Astro Session 11:00 PM Meet For Astro Session

DAY 2: Saturday, May 15th

4:00 AM Move to Sunrise Location (if necessary) 6:00 AM Return To Hotel for Meals and Rest 6:00 PM Meet for Sunset Shoot 8:00 PM Depart back to Dinner and Rest For Astro Session 11:00 PM Meet For Astro Session

DAY 3: Sunday, May 16th

4:00 AM Move to Sunrise Location (if necessary) 7:00 AM Workshop Concludes for rest and easy check out of Hotels.

Transportation

No Transportation will be provided to, from or during the workshop. All attendees are responsible for arranging their own transportation. Any car will be sufficient for our outings, but a vehicle with higher clearance may allow you more ease on some roads throughout the park.

Airports

The nearest airport is in Palm Springs, California

Los Angeles is about 140 Miles to the West

San Diego is about 170 Miles to the South

Rental Cars

Many options are available for renting a vehicle of any kind from either airport listed above. Any car will be sufficient for our outings, but a vehicle with higher clearance could make driving easier on some roads in the park.

Accomodation

Hotels:

There is no lodging available within Joshua Tree National Park. However, there are many places to stay in nearby communities. Please contact area chambers of commerce for information.

I would recommend staying in 29 Palms or just outside of the park towards the town of Joshua Tree. You will find lots of accommodations in both of those areas including hotels and AirBnB.

Camping:

Camping is very popular in Joshua Tree and campgrounds sell out quickly. Learn more about the nine campgrounds in Joshua Tree. There are also a number of options for camping outside of the park. Restaurants, Grocery Stores, & Picnic Areas:

There are no restaurants or grocery stores inside Joshua Tree National Park, but nearby communities provide these services. Check with area chambers of commerce for more information.

Joshua Tree has eight picnic areas: Cottonwood, Indian Cove, Live Oak, Split Rock, Cap Rock, Hidden Valley, Quail Springs, and Black Rock. Their locations are shown on the map here at the bottom of the page.

Remember: help us keep wildlife wild. Never feed wild animals. Store food in hard-sided containers or in your vehicle. Carefully clean up all trash and leftovers, even small crumbs.

Things to Bring

It’s always good to know what equipment you need. If you have any questions about the necessities I’m here to help, but here is a list of essentials and recommendations for the trip:

Equipment:

DSLR / Mirrorless camera and lenses

DSLR or Mirrorless camera is an essential tool to get the most out of the workshop and your photos

Wide Angle Lens - 12-24mm (Faster lenses are better for night photography, but not essential)

Mid to Long Range Zoom - 24-70, 70-200, 100-400 are great ranges to capture intimate scenes

Tripod (Sturdy as the Fall months can have very strong winds)

All filters you might have, a Circular Polarizer is a great tool

Remote / cable camera shutter

Needed for tack sharp images and long exposures

Several memory cards

You never want to run out of space for pictures. Bring several or empty at the end of the day

Spare camera batteries

Another thing you never want to run out of in the field. Bring several fully charged with you and charge over night

Head torch (for any night or low light walking and shooting)

Raincover for camera and camera bag cold come in handy in some rare cases of rain or high wind!

Small Camping Chair or Stool for comfort

Clothing Items:

Many layers -It should be quite mild to warm for our trip, bt May can still hold a few cold nights. Plan for warm days and mild nights

Gloves, Warm Hat, warm socks (If there’s a cold spell)

Sunglasses, Large Brim hat, and Sunscreen are recommended for the daytime

Hiking Shoes\Boots are recommended

FOOD:

Food, Water, and all other essentials. No Food or water will be provided before, during or after workshop; unless otherwise stated in the itinerary.

Plan ahead and have plenty of water available as it is very dry and can warm quickly on clear days.

Physical Requirements

Some hiking will be required, but the hikes will be around 1-2 miles at most. Most of the hiking is very flat and moderate in difficulty at best. Typically shooting is done within a mile of the car and most hiking should be generally light in elevation change. We’ll be sure to move at a fair pace and no student will be left behind.

Please make me aware of any concerns you might have about your physical abilities.

What is Included and Not Included

INCLUDED:

• Tuition • Expert instruction in the field with Chris Ewen Crosby • Video Introduction and Presentation Prior to Workshop • Guidance to key compositional attributes throughout the park

NOT INCLUDED:

• Flights and transportation • Lodging • Meals • Park entrance fees • Travel and cancellation insurance

Payment, Fees and Terms

COST: The cost of the workshop is $950 and includes everything listed in the “What’s Included” Section

PAYMENT: A non-refundable deposit of $250 is required to reserve a space on this workshop. The final balance of $950 is due and payable 60 days before the workshop begins. Full payment is due at that time or thereafter, and there will be no refunds on the full amount owed if you cancel after final payment. However, if another client happens to fill your space, you will receive a full refund, minus your non-refundable deposit. Payment(s) can be made using the Add To Cart button of this web page using a credit card via Paypal and Stripe. If you would like to pay by another method, use the contact form on this page to ask Chris about options for sending a personal check or bank transfer.

COVID-19 ADVISORY:

In accordance with state and local public health organizations, Chris Ewen Crosby Photography & Samy's Photo School are following all COVID-19 related protocols. All participants will be asked to maintain social distancing protocols of 6 feet from anyone not in their household. Face coverings are mandatory for all. The class size for this event has been limited to only 5 students to further minimize the risks associated with COVID-19. Please do not attend this class if you are experiencing any symptoms related to COVID-19 including fever of 100.4 or higher, cough, shortness of breath, loss of sense of taste/smell, fatigue, diarrhea, muscle aches and headache.

Participants will be required to sign a COVID-19 addendum and assumption of risk form

CANCELLATIONS: Cancellations require me to re-open enrollment and/or to engage in additional promotional efforts to fill the workshop on a short notice, therefore, my policy is that there will be no refunds of the deposit. The balance (minus the non-refundable deposit) is refundable up to the 60-day deadline. Thereafter, the balance is also non-refundable, with one exception: if we find participants to fill all canceled spaces and the workshop is ultimately full when it begins, then you will receive a refund of the balance within two weeks of the workshop’s conclusion. The deposit remains non-refundable. All refunds are subject to a 6% processing fee. I highly recommend that you obtain travel/cancellation insurance for all workshops to protect yourself against unusual circumstances.

PARK FEES: All attendees of the workshop are required to pay the National Park Entrance fees upon entry to the park and are not included in Workshop Fee. Further instruction will be provided to students prior to their visit.

Joshua Tree Entrance Fee - per vehicle - $30.00

This permit allows all persons traveling with the permit holder in one single private, non-commercial vehicle (car/truck/van) to leave and re-enter the park as many times as they wish during the 7-day period from the date of purchase.

Joshua Tree Entrance Fee - per motorcycle - $25.00

This permit allows persons traveling on one motorcycle to leave and re-enter the park as many times as they wish during the 7-day period from the date of purchase.

Joshua Tree Entrance Fee - per individual - $15.00

This permit allows a single individual traveling on foot or individuals traveling on one bicycle to leave and re-enter the park as many times as they wish during the 7-day period from the date of purchase.

Joshua Tree Annual Pass - $55.00

Annual pass providing free entrance to Joshua Tree for 12 months from the date of purchase

Curriculum

Curriculum will be catered to each individual’s skill level and may vary from student to student. Below you’ll find some common topics based upon different skill levels.

BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE

I am a big believer in fundamentals in the development of any skill, photography is no different. I start all my workshops by ensuring that we have a good foundation to build on. Below you’ll find some sample topics:

Shooting in Manual Mode

Understand The Exposure Triangle and how each affects the image (aperture, ISO, shutter speed)

How to Meter and Expose for best results

Using light for better captures

Compositions made simple and easy

Understanding and using camera settings and menu options

ND’s, Polarizer and Grads - Which to use and when to use it

Tips and Tricks for easier workflows and shooting experience in the field

Photographing the night sky - Exposure, Focusing, Compositions

INTERMEDIATE - ADVANCED

Those who have a greater understanding of their cameras will get some more advanced shooting techniques to focus on light, location and making good decisions to make the most of the variables. Some advanced topics are listed below:

Exposure bracketing and blending

Focus stacking for depth of field and sharpness

Creative blending to bring the vision to life

Composing for interest, depth and focus

Time Blends for Night Sky

Conclusions and Expectations

SUMMARY

Your satisfaction, enjoyment and educational experience is important to me. The goal of this workshop is to allow you to further understand your camera, composition and artistic expression while using the amazing landscapes of Joshua Tree National Park. I want to ensure that everyone comes away with great instruction as well as a great experience in nature. Most importantly, we are going to have fun! Having fun is a critical part of any good photography adventure. When you have fun, your mind is free to expand and learn.

POST PROCESSING

Post Processing is not included with this workshop. You can purchase an additional 3 hours of post processing instruction with this workshop that will be completed following the workshop. Editing is done via group video session in the following weeks from the workshop. It is recorded and available for download shortly after the session is complete. Instruction is given in both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Topics of post processing will vary upon your skill level. Common topics below:

Lightroom and Photoshop Workflows

Maximizing your RAW captures

Keys to clean editing

Stacking for depth of field and noise

Use of Luminosity Masks

Blending methods

Finishing an Image

and much more...

Learn More About Chris

Chris is a photographer and educator based in Long Beach, CA. It is a desire to teach, love for the outdoors, and photography which resulted in his role as a landscape photographer and educator. When not sharing his photography knowledge he can be found exploring nature’s beauty in his endless search for perfect light and discovery.

Learn More About Chris’s Workshops

Chris’s workshops cover a wide-range of photographic instruction and all its aspects, but also put an emphasis on having fun to enable creativity to thrive. Chris puts the emphasis your development as a photographer, incorporating infield fundamentals and cutting edge techniques to help you find your vision and bring it to life in post-processing. Whether you are just beginning or a blooming professional, Chris will help you to create meaningful and inspiring photographs while leading you down a path towards finding your own creativity.

#Workshop #Group Workshop #Photo Tour #Photo Adventure #Landscape #Photography #Photography Workshop #Desert #Joshua Tree #National Park #night photography #photo workshop

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glitteroracle · 7 years ago

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Glitter Oracle Astro-Infused Tarot Scopes for the Taurus New Moon & Uranus into Taurus, May 15th 2018

It’s here, my darlings. The moment many of us have been waiting for. Not merely an astrological key-change, but a watershed moment which will define the coming decade. Uranus, planet of disruption, rebellion and innovation, is shifting into Taurus. And I have an important question for you I’m surprised no-one’s asked yet: Are you READY for the reliable, consistent Taurean(s) in your life to change beyond recognition? Are you ready for Taurus to get free & freaky & break out of their comfort zones & challenge everyone around them to do the same? Simple answer: you ain’t. Uranus brings unexpected, gamechanging events which zing out of left field, and if you think you can predict its shockwaves, think again! But the Bulls? They’re champing at the metaphorical bit. Since Uranus turned direct at the beginning of 2018, every Taurean you know has felt a change in the air, a longing to break free, as if urged forward by a cool electric hum at a pitch only they can hear. As Chiron arrived in Aries, it only got more insistent. And now, at last, the stage is cleared and ready for some major earth-liberating action!

Enthusiastic musical metaphors aside, Uranus truly will bring unpredictable change, excitement and a restless edginess we’ll call anxiety, into our lives between now and 2027, when it leaves Taurus. Uranus in Aries has seen the rise of selfie-culture and social media as a hollow replacement for the personal gains Millennials have been barred from by the financial crisis. It has brought determination and willpower, counterbalanced by aggressive and selfish me-first politics. The place Uranus in Aries has been transiting in our charts has been the area where of our lives where we have fought to be the pioneer, and yet, where we have thus far failed. Remember that Uranus is something of a mad scientist, and a lot of our wild schemes over the last few years were never meant to make it out of the lab, no matter how disappointing that may have been at the time. It has truly been a learning experience, but many of us will breathe a sigh of relief to feel the fresh & rather odd new atmosphere of the god of the future in the domain of the earthy, stable, conservative and abundant Bull.

First & most obviously, Uranus going into Taurus will radically affect our collective embodiment. Expect huge advances in nutrition, surgery, and robotics. I think this could well be the moment when we start to embrace that we are becoming cyborgs, and that AI takes a few fast and radical leaps forward. I hope that this also enables us to recognise our fellow species as possessing rights & innate value – for Taurus rules the Earth, the creatures, plants and minerals which inhabit it, and how we value our resources. If we so value our home, we need to treat it better, and fast. The last days of Uranus in Aries have seen geopolitical tensions rising as volcanoes erupt and molten lava – the Earth’s own fiery blood – destroying property and lives.

I also strongly believe Uranus in Taurus heralds the coming of a new age, at last: The Age of the Divine Feminine. It is now time for the sacred strength, power, nurturance and vulnerability of feminine wisdom and leadership to be reclaimed, cherished and upheld by a gender-diverse mass of spiritual warriors. Jupiter in Scorpio’s #MeToo has brought the shame of sexual abuse at the heart of our culture to light, now Uranus in Taurus is here to make the change real and lasting, with a little help from steady Saturn & Pluto in Capricorn (legislating energies).

I also wish to balance these notes of optimism with a cautionary one. The last time Uranus was in Taurus saw a repugnant uprising of Fascism in Europe which rapidly accelerated into war. With Chiron (god of both wounds and healing) recently landed in Aries (war), this has the potential to be a tense combination. Because Taurus rules the land and possession – MINE – and Uranus rules collective rebellion, transpersonal feeling, the MASS – we must watch for doing something for an artificial, temporary sense of belonging, just because everyone else is doing it. We must continue to fight the fascism that has been springing up across the Western world. Start within, and work your way outwards to your local community. The potential for change right now cannot be underestimated. Let’s remember that we are all stewards – not landlords – of this Earth. Everything we are gifted here is temporary. What cannot be taken from us are our values, and that is what we must work on refining and infusing with the Uranian spirit of respect for diversity and difference. So let’s work on building communities and structures which are fantastical, flexible and capacious enough to carry us into hitherto undreamed futures, with our integrity, faith in abundance and a generous spirit intact. As Chelsea Manning would say: We got this!

A little note on these scopes: I felt that this moment is so special that I wanted to give you MORE. So I pulled two cards for each sign – one for the New Moon, and one for Uranus’ ingress into Taurus. The New Moon card gives an emotional snapshot of where you are in the present moment, & clues about the next six months. The Uranus card indicates what this transit asks you to develop over the course of the next nine years. Please read your Rising sign first if you know it and your Sun sign to get the full picture. I hope you get pleasure & guidance from these scopes! They were a joy to write and I loved using the cards to gain an insight into your life journey at this moment. If you enjoyed these, you can send a donation via the link below, or book a reading (check them out under the Offerings tab) by emailing [email protected]. Please share and quote with attribution.

Much love, & many blessings!

Glitter Oracle, xxx

TAURUS

New Moon card: The Emperor

Uranus in Taurus card: King of Swords

My dear Taurus, as your birthday season draws to a close, Uranus has something major in store for you. The appearance of the Emperor at your birthday new moon, with Sun, Moon, Mercury and Uranus about to arrive in your sign makes the impact of this transit extremely clear: it’s about personal sovereignty, and ruling your realm with a confidence you have probably never felt before. Strive for justice and equanimity even as you feel powered forward by a new intensity to actualise your own agenda. It’s yang time for you Taurus! Usually slow-moving, steady, and chill, this New Moon challenges you to become a bit more like brother Aries, himself recently Uranized, and boldly pursue your dreams without worrying too much about what others want. The masculine complement of The Empress (a Taurean card), the Emperor incites you to focus on your projects and what you want to accomplish. Giving anyone else the reins or control over any act of your life would be a sucker-punch to your self-confidence right now, as we can either OWN an archetype this strong or project it. So don’t waste this energy and give your power away! We’re talking strategy, willpower and marshalling your resources – which you have plenty of – to secure the life you want to develop for yourself over the next six months.

The appearance of the King of Swords as the signifier of Uranus landing in your sun sign makes this a double dose of masculine energy, and indicates that you will be working on developing your powers of clear sight, clear communication and clarity in all areas of your life. Uranus will gift you the power of ruthless honesty, sharpening your wits and deleting sentiment from your decision-making processes. You are going to become a master of speaking your mind, and from this place you will develop a trust in the powers of language to express your true feelings in a way that you never have before. As Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, which rules Gemini, the natural significator of this card, you are going to benefit from the airy smarts of those folk, whilst retaining your earthy practical savvy. By the end of this transit, you truly will be a force to be reckoned with, a person of your word.

GEMINI

New Moon card: The Tower

Uranus in Taurus: The Empress

Wow! A double whammy of major arcana suggests that the Taurean lightning bolt of this New Moon is a landmark moment in the story of your life to date. This new moon is a BIG shake-up. The Tower is a card which points to change forced on one from the outside: often a crisis, or simply a complete inversion or erosion of the status quo. Many of you have just left or are about to leave a job, a country or a relationship – or perhaps all three! Whichever: you know that the changes of the moment are calling for radical shifts within YOU. You are re-evaluating your self-concept from the ground up in the rubble of what was, and waiting for the dust to clear. This New Moon instructs you, in true Taurus fashion, to dwell in the present moment of chaos and re-orientation to see as clearly as possible the structures that have collapsed. In fact, they never truly had the potential you thought they did. In order to build something entirely new which will serve you well and be fashioned out of materials which truly suit your purposes, you first come face-to-face with yourself. What do you want to keep as we head into your birthday season? Which ghosts – beliefs, past loves, habits – is it time to bid farewell to? Solitude, play, meditation, dreaming and creative writing are helpful activities at this time. Be tender with yourself. Birthing a new paradigm is not simple or fast work. You don’t need to worry about the details yet; for now, setting your intentions and getting clear on the vision is enough.

The Empress is an auspicious and beautiful sign for Uranus in Taurus. Uranus will be transiting your 12th, and the inner work you begin at this New Moon is part of an ongoing process to bring the values of the Divine Feminine into play. As Uranus helps Taureans develop their Mercurial wits, they will turn you on to the delights of your Taurean side: your sensuality and the rhythms of nature, a physical connection to the Divine through your body, working with the magic of the earth and natural cycles. What’s so beautiful about this is the opportunity not just to inhabit your body – something rather difficult for Geminis to do for long periods – but to heal it, and in doing so, to find deep resonance, wisdom and understanding in almost-forgotten stories, healing methods and myths. These may be the brilliance of our feminine ancestors; this may be communication with animal guides and nature spirits. What is evident to me is that your healing and embodiment is strongly connected to the survival of the earth. You will be the sign leading us forward in terms of the Divine Feminine and what that looks like in a post-gender, eco-apocalyptic age. You will alchemize the sudden odd insights of Uranus in the 12th and transform it into a vision of care and nourishment for the self, community and planet which has the femme power and wisdom we so badly need.

CANCER

New Moon: The Chariot

Uranus in Taurus: 8 of Rods (Wands)

Hey Cancer, you’re not having the easiest time of it astrologically at the moment, but the New Moon and Uranus will bring with them a welcome sense of momentum! These two fast-moving cards together suggest a sense of dynamism, movement, courage and daring, indicating that what you start now will be significant in the years which follow. The Chariot, a card associated with Cancer, draws on your cardinal, initiatory nature, giving you the ability to battle for what you love in the service of protection – it’s quite literally a moving shell. This card in particular, with its image of a tunnel leading up into the light, indicates to me that lately life has felt like a never-ending mound of drudgery, causing you to feel pinned down, to drown in deep emotions, or feeling otherwise unquantifiably held back. Now you have the starting gun and you can move off in the direction of your heart’s desire, animate stalled projects and generally glean vitality from the race itself. There’s big energy and dreams in play, and you’ll gain nothing by holding back. Start your engines!

The 8 of Rods with its eight arrows seems an extremely fitting companion for the Chariot, indicating that this Uranus transit is going to develop your ability to speak your truth and well, a la Nike, just do it. This is a Mars in Sagittarius card, indicating boldness in speech, thought and action. The rather hesitant Crab is going to lose their shyness and slowly learn to take risks, stretch out into unfamiliar terrain and put themselves out there. So these cards taken together suggest that you both MOVE, and send advance notice of your arrival. Tell confidantes your plans, announce it to your social media following, send the contracts, make it real. Take the risk of sharing your feelings and ideas, and declaring where you stand. The focus here is feeling free to express yourself among your associates and your larger networks (as Uranus goes into your 11th house), which in turn will enhance your career, your relationships and your personal courage as you learn to get comfortable with the vulnerability of putting yourself out there. It takes practice, but every time you express your true feelings you win hearts and minds both for yourself, and for your wider cause.

LEO

New Moon: Page of Rods

Uranus in Taurus: 6 of Swords

Lavish Leo! The appearance of the Page of Rods for this New Moon brings a rush of raw and difficult to contain excitement, confidence and enthusiasm in new projects. Now is the time to welcome in fresh start-over energy and infuse your career, heart-work and visibility with your self-belief. These last years of Uranus in Aries have been surprisingly tough, continuously slamming you with challenges to your very belief system even as it offered you new opportunities to break out of your comfort zone. This card affirms that the time is right to believe in yourself and pursue your current aims with gusto, verve and originality. The new beginning you have waited for is here. How can you nourish your body and soul deeply enough to do your creative work? You can’t run on empty. This Page suggests that you fuel your fire through a slight adjustment, a small but innovative tweak to your daily routine which clicks things back on track – whether that’s 15 minutes of mediation, exercise, a supplement, or daily doses of play with children or animals. Go outside, breathe the fresh air & gather inspiration. Remember the wild, strong, creative creature that you are!

The 6 of Swords augments this suspicion I have that Uranus into Taurus presents a welcome relief for you. You are currently reaching the end of a difficult period, having recently departed unsatisfactory shores: in many cases, an actually harmful or toxic situation which was damaging your health and self-perception, for others, grief or disappointment, surgery or a recent passing of a loved one. Uranus is assisting you in letting go and attaining a healing respite. The call of the new is your journeyman, your healer. There is a suggestion here that over the next decade, you will be developing your capacities as a space-holder for people going through tough times, whether that’s as a counsellor, healer, doula or simply a friend. Allow Uranus to bring you the gift of integrating the recent past, and in doing so, to turn you on to your true vocation, as they transit the 10th house. This house is about career and reputation, but I truly believe it’s about heart-work: the work where by shining your light, you share with others the magnificence available to them through life. At the moment, you don’t even have to worry about the direction of your raft: just do the work of letting go so that when you arrive at your new destination, you are lightest, brightest, most resilient, open-hearted self.

VIRGO

New Moon: Page of Pentacles

Uranus in Taurus: Knight of Pentacles

Well, this is certainly an interesting pairing of kid sister with their big brother for you, wise Virgo. This power-up of the New Moon is a surge forward in terms of making your plans real, practical and tangible. It’s time to take your inspiration and manifest it: your favourite stage of things, planning out all the details and testing the viability of your ideas. Ask yourself how you can cultivate a playful and childlike attitude to the material world. Taurus season is a perfect time to revel in the pleasures of the moment and enjoy everything you have built up until now, whilst revving up for the rest of the year.

Uranus in Taurus will demand that you take the inspirations of the present and develop them into a mature vision of steady and sustainable prosperity. Joining up with Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus in Taurus indicates the coming of a new Earth era, and you are going to be the overseer, catching all the details and ensuring that everyone is doing their part. You are going to prove yourself as a reliable provider of the objective feedback and support which all successful enterprises need to thrive. There are battles ahead, and either you will meet these qualities in yourself or they will be exemplified through another. Remember to stay connected to the innocent impulse which is palpable at the New Moon and have fun, in spite of the new responsibilities you are taking on. Don’t get bogged down in the inevitable grind of bureaucracy and paperwork involved in setting up a new business or taking on an academic position: keep in mind that it all aims at the bigger purpose of doing what you enjoy and serving the world through precision and excellence. Even as you explore the fresh and somewhat unsettling terrain of Uranus in your 9th, you are learning to exemplify the qualities of a steadfast, brave and trustworthy guide.

LIBRA

New Moon: 8 of Cups

Uranus in Taurus: 9 of Rods

Luscious Libra, in recent months and years you have been conquering demons and facing testing conflicts through the mirror of your personal relationships and how you are perceived by others. These two cards together indicate that this New Moon is an important moment in this ongoing story. The 8 of Cups tells me that it is time to leave behind that which is no longer serving you. This is a time of high emotion, deep disappointment, even grief. There is no more water in those stacked cups. Which situation has drained dry of life, colour and possibility? What is currently causing you pain because it did not live up to expectations? It is difficult to leave if you still believe there is water in those Cups. It is difficult to let go of something that made you happy, or a story that helped you navigate a troubling time, but this new Moon confirms that you must. This may be a new situation or a very old one, but the wisdom of the day says get out of town and into pastures new. You may not know where you are going, but what is important is that with Venus currently transiting your 9th of foreign horizons and new adventures, you must recognise that joy and fulfilment ARE possible. You just have to keep walking ahead, putting one foot in front of the other, in the opposite direction from your heartbreaks, griefs, broken dreams and past failures. There is terrific strength to be found in admitting the truth.

Uranus in Taurus builds on the work you have been doing whilst it was in your opposite sign of Aries, and you are going to be developing the capacity to stand your ground. You have vanquished many of your old enemies – many of these were internal beliefs holding you back; in some cases old rivals or interlocutors have been revealed as weak, harmless or simply wrong. You may be ready to give up, feeling exhausted, battle-weary and defiant: but no, the challenges are still flying thick and fast. It’s just that you are now drawing on a deeper well of strength, and entering into a game where your innate understanding of people will serve you brilliantly to ensure you don’t get manipulated. With Uranus heading into your 8th, pay attention to the thoughts others might call paranoid; get and stay savvy about the competition and your assets. Value yourself enough not to give your talent, emotional labour or resources away for free. Good things come to those who wait. Victory is near. Lift your chin up and discover a strength you didn’t know you had. The moment of reckoning is here, and Uranus is onside to transform you into a warrior forged in the darkest depths of the soul, to bring you what you so richly deserve, whether that’s justice, inner peace or self-mastery. You will prevail!

SCORPIO

New Moon card: The Moon

Uranus in Taurus: The Tower

Another powerful spread of major Arcana featuring the Tower. This new moon finds you in a poetic, even dreamy mood. It asks you to go deep within yourself and discover the fantasies, illusion and strange beasts which dwell in the shadows. There is a risk with the Moon of believing too much in the misty and ephemeral shapes of your imagination, casting a Neptune-like fog over everything. In this case, it’s likely to be in the sphere of relationship, where you currently have so much planetary action. For whatever reason, the way forward isn’t currently clear, and you are seeing things with a mystical and possibly false lens. It is a somewhat treacherous time when it is difficult to discern psychic knowledge from projection. To do: re-centre. Re-tune into your infamous Scorpionic gut instincts. Face fears. Engage in depth psycho-analysis, whether that’s through dream examination, actual therapy or revisiting the last 7 years. Explore the emotions arising now through your creative talents. TALK to your partner: more communication brings more clarity – but listen to what they are NOT saying as much as what they are. You need to balance your dreamy optimism about what could be with a trust in what you know to be steadfast, unchanging and true at this Moon.

Uranus in Taurus will be a hard reset for you in the arena of relationships. The Tower is shaking up your life as it enters your opposite sign, and you will feel its impact significantly. Initially the changes will come from outside of you, so be wary that any fragile or compromised things in your life may well come crashing down over the next few years. As you befriend your inner eccentric and learn to roll with the punches, the changes will come from within, and others will start to notice the difference. For you, this transit is about shadow work: facing and taking responsibility for what you project onto others, whether that’s people, business partnerships or health mentors. All one-to-one relationships are up for review and are the areas where you can grow the most now. Don’t worry. You will emerge from this process whole, unique, and deeply aware of what you can bring to and what you need from relationships. You will be utterly changed, in ways you could never have expected, but need more than you could admit.

SAGITTARIUS

New Moon card: 6 of Rods

Uranus in Taurus: Ace of Pentacles

This New Moon wants you to know that you are on your way to victory! This is a start-over moment in your 6th house of wellness and daily routine. Celebrate your achievements thus far. These may be considered small, minor, or psychological and therefore invisible to the outside world; or it may be that you are going to win a dispute at work, at school or in a legal matter. The important thing is that you make the time to crown yourself with the winners’ laurels and celebrate all that you have done and are doing for yourself and your community. Daily routine, nutrition, physical and mental health are as essential as any other area of life and not easy for a busy and mutable soul such as yourself to fix your mind on. Whilst Jupiter opposing indicates there is still more to do, know that you are protected and guided in the choices you are making right now to secure your health and wellbeing and smooth running of your life.

The advances you make now are essential to your future prosperity, because Uranus is favouring you with a welcome sign: the Ace of Pentacles! This is a fresh financial opportunity and the ability to fund yourself with fat cash through the upgrades you are making in your daily routine. You’re on a journey of learning to convert your creative genius (Uranus through the 5th) into sustainable income. Whilst this card indicates an inner, personal feeling of new consciousness, it also points to material manifestations such as a job, career opportunity, funding, or a new headquarters for your operations. Get in touch with your inner boss and keep your ear to the ground for new opportunities, because this transit will see you mastering your money and being richly rewarded for your talents.

CAPRICORN

New Moon card: 6 of Swords

Uranus in Taurus: Death

The New Moon in your fellow Earth sign of Taurus indicates that now is a time to let what’s passing, pass. As you receive a fresh impulse in your 5th house of play and leisure, you are still in a maturation process, leaving behind recent defeats, perhaps in creativity, self-expression or dating. The 6 of Swords suggests that you cultivate inner peace and allow yourself to survey the scene. Naturally you desire to prove yourself a competent and masterful artist, lover, and/ or performer: but more can be gained now by listening and processing what’s gone down. Although this may bring a tinge of sorrow to the New Moon festivities, this period of quiet, recovery and healing is essential to your progress forward.

If you do the work, you will reap the results whilst Uranus is in Taurus in the 5th. The potent card of Death indicates a time when you kill of aspects of your old persona and release what is no longer resonating. With Bad Daddy of the zodiac Saturn in your 1st, taking a fresh approach to your creative work will help you to completely redefine who you are, what you want out of life and the kinds of limitations you are and aren’t willing to accept. Surprise: Capricorn is going to be at the head of the Uranian revolutionary brigade! The work you’ve been doing since Saturn ingressed into your sign at the end of 2017 means that you have already been facing difficult times and killing off old parts of yourself (very literally in the case of, for instance, Capricorn fka twigs who recently revealed that she had been through major surgery). This puts you ahead of the pack when it comes to seeing what needs to be done to usher in a new and more sustainable era: economically, spiritually and politically. None of this will come easy, but you’re a Capricorn – you love a challenge and you have the necessary leadership skills. I see a pioneering spirit in this card and I strongly feel that this indicates the Saturn-Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn generation are about to kick off & transform the stale economic paradigms which serve the interests of the minority rather than the majority.

AQUARIUS

New Moon card: 5 of Cups

Uranus in Taurus: Queen of Cups

Your ruling planet is about to head into a square with your sign, Aqua genie. The appearance of two Cup cards and the Taurus action situated in your 4th house shows me that you are at a time of deep inner processing. Not much is happening on the outside as you cocoon yourself in your domestic sphere, and that’s perhaps, in part, because you’re licking your wounds after a recent disappointment. This is a LOT of water, and you are feeling all the emotions. Something has been spoilt and all you can see is what has gone wrong. Aquarius, most readers would tell you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, focus on what’s still in the other Cups and stop dawdling. However, you’re not a sign that really lets yourself feel very often. This new moon illuminates you at a moment of upset. Take a closer look and try to analyse what went wrong. Were your expectations out of whack? Could what was on offer ever have been a workable prospect anyway? Let yourself feel the hurt, and be cleansed by it: then let it go and move forward, with what remains.

This is essential work for you to do, as Uranus in Taurus is turning you on to a higher, happier and more fruitful dimension of the Cups suite: the Queen. Comfortable with emotional nuances, streetwise and empathic, she is the mystical artist of the Tarot, and the archetype of the beloved wife. Aquarius, as Uranus cruises through your 4th, this card asks you what you really require for happiness and peace in your home life. You could fall (back) in love with your inner creative muse over the next few years and be inspired to start painting, singing, writing poetry or otherwise practising your genius. The Queen asks you to remember that whatever you do, you should do it for the emotional pay-off. Not the status. Not the glory. Not even the temporary high – but the long-term satisfaction of mastering a craft and sharing it with others, finding and developing a soulmate relationship, or forging a sanctuary for yourself. By the end of this cycle, you will know that stable sources of love, consistent artistic practice and solid family ties are as essential to your happiness as the freedom you will always both covet and exemplify.

PISCES

New Moon: 4 of Swords

Uranus in Taurus: King of Pentacles

Pisces, my tip for you is to take a rest. Separate from yourself from the chatter, gossip and noise around you. Make your excuses and slip away. You really need the serenity and re-grounding available to you at this moon. You are in the middle of a particular venture and you need a little time-out to process things before you can go any further. With your ruler Neptune currently in your sign, this is a time of you coming into your own and finally realising many long-held dreams and goals, facing inner demons and conquering new hurdles with aplomb. Even so, you need to recharge your batteries so that you don’t fall back on the progress you’ve made. I know it feels counterintuitive because it took you a while to power up to where you are, but trust me: for now, chill.

Because Uranus in Taurus will ask you to do a lot of work and transform into a more mature, faithful and responsible version of yourself. You are stepping into the role of community leader, practical guide and knowing elder. This transit will see you getting in control of your resources – financial, spiritual and emotional – and ensuring that you, organizations you’re responsible for, and the other party, get a fair deal. It will also ask you to rein in your appetites, in order to cultivate the discipline required to keep you in balance. Uranus in Taurus will help to enfranchise you for the work you’ve already been doing in unexpected ways. Your job is to keep learning, growing, studying, talking, and putting into practice the ways you are developing your intelligence, your abilities, and your consistency. I’m excited to watch you step into this new role and grow!

ARIES

New Moon: 3 of Pentacles

Uranus in Taurus: 6 of Pentacles

Last but not least – as if you ever could be – Aries. You have radically surprised yourself and others as Uranus passed through your sign. You have taken on new challenges, struck out into alien terrain, and become more determined than ever to march to the beat of your own drum. These two Pentacles cards show you reaping the rewards of that often-tricky path. The Three of Pentacles for the New Moon indicates that you have been mastering a craft and building a business, most likely through self-employment, and you are ready to take it to market. A fresh opportunity may be arriving as your second house of income is packed with Taurean action, and I think you will be rewarded handsomely for your talents.

The 6 of Pentacles for Uranus in Taurus indicates that your business has legs. You are going to have the ultimate satisfaction of not needing to answer to a boss, freed from ties of financial dependence or money with strings attached. Instead, you may be in the position to help others, and it suggests a working atmosphere of pleasurable and equal co-existence. All of this stems from the work you have been doing whilst Uranus was in Aries. encouraging you to believe in your talents and a vision of the way you want to structure your days: at times this felt very erratic and inconsistent, and here we see you coolly cashed-up and dividing the spoils. Your reading might not be as dramatic or glamorous as some of the other signs, but these cards carry the quiet satisfaction of knowing you can be self-made and self-sustaining, and for the independent Ram, I doubt there could be any better gift.

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#astrology #new moon in taurus #Uranus into Taurus #Uranus #Taurus #tarot #tarotscope #horoscopes #uranus in taurus #glitter oracle

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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Galaxies Galore, a Major May Monday Meteor Shower, and Lunar-Looking Advice!

(Above: This image of the unusual-looking galaxy designated NGC 4088 in Ursa Major (near the Big Dipper’s bowl) was captured on Saturday night, May 4, 2019 by Ian Wheelband at the RASC Toronto Centre E.C. Carr Astronomical Observatory near Collinwood, Ontario. A total of 5.5 hours of exposure time were used to capture the full colour image using a camera mounted on his tracking telescope. Note the other smaller galaxies around it.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of May 5th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

It’s International Astronomy Week! To celebrate, on every sunny morning from 10 am to noon from Monday, May 6 to Saturday, May 11, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will set up special solar telescopes outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for public Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification.

Taking advantage of the moon and other bright objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), starting around 8 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (Mon, Tue, or Thu only). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them – looks are free! Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday nights they offer free public viewing through their rooftop telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, May 8, the RASC Toronto Centre will hold their free monthly Speaker’s Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre, and the public are welcome. This month, the speaker will be Professor Marshall McCall, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at York University. His topic will be Big Galaxies and the Big Places in Which They Live. Check here for details. Parking is free.

Eastern GTA sky watchers are invited to join the RASC Toronto Centre and Durham Skies for solar observing and stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario in Millennium Square in Pickering on Friday evening, May 10, from 6 pm to 11 pm. Details are here. Before heading out, check the RASCTC home page for a Go/No-Go call in case it's too cloudy to observe. The rain date is Saturday.

On Friday, May 10 at 7:30 pm, inside the Hamilton Spectator, the public are invited to attend a presentation by Alanna Mitchell, author of The Spinning Magnet, all about the Earth’s magnetic field. Details are here.

Saturday, May 11 will be International Astronomy Day, Science Rendezvous Day in the GTA, and Doors Open in Richmond Hill. U of T, Ryerson, and York University will all have science-related demonstration and booths set up in public spaces on each campus from 11 am to 4 pm. The Ontario Science Centre and RASC Toronto Centre will offer free solar observing, a telescope workshop (bring yours in for a tune up!), and an evening star party (weather permitting). The David Dunlap Observatory will host free tours of the big telescope, a mobile planetarium, and solar observing from 10 am to 4 pm.

The next RASC Family Night at the David Dunlap Observatory will be on Saturday, May 18. There will be sky tours in the Skylab planetarium room, space crafts, a tour of the giant 74” telescope, and viewing through lawn telescopes (weather permitting). The doors will open at 8:30 pm for a 9 pm start. Attendance is by tickets only, available here. If you are a RASC Toronto Centre member and wish to help us at DDO in the future, please fill out the volunteer form here. And to join RASC Toronto Centre, visit this page.

(Above: Every spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way hugs the eastern horizon during the evening hours, as shown here at 11 pm local time. The absence of our home galaxy’s obscuring stars, dust, and gas allows us to see the multitude of distant galaxies (red ovals) sprinkled across the sky overhead. This is just a small subset of them.)

Galaxy Season

We live inside the Milky Way. Our sun is embedded within its five thousand light-year thick disk of obscuring stars, dust, and gas. Because of this, our best opportunity to see other galaxies is to look directly up and out of the plane of the Milky Way’s disk, where there is less clutter to peer through.

At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, the Milky Way hugs the eastern horizon in the evening hours. The sky overhead, which includes the constellations of Leo (the Lion), Virgo (the Maiden), Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair), Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs), and Ursa Major (the Big Bear), is absolutely loaded with distant galaxies!

Astronomers make the effort to take out their telescopes on clear spring evenings to see and photograph the many treasures that float above us. On my Tumblr post last week, I included an image of three spring galaxies in Leo. This week, I’ve included an image taken just last night near Collinwood, Ontario of an unusual-looking spiral galaxy designated NGC 4088. It’s located 61 million light-years from our solar system. While you are looking, see how many other smaller galaxies you can see around it!

(Above: The galaxy imaged at the top of this post, NGC 4088, is located near the bowl of the Big Dipper, one of hundreds of galaxies (red ovals) within reach of amateur, large-aperture telescopes when used in a dark sky location during moonless spring nights.)

A Major Meteor Shower

The annual Eta-Aquariids Meteor Shower is produced when the Earth passes through a trail of material left by repeated passages of Halley’s Comet, and those particles drop through our atmosphere at high speeds, leaving long streaks of ionized gas and minerals. We pass through the debris from May 3 to 11 annually, and we will be most deeply in the cloud around Monday, May 6. Your best times for seeing the meteors will be Sunday and Monday, especially before dawn.

True Aquariids will appear to travel away from a radiant point in Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), which will sit near the southeastern horizon. The southerly radiant makes this shower better for observers at low latitudes. Watch for up to a few dozen meteors per hour on the peak night, and fewer than that during the surrounding nights. The very young evening moon will leave the sky nice and dark for this shower.

To increase your chances of seeing meteors, find a dark location with lots of sky, preferably away from light polluted skies, and just look up with your unaided eyes. Binoculars and telescopes are not useful for meteors because their fields of view are too narrow to fit the streaks of meteor light. Don’t watch the radiant. Any meteors near there will have very short trails because they are travelling towards you. Try not to look at your phone’s bright screen – it’ll ruin your night vision. And keep your eyes heavenward, even while you are chatting with companions. Happy hunting!

I posted a sky chart showing the radiant here.

The Moon and Planets

The next two weeks of May will be an ideal period to view our natural satellite’s rugged terrain in binoculars and backyard telescopes at a convenient time of the evening! Fresh from yesterday’s New Moon phase, the young crescent moon will appear low over the western horizon for a short time after sunset tonight (Sunday). Then, on the following evenings, the moon will set later - climbing higher while waxing fuller.

(Above: Earthshine faintly illuminates the dark portion of the waxing crescent moon in this image by Dylan O’Donnell taken in late January of 2015. The best magnified views of the moon are found along the zone dividing the lit and dark hemispheres. NASA APOD for March 20, 2015)

As the moon waxes, the sun is rising over its eastern horizon. East on a planet or moon is defined as the direction where the sun rises. Due to the moon’s tidal lock with Earth, the moon keeps the nearside hemisphere pointed towards Earth at all times. That means that sunrise on the moon takes hours - and the sun needs two weeks to cross the moon’s “sky” and set in the west.

On Earth, we define morning as the daylight period between sunrise and high noon – or about 6 hours. But at any given location on the moon (except the poles), that process covers the period from New Moon to First Quarter – or about a week! The rising sun casts long shadows to the west of any elevated terrain, including crater rims, mountains, boulders, and faults. Shadows on the moon are nearly black because there is no atmosphere to scatter light.

The shadows are particularly stark along the terminator, the pole-to-pole boundary line that divides the lit and dark hemispheres of the moon. Along that strip, the sunlight is nearly horizontal. Every night, and even hour-by-hour, the terminator shifts west – throwing new areas into stark relief. Keep your telescope handy and have a look on every clear night. Or, for a fun exercise, look at a feature early in the evening and look at it again a few hours later. Try holding your phone over your telescope’s eyepiece and taking a pair of photos at the two times – or draw what you see.

(Above: On Tuesday evening, as shown here at 9:25 pm EDT, the waxing crescent moon will land to the lower left of Mars. A small star named Zeta Tauri (or Tianguan) will be positioned near the moon’s higher crescent tip.)

Let’s review what else the moon will be up to this week. Early Monday evening in the west-northwestern sky, the moon will be positioned just above the stars forming Taurus’ triangular face, and that constellation’s brightest star, Aldebaran. Use binoculars to capture the scene. Observers in Europe, Africa, and Asian will see the moon pass through Taurus’ face after dusk.

On Tuesday evening, the waxing crescent moon will land 3.5 finger widths to the lower left (south) of reddish Mars. Look for a medium-bright star named Zeta Tauri (ζ Tauri) aka Tianguan positioned close to the upper, northern tip of the moon’s crescent. That star marks the eastern horn of Taurus, the Bull.

The moon will pass through the twins of Gemini on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, on Friday the nearly first quarter moon will pass almost directly through the large open star cluster in Cancer (the Crab) known as the Beehive, Praesepe, and Messier 44. The moon will be centered on the cluster at approximately 10 pm EDT. Binoculars or a telescope at low magnification will show both the moon and the cluster at the same time. To better see the clusters’ stars, try to position the moon just outside of your optics’ field of view. (Binoculars will show the cluster to the moon’s upper left, but your telescope will flip that view around.)

On Saturday night the moon will reach a 90° angle with respect to the sun, triggering its First Quarter phase worldwide. By this time, you might have noticed the moon in the afternoon daytime sky. At First Quarter, the moon always rises at noon and sets after midnight. The moon will end the week below the stars of Leo (the Lion) next Sunday night.

Mars will continue to be visible for about an hour after dusk every evening this week. Even though Mars will be setting in the west just before midnight local time, it’s starting to dip into the twilight. Once the sky has darkened, look for Mars as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light sitting less than one-third of the way up the western sky. Mars has been slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it little-by-little.

(Above: The giant planets Jupiter and Saturn are both crossing the sky during the small hours of the night, as shown here at 5 am local time. In the coming weeks, both planets will rise early enough to be observed in the evening.)

This week, the very bright planet Jupiter will be visible low over the southeastern horizon after midnight local time. If you are walking through the house in your pj’s during the wee hours, Jupiter’s bright beacon might catch your eye through a southerly window. Jupiter will reach its highest point over the southern horizon by 4 am local time and then descend towards the west as dawn arrives. Soon, I’ll start to alert you to when you can see the Great Red Spot and the shadows of Jupiter’s four large moons when they cross Jupiter’s disk.

Look for yellowish Saturn, which will be rising about 2 hours after Jupiter all summer, sitting about 2.5 outstretched fist diameters to the lower left (east) of Jupiter in the pre-dawn sky. Saturn will officially enter the evening sky in the last week of May. Dust off your telescope because even a small telescope will show its rings!

Distant and dim, blue Neptune is in the southeastern pre-dawn sky, among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). The planet will rise a little before 4 am local time. But I’ll wait for summer, when it will be available in the evening, to look for it.

(Above: This week, Venus and Mercury are both swinging sunward in the eastern pre-dawn sky, as shown here at 5:45 am local time. Mercury will be difficult to spot, and both planets will require a low, open horizon.)

Venus tends to be easy to see because of its extreme brightness. But our sister planet is approaching the pre-dawn sun now, so you will need a wide-open eastern horizon to see it just before sunrise. Venus will rise at about 5 am local time and remain visible until about 6 am. It will soon disappear in solar conjunction.

The Lion Hunts

If you missed last week’s information about the spring constellation of Leo (the lion), I posted it here.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#astronomy #galaxies #NGC4088 #Ursa Major #Venus #Eta Aquarids #moon #spring galaxies #Coma Berenices #stars #the milky way

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mredwinsmith · 7 years ago

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Activision And Blizzard Announce New Licensing and Retail Partners

Set for ongoing growth with a slate of world-class entertainment properties, Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group (ABCPG) arrives at Licensing Expo 2018 with an all-star roster of licensing and retail partners. Through gameplay, film and television content, esports events and consumer products, Activision and Blizzard Entertainment are creating depth, breadth and longevity of engagement around their franchises and across platforms. A year into the group’s formation, ABCPG is successfully delivering against the company’s franchises, including Blizzard’s Overwatch® and Activision’s Call of Duty®, among others.

The merchandising program for Overwatch is significantly expanding. Hasbro has been awarded the master toy license for the franchise with plans for a wide range of play experiences including a NERF product line, games and more. Additionally,LEGO® Group has plans for multiple Overwatch building sets across various price points. Further, Overwatch is just one of many Blizzard Entertainment properties featured in the recently announced exclusive apparel line from UNIQLO as part of its Spring/Summer 2018 collection that launched globally on May 18.

The pop culture phenomenon Call of Duty franchise continues to realize massive success, and Activision is poised to have the largest merchandising program to date based on product category and global expansion. This year Black Ops is back! The highly-anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, scheduled for release on October 12, perfectly lends itself to new categories including collectibles and allows for a richer assortment of assets to support the massive game experience built for fans. Design agency PowerStation Studios is bringing new creative to life that’s expanding the depth and breadth of the program and supporting partners across various international markets.

Esports has emerged as a significant opportunity that engages millions of players and spectators worldwide. Activision Blizzard is at the forefront of competitive gaming with the Call of Duty World League, MLG Network and the Overwatch League, the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams. A robust apparel line is at the center of the merchandising program, designed to appeal to a massive global audience of gamers. ABCPG is currently seeking best-in-class partners across all product categories to explore burgeoning licensing and merchandising prospects targeting a new era of fans.

“Since debuting at last year’s Licensing Expo, we’ve begun to successfully realize our vision of offering more value and more opportunities for our global licensing and retail partners by leveraging the blockbuster franchises that Activision and Blizzard have created and expanded over many years of dedicated development,” said Tim Kilpin, CEO and president, Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group. “For our hundreds of millions of players around the world, we’re working hard to build lasting global franchises that they can connect with across game platforms and through esports and vibrant transmedia story content. We are well positioned to continue playing a leading role in shaping the future of entertainment.”

Located in Booth #U202, additional highlights of Activision Blizzard’s slate coming to Licensing Expo 2018 include:

Activision Highlights

Call of Duty: New partners include: McFarlane (Collectible Figures); USAopoly (Risk and Monopoly board games in North America); Pyramid (Homeware, Accessories); Poetic Gem (Apparel); Park Agency (Knitwear); andClairefontaine (Stationery). They join returning partners including Mattel (Collectible Construction Sets); Exquisite Gaming (Cable Guys, Crates); KontrolFreek (Gaming Controller Accessories); Bioworld International (Apparel, Accessories);Astro Gaming (Headsets); Trends (Poster & Calendars); among many others.

Crash Bandicoot: The massive popularity of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will lead to platform expansion on June 29 and an expanded roster of partners to include: Just Toys (Backpack Hangers), BDA (Controllers, Accessories);Pyramid (Homeware, Accessories); NECA/Kidrobot (Collectibles); GameStop (Totaku figures); and Park Agency (Knitwear). Returning partners include Changes (Apparel); Concept One (Accessories); Rubber Road (Apparel, Accessories),) and Funko (POP! Vinyl figures)

Spyro: In celebration of Spyro’s 20th anniversary, Activision is releasing Spyro Reignited Trilogy. The trilogy features all the nostalgia and fun of the three original Spyro games in a dynamic remastered collection. Activision is building a consumer products program to support the launch on September 21 with partners including: Funko (POP! Vinyl Figures); Changes (Apparel); NECA/Kidrobot (Collectibles); Surreal (Drinkware); Rubber Road (Apparel, Accessories); GameStop (Totaku Figures); Pyramid (Homeware, Accessories); and Exquisite Gaming (Cable Guys & Crates).

Bungie’s Destiny: Their licensing program continues to give fans new ways of experiencing the rich characters and worlds of Destiny. New and returning partners include: Blizzard Publishing (Books); McFarlane Toys (Action Figures, Statues); Mattel (Construction Sets);Funko (Vinyl Figures); ThinkGeek (Vinyl Figures, Apparel, Accessories); Rocklove (Jewelry); Razer (PC Gaming Accessories); Surreal Entertainment (Drinkware), The Coop (Collectibles, Accessories); USAopoly (Puzzles, Chess Set, Playing Cards); Rubber Road (Apparel, Accessories) and Gaya Entertainment (Apparel, Collectibles). The merchandising program is seeing international expansion with the appointment of Bits and Pixels as the licensing agency for the EMEA territories. For licensing inquires related to Destiny, please contact:[email protected].

Blizzard Highlights

Overwatch: With a player base of 40 million¹, Overwatch’s wide appeal continues to drive a robust merchandising program supported by new and returning partners including: Hasbro (Master Toy); NERF (Blasters); LEGO Group(Construction); UNIQLO (Apparel); Bioworld International (Bags, Accessories); Spirit Halloween (Costumes); Disguise (Costumes); Brown Trout (Calendars); Insight Editions (Stationery, Cookbook); Trends (Posters, Sticker Packs); Just Toys (Sticker Books); Good Smile Company (Figures); Razer (PC Peripherals); J!nx (Apparel, Accessories); Dark Horse (Artbook); Funko (Apparel, Bags, Home Accessories, Figures); and Scholastic (Books).

World of Warcraft®: More than 100 million passionate players have enjoyed the ever-evolving online adventure of Blizzard’s seminal massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft¹. Partners include: Brown Trout(Calendars); Del Rey (Novels); Panini International (Novels); AST (Novels); Jeu Media (Publishing); Ju Ju Be (Bags and Accessories); J!nx (Apparel, Accessories); Insight Editions (Cookbook); Funko (Figures); and Dark Horse (Publishing).

Hearthstone®: Blizzard recently launched the 12th content release for Hearthstone, its internationally acclaimed free-to-play digital card game that continues to engage and delight a massive global audience across PC and mobile platforms. Licensees include: Insight Editions (Pop-up Book); Displate (Fine Art); Panini International (Art Book); and Huginn & Muninn (Art Book).

from AwesomeToyBlog https://ift.tt/2KItsq3

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astro-vision-au · 28 days ago

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Thank you to those who have participated in the Spring event!

In first place is @chycoin

And in second is @cookieafk

Ill be dming the winners in order for them to pick out their prizes! [Also chy CHECK YOUR DISCORD SHAKES YOU/silly]

Thank you again for participating! And hopefully tomorrow we can announce the next event :D

#smg4 #smg4 au #astro vision au #update #astro vision spring event

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astrogeoguy · 6 years ago

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Old Morning Moon leaves Dark Nights for Stars, a May Meteor Shower, and Leo Lurks in the South!

(Above: The Leo Triplet of spiral galaxies sits below and midway between the bright stars named Chertan and Regulus in Leo, the Lion. The edge-on spiral NGC3628 is at left, almost face-on spiral Messier 66 is at bottom right, and more tilted Messier 65 sits above it. NASA APOD image for August 3, 2011 through European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope.)

Hello, Stargazers!

Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 28th, 2019 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. I repost these emails with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where all the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory or the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

I can bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanitarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Astro-Events

Taking advantage of dark moonless evening skies this week, astronomers with the RASC Toronto Centre will gather for dark sky stargazing at Long Sault Conservation Area, northeast of Oshawa on (only) the first clear evening (Monday to Thursday) this week. You don’t need to be a RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details and watch the banner on their homepage or their Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

On Tuesday, April 30 from 7 to 8:30 pm, the University of Waterloo will present a free public event called See the Unseeable: A Black Hole Discovery Conversation with Physicist Avery Broderick, which will cover the recently released photograph of the giant black hole in the distant galaxy Messier 87. Details are here.

On Thursday, May 2, starting at 1 pm inside the Earth Sciences Centre, U of T’s annual Welsh Lectures in Physics will present Professer Anny Cazanave speaking on Climate Change, Ocean Warming, Land Ice Melt and Sea Level Rise and Canadian recent Nobel laureate Professer Donna Strickland speaking on Generating High-Intensity Ultrashort Optical Pulses. This is a free public event and details are here.

On Thursday, May 2, starting at 8 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present a free public talk entitled Sensing Hidden Signals with Pulsars. Details are here.

On Friday, April 26, starting at 7 pm, U of T’s AstroTour will present their planetarium show Grand Tour of the Cosmos. Registration and details are here.

If it’s sunny on Saturday morning, May 4 from 10 am to noon, astronomers from the RASC Toronto Centre will be setting up outside the main doors of the Ontario Science Centre for Solar Observing. Come and see the Sun in detail through special equipment designed to view it safely. This is a free event (details here), but parking and admission fees inside the Science Centre will still apply. Check the RASC Toronto Centre website or their Facebook page for the Go or No-Go notification.

A May Meteor Shower

The annual Eta-Aquariids Meteor Shower, produced by material from Halley’s Comet, runs from April 19 to May 26 and peaks before dawn on Sunday, May 5. True Aquariids will appear to travel away from a radiant point in Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), which will sit near the southeastern horizon. The southerly radiant makes this shower better for observers at low latitudes. Watch for up to a few dozen meteors per hour, including some fireballs, near the peak. The very young evening moon will leave the sky nice and dark for this shower.

(Above: Meteors from the annual Eta-Aquariids Meteor Shower appear to be traveling away from a point in the sky in the constellation of Aquarius, the Water-Bearer, which is positioned low in the southeastern pre-dawn sky on the peak night of Sunday, May 5.)

The Moon and Planets

This is the week of the lunar month when our natural satellite swings towards, and then past the sun, leaving our night time skies darker – perfect for stargazing!

The moon will begin this week as a waning crescent shining prettily over the eastern pre-dawn horizon. On Wednesday morning, the even slimmer crescent will begin a dance with bright Venus. That morning, the moon will sit a generous fist’s diameter to the right of the planet. Try to see them before about 6 am local time. On Thursday, the moon will land about 4 finger widths to the lower right of Venus.

From Friday morning until just after sunset on Sunday evening, the moon will be invisible, because it will be positioned near the sun in the sky. During that period, the sunlight reaching the moon will only shine on the lunar farside. New Moon phase will officially occur at 6:45 pm EDT on Saturday evening. The young crescent moon will be a little easier to spot, sitting low in the western sky, on Sunday after sunset.

(Above: On Wednesday morning, the waning crescent moon will be situated to the right of the bright planet Venus in the pre-dawn eastern sky. Much dimmer Mercury will also be there, sitting less than a fist’s diameter to the lower left of Venus, as shown here at 5:45 am local time.)

As I just mentioned, Venus will be easily spotted in the eastern sky just before sunrise all this week. At the same time, the elusive planet Mercury will be positioned a bit less than a fist’s diameter to Venus’ lower left (east). Both planets will be surrounded by the dawn twilight, making much dimmer Mercury a challenge to find. Venus will rise at about 5:15 am local time. In a telescope, it will exhibit a not-quite-round disk. Both planets are swinging towards the sun and will soon disappear in solar conjunction.

Mars will continue to be easily visible for about an hour after dusk every evening this week. Even though Mars will be setting in the west just before midnight local time, the later spring sunsets mean that it’s starting to dip into the twilight. Once the sky has darkened, look for Mars as a medium-bright, reddish pinpoint of light sitting less than one-third of the way up the western sky. Mars has been slowly shrinking in size and brightness as we increase our distance from it little-by-little. The bright reddish star Aldebaran will be sitting a fist’s width below Mars this week. Don’t confuse them – Aldebaran is brighter than Mars, but Mars is a mere 18 light-minutes away while Aldebaran is 66 light-years away!

(Above: Mars continues to be visible in the western early evening sky this week, above the bright star Aldebaran, as shown here for 9:15 pm local time on Sunday night.)

By the end of this week, the very bright planet Jupiter will begin to rise over the southeastern horizon by 11:30 pm local time. If you are walking through the house in your pj’s during the wee hours, Jupiter’s bright beacon might catch your eye through a southerly window. Until sunrise at about 6 am local time, Jupiter should remain visible over the south-southwestern horizon. In a few weeks, I’ll start to alert you to when you can see the Great Red Spot and the shadows of Jupiter’s four large moons when they cross Jupiter’s disk.

Yellowish Saturn, which will be rising about 2 hours after Jupiter all summer, will be sitting about 2.5 outstretched fist diameters to the lower left (east) of Jupiter in the sky. Saturn will officially enter the evening sky in the last week of May. Dust off your telescope! Even a small telescope can see its rings.

Distant and dim, blue Neptune is in the southeastern pre-dawn sky, among the stars of Aquarius. It will rise after about 3 am local time. But I’ll wait for summer to look for it.

(Above: Very bright Jupiter and slightly dimmer Saturn are post-midnight targets that remain in sight until dawn, as shown here at 5:30 am local time this week. Saturn will remain positioned about 2.5 fist diameters to the east (left) of Jupiter all spring and summer this year.)

The Lion Hunts

For millennia, sky-watchers have imagined the stars in the night sky linking into patterns – forming humans and animals and inanimate objects. We call these groupings constellations, after the latin for “stars grouping together”. Each culture has assigned their own spin on the heavens, usually naming the patterns after things in their everyday experience. For example, south sea islanders saw outrigger canoes, and the Inuit saw the Big Dipper as the Caribou and Cassiopeia’s “W” as the Blubber Container with a Lamp Stand nearby.

In modern-day astronomy, the entire sky is divided into 88 officially recognized constellations. The manner in which the stars are connected into stick figures is not regulated, but the boundary lines between the constellations is. That way, there are no gaps in the coverage, and every object in the heavens can be placed within one of the 88 regions. By the way, astronomy has a long tradition in China – and they connected smaller groups of stars, yielding several hundred Chinese asterisms or 星官, xīngguān.

A handful of constellations are so obvious that many independent cultures assigned the same figure to those stars. A perfect example of this is the spring constellation of Leo (the lion). The lion was identified as early as 1000 BCE by the Babylonians, and later by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. To the Greeks it represented the Nemean Lion slain by Hercules during his labours. Only the beast’s own claws were sharp enough to slice its hide.

(Above: The southern evening sky,shown here at 9:15 pm local time, features the easy-to-recognize zodiac constellation of Leo, the Lion. This constellation features some relatively bright galaxies.)

It’s easy to find and recognize this constellation, even from suburban skies. Head out on the next clear evening and face the south. Leo is a large constellation situated more than halfway up the evening sky, and just above the imaginary Ecliptic line which the Sun, Moon, and planets all move along. For this reason, Leo is one of the twelve Zodiac constellations. He is positioned with his head facing right (west) and his tail towards the left (east).

The lion’s brightest star is Regulus. Regulus means “Little King” in Latin and its Arabic name Qalb Al Asad translates to “the heart of the Lion”. A blue-white star with a visible small companion star nearby, it’s the 21st brightest star in the heavens, and it sits almost on the Ecliptic, so it is frequently occulted by the moon and the inner planets.

From Regulus, move upwards and trace out another five modest stars forming a backwards question mark, or sickle. This represents the lion’s neck, head, and mane. The second star up from Regulus is another reasonably bright star named Algieba, or “the forehead”. In a backyard telescope, Algieba splits into a very pretty pair of yellow stars, one slightly brighter than the other.

From Algieba, cast your gaze a bit more than fist’s width to the left to find a star of similar brightness named Zosma, situated at the lion’s hip. Then, angling down and to the left another fist’s width, we find a star at the lion’s tail, Denebola, the second brightest star in the constellation. Denebola is a young star only a few hundred million years old. It emits quite a bit of infrared radiation, suggesting that this young sun may have a planet-forming dust disk around it.

The last major star of Leo, named Chertan, sits to the lower right of Zosma and Denebola. The three stars form a nice triangle. This is where things get interesting! Leo is a favorite of amateur astronomers because it is located away from the plane of the Milky Way, in a direction of sky that contains a nice selection of relatively nearby and bright galaxies.

(Above: A detailed sky chart for Leo. The blue-labeled red ellipses are galaxies, many of which are visible in backyard telescopes under dark skies away from city lights.)

Draw a line from Zosma to Chertan and, about two finger widths farther from Chertan is found a famous set of three spiral galaxies called the Leo Triplet. All three galaxies (two of which are on Charles Messier’s list, M65 and M66), when viewed from a dark sky location, can be framed in a good telescope at low magnification. Another sprinkling of galaxies is located midway between Chertan and Regulus, two finger widths below the line joining the two stars. This group contains M95, M96, and M105 – plus another non-messier galaxy. And that’s just the beginning – the patch of sky located about a fist diameter to the rear of Denebola contains dozens of bright galaxies! But that’s another story…

For the next couple of months, Leo will slowly stalk westward across the heavens. Take a few minutes to look at this majestic and ancient constellation.

Observing Ideas for This Week

If you missed last week’s note about what to see in the late-April sky, I posted it here.

Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do. I love questions and requests - so, send me some!

#constellations #Leo #astronomy #galaxies #Leo Triplet #Venus #Jupiter #Eta-Aquariid Meteor Shower #planets #stargazing #Mars

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