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The Brightest in the Sky

Jun 17, 2007 by Jared Smith

I haven’t taken any astrophotos in way too long. But tonight I got out for a few minutes to capture some of the brightest objects in the heavens. Today, the brightest objects in the sky at my location were:
1. The Sun (duh!)
2. The Moon
3. An Iridium Flare
4. Venus
5. The International Space Station docked with Space Shuttle Atlantis

I photographed #5, #4, and #2 tonight.

Here you see the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis careening across the sky at almost 18,000 miles per hour. It’s a bit hard to believe, but 10 people are currently living in that bright light that makes its way around the Earth every 48 minutes.

What is it that is lighting up the dark portion of the moon? No, it’s not my neighbor’s very bright street lamp. Instead, it is the reflection of sunlight off of the earth and onto the Moon. The sun had set just a few hours before, so the moon is almost directly between the sun and Earth, allowing it to catch a lot of the reflected sunlight. The bright ‘star’ in the upper left is the planet Venus.

You can see a bit more in the Earth/Moon section of my Astrophotography Gallery.

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Bryan – 3 weeks old

May 20, 2007 by Jared Smith

Having two kids is about 10 times harder than having one. Things are awesome and we are so blessed – just not so much in the sleep department lately. We’ve been keeping very busy. I’m working on finishing the basement while taking paternity leave and Mary is plenty busy keeping track of me and the kids.

Here’s a few more photos.

His eyes are very blue – they might just stay that color. Seeing as Mary and I both have hazel eyes and we have brown eyed girl and likely a blue eyed boy, I’m starting to get a wee bit suspicious. < ---- Joking!
Abbie’s been an awesome helper. She’s loving being a big sister and has been daddy’s little girl the last few weeks, which I’m totally loving.

Sweet dreams!

It looks like he’s smiling, but really he’s just winding up to let out a scream. He’s a wailer! Notice the thumb between his fingers? That’s definitely a Smith trait. Alas, my suspicions about paternity can be put to rest.

Abbie can hardly stand to be in the same room as Bryan unless she’s RIGHT NEXT TO HIM.

Posted in Family | 4 Comments »

Rocket Launch

May 15, 2007 by Jared Smith

I stumbled across this video of a group of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts that broke the world record for launching nearly 1000 rockets at the same time. I know it’s very much a man/boy thing, but this is just awesome to watch.

In this one, watch for the rocket that comes back and nearly hits the camera. You can hear it hit the stage behind him.

Posted in Geek Stuff | 1 Comment »