Saturn in opposition

Today, October 4, 2026, Saturn reaches its opposition. This means that the Earth passes directly between the sun and Saturn, which means that the ringed planet is exactly on the opposite side of the Earth in relation to the sun. In the picture, the planet is seen in the middle just above the trees. In binoculars you can see a tendency to rings. It shines with a significantly calmer light compared to the stars, slightly red in color. The picture shows a cliff illuminated with UV light and the feeling is like looking over an ocean with illuminated islands in the tropics. But it is lichens that fluoresce in fantastic colors.

Mushroom and Vega

Another clear night with a bright moon. This time, I found a beautiful *Boletus edulis* (porcini mushroom). Below it stands a solitary trumpet lichen fluorescing a vivid blue, while the porcini glows with a greenish hue. *Boletus edulis* is an edible mushroom found in both deciduous and coniferous forests. Technically, it is a bolete. It forms mycorrhizal associations and is therefore dependent on host trees.

In the sky, the bright star Vega is visible in the constellation Lyra.
It lies approximately 25 light-years from Earth, emits a bluish light, and rotates so rapidly that it is flattened into an egg-like or ellipsoidal shape.
Its mass is roughly 2.1 to 2.5 times that of the Sun.
It shines with a luminosity about 40–50 times greater than that of the Sun.
Surrounding the star is a disk of dust and asteroid belts that may indicate the presence of a planetary system.

Glowing moss and fungi under the stars

Glowing moss and a little fungi under the stars.

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Red clover with a aphids on it a clear night

A clear night and I came across this red clover. I illuminated it with UV light and used a macro/wide angle lens to capture the fluorescent colors and the starry sky. Then I noticed the aphids that were hanging out under the flower. Later I took an even closer look at the flower with a more powerful macro lens 2.5x.

Meteor shower

The Perseid meteor shower peaked on the night of August 12-13. So after the partial solar eclipse, a colleague and I went to the east coast to photograph this. The meteor shower is created when the Earth passes through a trail of space debris and particles left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. When these particles (often no larger than a grain of sand) fall into the Earth's atmosphere, they travel at about 59 kilometers per second and burn up, creating the luminous streaks in the sky.

The picture shows 5 meteors over the Baltic Sea. In the foreground is a close-up (macro) of detailed lichen in UV light (blue and orange) and also a diving beetle (visible in yellow in UV)! Most species are dark, oval and flat to reduce water resistance. Their hind legs act as powerful, hair-covered oars that they use to move through the water. Because they breathe air, they carry an oxygen bubble under their coverts when they dive. This bubble acts as a kind of "physical gill" and is replenished when the ram backs up to the surface, tail first.

Where life once evolved.

 A clear and cold night by the sea on planet Earth. In the sky, the constellation Orion is visible with the star factory Orion Nebula under Orion's belt, visible to the naked eye. Our star Sun was probably created from a similar star factory long ago. The Orion Nebula (M42) consists primarily of gas and dust, where the absolutely dominant elements are hydrogen and helium. It is an emission nebula that shines because young, hot stars ionize the gas.

The Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a rotating disk of gas and dust that surrounded the young Sun. By clumping together pebbles and cosmic dust, the planet grew. Originally, the Earth was a red-hot melt that cooled and formed a solid crust. Water was added later, probably via comet impacts. The theory of the origin of life is that life on Earth arose in the ocean about 3.5–3.8 billion years ago, probably in close proximity to hot springs on the seafloor where amino acids and simple bacteria were formed. The ocean served as a protective environment for the first organisms before oxygen and the ozone layer made life on land possible. The oldest traces of life are 3.5–3.7 billion years old and are found in marine environments. Early theories focused on the "primordial soup" in shallow sea bays, while more recent research often points to hot springs (hydrothermal vents) in deep water. Complex organic molecules (amino acids) formed in the water and assembled into simple bacteria. These first organisms were independent of oxygen, but later began to produce it through photosynthesis. Evolution started with simple microorganisms, followed by algae, and later the first multicellular animals developed in the sea. The picture shows algae and seaweed that fluoresce via UV light. They are clearly visible thanks to the current record low sea level. Algae contain chlorophyll for photosynthesis. When chlorophyll is hit by UV light or blue light, it absorbs the energy, but cannot use it all. The excess energy is emitted as a red or pink glow. This is called fluorescence and can often be seen underwater with special lighting or when analyzing algae. Under Orion, light pollution from civilization is seen, life has developed into an intelligent species Homo Sapiens Sapiens that eventually invented electricity. The place where the picture was taken, Nothamn Sweden, is known for its geology, 1.9 billion years ago there were explosive volcanoes here 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 were formed, something that is common throughout Bergslagen. Deep down, beneath the volcanoes, large magma chambers have solidified into the rocks diorite and gabbro. So the rocks in the picture were created during this time.