Sunset Tree

Sunset Tree

Small Is Beautiful

Small Is Beautiful

Moon Rays (Crepuscular) Over Letterkenny on a Full Moon Day

Moon can also cast rays (crepuscular rays) and is easily visible when it is on a full moon day. On 10th May 2017 (Full Moon), the low lying clouds created beautiful Moon Rays over Letterkenny

A Pleasant Sunrise in Letterkenny

A Pleasant Sunrise in Letterkenny

Sunset over Derryveagh mountain range between Mt. Errigal and Muckish

Today's (2017 May 03) sunset was fantastic, the entire day had a clear sky and towards the evening a thin layer of cloud appeared here and there and it made the sunset beautiful which happened at 09:10 pm local time. These two clicks are captured from Mountaintop, Letterkenny, the Mountian peak on the far left side is Mt. Errigal and the flat Mountain on the right is Muckish. The mountain range that includes these two favorite and easy trekking destinations - Derryveagh Mountain range is seen across the frame bottom

This second shot was particularly interesting to me as the contrail of the flight seen emerging from the top right corner has got it's own shadow on it. The bright parts of the contrail appeared to be reddish in the setting sun's light where the majority of shorter wavelengths are already scattered. The contrail appeared brighter in the top part but then towards the bottom, it appeared to be dark on behalf of it's own shadow as if it was smoke coming out of the jets.

Good Morning Letterkenny

Sunrise on 2017 May 02 @ Letterkenny

Can you find the Waning Crescent Moon in this Picture?

Can you find the waning crescent moon in this picture?

On a foggy day, Letterkenny seemed to be immersed in a sea of fog and the houses constructed on the hill tops stood out as if they were built on an Island in the sea. Fog did not disappear even at noon time. Even though the moon was not the subject of the frame, it became the part of the frame unnoticed. I never guessed that the moon is visible around noon time; during the winter months, the moon and sun traces a very low trajectory in the sky ; the moon was at its waning crescent phase, approaching new moon in a couple of days. The moon was so difficult to be recognized, I came to know that it was present and captured in the frame only after I transferred the pictures from the camera to take a look at it in the bigger screen.

A Warn Sunrise on a Cold Day - II

This is the same sunrise published in my previous post; (previous post) but with a shorter exposure and wider frame.

A Warm Sunrise on a Cold Day

A Frost Covered Tree

A Frost Covered Tree

That's not me pooping out thereThat

That's not me pooping out there

A near miss shot

An Evening in Coleraine

An Evening in Coleraine

Moon Dogs over Letterkenny

These dogs neither bark, nor bites, they don’t care if you care them or not. Moon dogs became visible on either side of the moon over the skies of Letterkenny on 15th April 2015 around 02:00am. A very pale moon pillar (the vertical line that originates from the moon) and parts of the parhelic circle (the horizontal line that starts from the moon and goes through the moon dogs) are also visible in this picture. Even though the 22 degree halos (moon rings) are common, the moon dogs are very rare to be seen.

For those who don’t know them, moon dogs are those bright spots visible on left and right side of the moon in this picture. They are also called mock moon, moondog and paraselene (the scientific term). These are caused by the hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in the thin layer of cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. These bright spots appear approximately 22 degrees on the left and right side of the moon, the 22degree halo or the moon ring if exists intersects at this point. The cold weather front that made the temperature real feel to be around 0 degrees and below in Letterkenny on the Good Friday evening of 2017 would have been caused by these law flying hexagonal ice crystals (diamond dusts).

The Moon Pointed the Direction of Sunrise

On a frozen winter morning, an attempt to capture the sunrise was rewarded with the fog covered view of Letterkenny (a view from "Ceannan View"), the distant mountains peaked above the foggy layer beneath, and the crescent moon's bow told me where the sun is going to rise.

Northern Lights - Horn Head, Dunfanaghy, Donegal, Ireland on 27th March 2017

County Donegal witnessed beautiful Northern lights (Aurora Borealis) from the evening of 27th March 2017 till next day morning 4:30am. Here is a time-lapse video created from 745 raw images captured from Horn Head View point near Dunfanaghy, Donegal, Ireland. You can see the lights literally dancing which is why sometimes it is referred as Dancing Lights or Dance of the Spirits.