74% moon

 

Opened up the observatory and started to adjust the focus, connect the camera etc. and had just started taking pictures when heavy snowstorms came. But between these I was able to take pictures of tonight's moon which was 74% full. In the pictures you can see large craters like Copernicus, Plato, Archimedes and lava fields like Mare Imbrium with high mountain ranges Montes Alpes. Montes Alpes (Lunar Alps) is a prominent mountain range on the northern side of the moon, named after the Alps on Earth, and known for its highest mountain, Mons Blanc (3,600 m), and the impressive valley Vallis Alpes. The chain extends for about 220 km in a crescent shape, with a part bordering the lunar sea Mare Imbrium, and is one of the moon's most distinctive formations. Vallis Alpes is a lunar valley that divides the Montes Alpes area into two parts. It extends 166 km from the Mare Imbrium basin and trends east-northeast to the edge of Mare Frigoris. The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to a maximum width of about 10 km along the midsection. Copernicus is a prominent impact crater on the Moon located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum. The crater is 96 km in diameter and 3.8 km deep. According to samples taken by Apollo 12 astronauts, the crater is about 800 million years old.

Giant crystals of feldspar and airglow

 

I´ve red about giant crystals of feldspar and small red gemstones of garnet in the rocks by the east coast of Sweden and really wanted to see/photograph them. For 1.9 billion years ago, there were explosive volcanoes there that spewed ash and lava over a shallow sea that covered the area. Early forms of life, microorganisms, lived on the seabed, which together built up limestone layers. Iron precipitated in the limestone and layers of iron ore formed, something that is common throughout Bergslagen. Deep below the volcanoes, large magma chambers have solidified into the rocks diorite and gabbro.

After a couple of hours of driving, I arrived at the port that was supposed to be near the place with the crystals. Then how to find them was another question. But I had looked at Google Maps and saw a trail that I could take and then turn off towards the coast. After a rather sweaty walk with heavy equipment, I was able to locate the outcrops where the crystals would be. a beautiful place with the sea right on the horizon. When darkness fell, I could see a nice starry sky with noticeable airglow, faint northern lights in the north and the Milky Way. After searching for the crystals with a headlamp in the dark for a couple of hours I finally found them and solved them with the UV lamp and the crystals fluorescent red in the dark – beautiful!!

Colors in the dark from a burial ground

The view from the ground, the small things. Standing at a historical site, old burial ground from the Iron Age. The stoned ones moved by the people creating the burial ground. At the stones moss and lichens grow, some very colorful in UV light. 

What are lichens?

Lichens are miniature ecosystems made of fungus and an algae and/or cyanobacteria. These different life forms work so closely together that the algae or cyanobacteria actually sits inside the fungus. The algae or cyanobacteria provide the fungus with sugars made from sunlight, and the fungus provides the home. Lichens look like spots or clumps of colour, like someone has splashed paint onto a branch of a tree. Their colours range from green to brown to white to russet red. Even in these colours, lichens can be understated additions to tree trunks and rocks, and you might miss them at first glance. There are many types of lichen but they only grow in three ways. They can be branched like tiny shrubs, they can have crinkly little leaves or they can grow like a crust on a surface.

Mosses are small, non-vascular, flowerless plants that form dense green clumps or mats, usually in damp places, lacking true roots, stems, and leaves but having root-like rhizoids and simple leaf-like structures. They absorb water and nutrients directly through their surfaces, reproduce via spores, and are vital for soil stabilization, water retention, and creating microhabitats, acting as an important link in ecosystems.

In the sky a faint green light visible below the Big Dipper. According to Spaceweather.com it is SOLSTICE STORM IN PROGRESS: A minor G1-class geomagnetic storm is in progress on Dec. 21st. Why? Earth's magnetic field is connecting to the sun's (SWx jargon: "BsubZ is pointing south"), giving the solar wind an unimpeded path into our magnetosphere. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

A vikings story

A UV light photo af a runic stone, so much lichens at the stone so during UV the texture totaly dissapear.

The stone, which is made of red granite, is 275 cm high, 100 cm wide and 40 cm thick and has a rune height of eight centimeters. The runestone stands in open pasture land near the Risbyle croft and between its partner stone U 161 and the road. Both Risbyle stones are dedicated to the great farmer Ulv in Skålhamra, a farm that in the Viking Age was located just southeast of Risbyle.The stone's ornamentation consists of two winding rune snakes, which in the upper part of the motif are locked with an Irish leash and crowned with a large, Christian cross. The carving is extremely carefully carved and well preserved, the carving says:

 

ulfkitil · uk · kui uk + uni + þiR × litu · rhisa × stin þina · iftiR · ulf · faþur · sin · kuþan on · buki · i skul(o)bri · kuþ · ilbi · ons · at · uk · salu · uk · kusþ muþiR · li anum lus · uk baratis

”Ulvkettil and Gye and Une they had this stone erected after Ulv, their good father. He lived in Skålhamra. God and the Mother of God help his spirit and soul, grant him light and paradise.”

 

Sweden has around 2,500 preserved runestones, mainly from the Viking Age, as memorials to deceased relatives, often after journeys to distant lands such as England, or to honour bridge builders. Most are found in Uppland (around 1,300), but they are scattered throughout the country, from Skåne to Frösöstenen in the north. The stones are important historical documents that tell the story of the Vikings' lives, travels and religion, and the best-known examples include the Rökstenen, the Gripsholmsstenen, and the Sparlösastenen.

Common themes and types

Memorials: Most runestones were erected to honour a deceased person, often a relative who died abroad.

Roads and bridges: Some stones mark the construction of a bridge or road.

Personal information: The texts provide insight into the Vikings' worldview, family ties, and sometimes even their own adventures.

Style variations: The stones vary in appearance; those in Mälardalen are often more lavish, while stones in Småland can be more austere but with exciting stories.

 In the night sky you see the open cluster Plejades M45 in Taurus.

 

 

Heavy airglow

Amazing airglow by the coast last week. I could see it but not as much as in the photos.

Read about it here: Airglow - Wikipedia

And also some faint Aurora Borealis in the north, could see green band, actually two band and some pillars moving. In the middle of the panorama photo you have the Milky Way in Auriga/Perseus.

 

A closer look at cliff and stones in fluorescence, also lichens. The blue stones are probably fluorite, the orange cliff is feldspar and golden lichens. Lichens fluoresce in "gold" (yellow/orange) due to natural pigments like xanthones and atranorin, especially under UV light, revealing hidden colors not seen in daylight. Feldspars crystallize from magma, this area was vulcanic 1,9 billion years ago.

In the sky bright planet Jupiter and a lot of airglow, even some faint aurora borealis.

 

Orion rising

Bright planet Jupiter with the stars Castor and Pollux above (left), constellation Auriga and Taurus (middle) with the open cluster M45 Plejades (right), and constellation Orion rising from the ocean. Additionally, there is also heavy airglow visible to the naked eye. Airglow is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed. This phenomenon originates with self-illuminated gases and has no relationship with Earth's magnetism or sunspot activity, causing aurorae.

On planet Earth  

Feldspar, sometimes spelled felspar, is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the plagioclase (sodium-calcium) feldspars and the alkali (potassium-sodium) feldspars. Feldspars make up about 60% of the Earth's crust and 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight.

Feldspars crystallize from magma as both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed almost entirely of calcic plagioclase feldspar is known as anorthosite. Feldspars are also found in many kinds of sedimentary rocks.

 

Airglow Aurora and Big Dipper

Heavy airglow and faint aurora borealis with the big dipper in the sky.

On planet earth you see fluorescence in water and lichens.

Airglow is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed. This phenomenon originates with self-illuminated gases and has no relationship with Earth's magnetism or sunspot activity, causing aurorae.

The Big Dipper is an asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez, of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" or "body" and three define a "handle" or "head". It is recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures. The North Star (Polaris), the current northern pole star and the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper (Little Bear), can be located by extending an imaginary line through the front two stars of the asterism, Merak and Dubhe. This makes it useful in celestial navigation.

 

Ocean's purification plant and night sky

Mussels play a super important role as the ocean's purification plant by filtering enormous amounts of water, combating eutrophication (nitrogen/phosphorus), creating habitats (biodiversity) and providing healthy food for people (protein, vitamins), making them a climate-smart and nutritious resource for a sustainable future in Sweden's aquatic environments and other aquatic environments.

Ecological roles Water purification: Mussels filter plankton and particles, purify the water and combat eutrophication by binding nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Habitat and biodiversity: Mussel beds serve as protection and substrate for many small animals, which increases biodiversity. Key species in the food web: They connect benthic life with free aquatic life, and some freshwater mussels use fish to disperse their larvae.

Some mussels washed up at the shore a clear night by the coast. Faint Aurora and airglow visible in the sky in this macro widefield photo.

 Potassium feldspar crystals are mainly created by slow crystallization from molten magma deep in the Earth's crust, where heat and pressure cause silicate minerals to arrange themselves into ordered structures as they cool, often in cracks and cavities in granite, or through weathering and transport of older rocks that are then reprecipitated from aqueous solutions. It is a natural geological process where the elements (potassium, aluminum, silicon, oxygen) slowly form the final crystal structure. How the process works: Magmatic Formation (Main): Melting & Ascent: Deep below the Earth's surface, rocks melt to form magma rich in silica, aluminum, and potassium. Slow Cooling: As the magma rises and cools very slowly under high pressure, the minerals have time to organize themselves into regular lattice structures. Crystallization: Potassium and aluminum ions bond with silicon and oxygen (SiO4 tetrahedra) in a specific monoclinic structure (like sanidine) to form feldspar. This process often produces large, well-shaped crystals in, for example, granite. Photo shows fluorescence of Feldspar once magma and almost looks like it during this condition.

Golden lichens and colorful moss in fluorescence, a macro view and in the north Aurora Borealis.

Caloplaca marina, the orange sea lichen, is a crustose, placodioid lichen. It has wide distribution, and can be found near the shore on rocks or walls.

In the webshop

Late Iron Age - Malmby Grave field

The burial ground also has a so-called ship-set, which are stones placed in the shape of a ship. There are also some mounds, types of graves that were common during the Late Iron Age (550 AD – 1050 AD). At that time, the tradition of village burial grounds also ended and instead people from the same farm were buried in their own graves. Around Malmby there are also several such small farm or village burial grounds.

 

Recycling in the moonlit forest. A view from below, macro photo of Jelly rot in fluorescence. The main purpose of Phlebia tremellosa, also known as jelly rot, is to act as a wood-decay fungus that decomposes dead wood in forest ecosystems. It is a white rot fungus that breaks down wood, specifically lignin, and recycles nutrients back into the soil. It is not edible, but its decomposition role is essential for forest health and nutrient cycling.  itself #plantwave #astronomy #twanight #astrophotographer #nightsky #nightskyphotography #stargazing #macro #science #science #stars #macrophotography #moon #ecosystem #fungi #muschroom #biology #microbiology #fungiofinstagram #moonlight