Blogging

Shortly after I came out to British Columbia in early 2006 I had a case of severely high blood pressure. It wouldn't have been fair to an employer for me to work for them until I got my health situation sorted out. I was on medications to lower the blood pressure and it took until early 2007 to find the cause. I finally went to a naturopath who found that a microscopic parasite was the cause for all this.

While getting my health in order, I took up blogging to share my photography. This way I wasn't wasting time and others got to enjoy the photos, not just me and those close to me.

In May of this year I had a mini-stroke cause again by severely high blood pressure. I may end up gong to the naturopath again since the specialist and other MDs can't seem to find the cause. This has only been a problem out here. Before that in Ontario, the blood pressure was only marginally high, not severely high like in BC.

Knowledge is good because being forewarned is forearmed!

All that said, enjoy this blog and all the photos I share with you.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Comet McNaught






The source of the first image is from wikipedia.org and Hannes Pieterse of Bloemfontein/South Africa graciously granted permission to have two photos posted (latter two). Check out http://www.assabfn.co.za for further images. Some photos may also be viewed at http://www.astropix.za.net .
For further information and images of Comet McNaught plus other comets go to the following links:
Or you may try various search engines, such as Dogpile, Google, Lycos and Yahoo, and see what results are achieved. You will find the above mentioned links and others.
The last comet I saw was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 when I was living and working in Toronto. I remember seeing it in the evening after sunset and again in the morning. Even the city lights where I worked did not blot it out.
For information on planets, stars, and so on, try http://www.solstation.com/stars.htm . I am sure there are many other possibilities. Even for those that do not have a camera, there is nothing that a computer and an internet connection can not solve. Good luck with your research and viewing.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
there is one thing out of the dark night skies I love most- the comets! they simply come, show us the beauty they have for sometime and then just go their way! I am refering of course to those that an unaided eye can chance to see. I love them because they bring to us something new as against the daily routine of the moon and other stars.
I have loved to gaze skywards since when I was a teen- actually my parents taught me! I remember the tales and myths connected to these heavenly bodies. My mama sometimes sang songs praising or saying something connected to the moon, venus-the planet, and other stars.
In 1986 I waited in vain to see Harley comet which turned to be not as visible by an unaided eye as did Hale-Bob in 1997 and McNaught this year. When I saw Hale-Bob for the first time I said to myself 'God has remembered me' I was, so to say, not ready to get on living without seing one-
well, your post has touched me to my core-I tell you- when I am not understood by what I am- I simply look at the dark sky filled with stars and ask God why?

Volker said...

Thank you for your lovely comments. The only comet I have seen was Hale-Bopp (1997). I was working in downtown Toronto at the time and the comet could be seen with the naked eye even with all the city lights. As for Comet McNaught, here in the Vancouver area we have had too much rain and cloud which has blotted out any chance of seeing it. In the southern hemisphere its been quite a show by comparison, as you have seen from the photos! You mentioned the stars. Back in the 1980s I was visiting a small community south of Chicago in the American Mid-West. There was so little light in the country that millions of stars could be seen clearly which was quite different from the city where only the brightest are seen. It was quite a sight!