On Sunday evening I was out for a walk to pick up some milk and looked up to see an almost-full (96.2% illumination) moon. What was different though was that the moon was red. I took a photo with my phone, but it turned out so terrible that I just deleted it.
I rushed home to get the proper camera out. My longest lens is only 250mm so the moon is still very small (1000mm would be better), but I took quite a few photos. Looking at them now, they don’t quite seem that sharp. I’m not sure if it’s just not quite in focus (a longer lens would help) or if it’s blurry due to camera movement (I had to use my smaller tripod as my balcony isn’t big enough for my more sturdy one), but here’s a couple of the better ones:
The moon was definitely less red by the time I finished taking photos and much less red than when I had first seen it when I was out. I imagine that it would have been back to normal not too much later, so definitely a thing of being in the right place at the right time.
(And if you’re wondering why the moon was red, it was probably because of the Saharan dust.)
In my ongoing aim to photograph astronomical phenomena, I recently went to the USA to capture the 2017 solar eclipse. As with the super blood moon, it’s been described as a “once in a lifetime” event, however I saw the 1999 eclipse (in Romania) and I might go to the 2024 one too (also in the USA), so it’s probably just a “three times in a lifetime” event (which is probably more common than a lot of things).
Having bought a special filter for my camera to protect it from the sun, I connected my camera to my computer and set it up to take a photo every minute.
The first few shots were slightly out of focus but do show the moon gradually moving across the sun (or does the sun move behind the moon?).
The main issue was with the sun moving across the camera field of view and disappearing off the edge. The answer was to redirect the camera but sometimes it took time to re-find the sun (the viewfinder couldn’t be used because the filter wasn’t suitable for human use, and the electronic display doesn’t work when connected to the computer). Therefore I missed a few of the shots, but I still got enough to produce this awesome timelapse:
[ADDITION: This is over about a 3 hour period and each ‘sun’ is about 3-5 minutes apart]
And here’s a simpler linear version:
I also captured several images of the corona (after taking the filter off):
Following some post-processing in Photoshop, I produced a more detailed shot of the corona:
And here’s a shot of the sun without the moon blocking it:
It’s now been over a year since my last post, so it’s time for my annual review of the last 12 or so months. So what have I been up to? Well, here’s some of the places I’ve been…
So this morning, was the Super Blood Moon 2015 (technically called a Supermoon Lunar Eclipse).
It was described as a once in a generation event since the next one isn’t until 2033. I have no idea what this actually means since that’s only 18 years time and I intend to still be around then.
Anyway, I set my alarm for 3am in order to see the red moon at its peak (3:47am). I had intended to climb a nearby hill, however I decided I was much more comfortable at home, plus the moon was visible straight out of my bedroom window so I decided to just stay in.
It was quite strange to see a red moon, but I was expecting it to be a bit bigger. I’m sure it was bigger than normal, but I’m sure I’ve seen it larger before.
It took a while to work out the settings for my camera and I ended up taking 10 completely black images before I discovered that increasing the ISO allowed the moon to be recorded (even though I could see it in the viewfinder). The internet suggests that a focal length of 1000mm is best for moon photos, but my maximum lens only goes up to 250mm so the moon is still quite small in my photos. The alternative is to have a reference object to show the size (e.g. a landmark) but there aren’t many of them outside my bedroom window. I’m sure the settings I used weren’t ideal, and it probably would have been better if I was outdoors, but here are some of the photos I took:
[Note: for some reason one of the photos doesn’t appear to be loading. If it’s still not loading by tomorrow, I’ll have another look]
Despite living in London, until last weekend, I had never ridden a Boris bike. The main reason for this is that it costs £2 for the use per day, though the first 30 minutes are free (and then £2/thirty minutes thereafter). Fortunately this year is the 5th anniversary of the scheme, and last weekend the £2 access charge was removed.
My plan was to follow one of TfL’s suggested routes ‘Quirky London’.
It wasn’t a great start to the adventure when my train into London Bridge was delayed because a lorry got stuck under a bridge further down the line. (Yes, the same thing happened on the same line last year.)
Boris bike: Hop Exchange, The Borough to West Smithfield Rotunda, Farringdon
I planned to break half way round to visit the Barts Pathology Museum which was having a rare open day. Unfortunately, because it was so rare, it was also very popular. As interested as I was in seeing Victorian body parts, there was a 90 minute wait to get in, and I didn’t want to queue on such a warm day. Instead I decided to jump on the tube to continue the adventure.
Underground (Hammersmith & City): Farringdon to Mile End
At Mile End, I discovered the main problem with the app on my phone. Since my phone doesn’t let android apps access the maps functionality, there was no way of finding the nearest docking station. I had to do the old method of finding a physical map and comparing the local docking station names (which I could see) with the actual street names.
Boris bike: Clinton Road, Mile End to Alpha Grove, Millwall
Once I had found a bike, I set off south through Mile End Park along the Regent’s Canal before coming out at the River Thames.
Bridge over the Limehouse Cut
Regent’s Canal through Mile End Park
Looking west across the Thames to the Shard (from the Isle of Dogs)
However stopping to take photos (including trying to take one of myself on a Boris bike) took time, and I realised I had five minutes to get to a docking station or exceed the free 30 minute limit. Not having a clue where to go, and not wanting to spend £2, I sped off in the direction of where I hoped I would find one. I was sure there must be loads in the area, but where were they all? None on the main road anyway. My watch was passing through the 29 minutes stage now and I was beginning to wonder if would find a docking station in time. Should I just keep the bike for a whole extra half hour and make the most of the £2, or try to return the bike now, paying £2 for a fraction over the 30 minutes. Should I risk a side road? Yes, there’s one! I docked the bike at 30 minutes and 20 seconds (by my watch) and the light flashed green, but that was all they can do. I quickly opened the app, heart pounding. Journey time: 31 minutes. Charge: £0.00. That was a relief. Obviously there’s some flexibility.
On foot: Around the Isle of Dogs
I then set off through the back streets of the Isle of Dogs towards Canary Wharf to find my next bike.
Millwall Outer Dock
I then arrived at South Quay East docking station, opened the app, clicked hire a bike, got an activation code and went to the bike to check one out. Red light. Type it in again. Nope, red light. Huh? Turns out I’ve selected South Quay West docking station. Not only is that in the other direction to where I want to go, it turns out it’s currently suspended. Ok. So I’ll try and get another code for this docking station then. “You must wait 10 minutes before requesting another code.” That’s annoying.
The map at South Quay East shows another docking station, Churchill Place, in the direction of where I’m trying to get to, so I head off in that direction. Then I come across another docking station, Montgomery Square, that wasn’t on the map at all. But since I still have another 6 minutes to wait, I continue walking. After a few minutes of searching, I finally find Churchill Place docking station and am greeted by:
Since this is one of the last docking stations along this stretch of road, I’m forced to go back to Montgomery Square where I’m finally able to get my third bike of the day.
Boris bike: Montgomery Square, Canary Wharf to Stebondale Street, Cubitt Town
The o2 and the Emirates Airline from the Isle of Dogs
This cycle is the most straight forward of the cycling legs as I was simply planning to get to the most southerly part of the Isle of Dogs at Island Gardens to get the DLR home. I was trying to follow the Thames Path round but after two failed attempts to get to edge of the land, I gave up and just followed the main road which I knew led exactly where I wanted to go (I was turning off too early). On one of these detours, I had to go down (and back up) a few steps, and the bikes are surprisingly heavy although I’m sure they are designed for precisely this reason. Which handily brings me on to…
Reasons why I probably won’t hire one again (aka why I should just use my own bike):
– They are too slow. The top gear (of three) is very low and combined with the weight, it’s hard to get up to anything fast. Although it is more relaxing.
– The 30 minutes of free usage. It’s probably alright for someone who knows exactly where they want to go and can make their journey in that time (e.g. a commuter). It’s probably alright for someone who wants to bimble around but also doesn’t mind spending lots of money if they go over (e.g. a tourist). I was somewhere in between the two.
– Oh, and that £2 access charge I mentioned at the start.
Also, I’ve now started to upload photos to my flickr account. I’ll be putting some photos here which won’t always make it onto the blog. If you have a look now, there’s a sneak peek at what’s coming next time. (Hint: We’re going back in time, both literally and figuratively.)
Like most people in London (and possibly the UK), I made a visit this week to the Tower of London to see the poppies (properly known as ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red‘.
I had seen photos of it already, but it was quite surprising just how many poppies there actually were (just under 888,246 in fact) and how much space they took up. It reminds of just how many lives we owe our freedom to.
Everything is awesome
Everything is cool when you’re part of a team
Everything is awesome, when we’re living our dream
– LEGO Movie
Last week, I went on holiday to Kintyre in Scotland with my “team” from university. As it’s much quicker to just stick a load of pictures in a blog post rather than writing anything, here you go:
[Note: Not all photos taken by me]
Last weekend I visited my brother in Aberdeen. The city has currently been taken over by wild dolphins as part of a charity event.
Over the 3 days we saw 28 different dolphins (out of 50). There was a special app for keeping track of found dolphins although we didn’t discover this until the second day so the first three dolphins weren’t officially counted. Here’s our progress within the app:
My favourite was probably Spiderdolphin, mainly because it wasn’t there and was obviously off fighting crime (and not being repaired like claimed). I also like The Great Wave at Aberdeen as it looks like it’s about to jump straight back into the North Sea.
Yesterday evening, to remember the start of the First World War, many buildings were turning off their lights as part of “Lights Out“.
Here are some of the better photos I took whilst out in central London. Note: If I had a tripod and/or knew what I was doing I’m sure these photos would have come out better. And sorry, the photos seem to load quite slowly. And if any don’t load, just hit refresh and hopefully they’ll show.
The Treasury (St James’ Park side)
The London Eye
Beam of light
The Thames walkway
Big Ben and the River Thames
The Cenotaph with the Foreign Office behind
The “candle”
The “candle” up close
The Foreign Office (St James’ Park side)
Update: Apparently the beam of light is part of a new art work [Link]
