Triple Conjunction for the 2012 All-Star Telescope Party in Rodeo, New Mexico

It has been a wonderful week of viewing and guests have been out all night, every night, imaging the sky.  Coinciding with the second week of astronomy at the Painted Pony Resort hosted by All-Star Telescope from Canada was a triple conjunction between the moon, Jupiter, and Venus.  As reported by Space.com the conjunction peaks on Saturday and Sunday night with the moon closer to Venus on Saturday and closer to Jupiter on Sunday night.  Below is an image of the conjunction taken from PPR with the conjunction show in relation to Portal Peak and the Chiricahua Mountains.  The moon, the brightest object in the photograph is below and right of Jupiter, while Venus is just below the moon and to the left.  Since there is little flying at night, sky watching is a popular activity in the dark skies over the San Simon Valley.

Triple conjunction over Portal Peak

Low Level Clouds

The image below is a multi-image panorama spanning 13 miles of the Chiricahua Mountains at sunset. Taken from the ground since the monsoons are here and the runway is wet. Note the low level cloud band running the length of the mountain range a few hundred feet off the ground. Calm still air would make for great flying.


Click image to see a larger view.

It's Offical, the Monsoons are Here

There have now been more than 3 consecutive days with a dew point above 53 degrees and that means the monsoons are here. It also means the dirt roads turn to mud. Fortunately the Galion road grader is up and running (see video) and a couple of passes to clean out the washboards and generally improve the road surface were completed. This should lessen any monsoon related problems and allow easy access to the Painted Pony Resort. Those who haven't done any road work will surely feel the effects of the monsoon.


Large cloud buildup over the Chiricahua Mountains with visible rain.

Thinking about work or play

Here is the first video created at the Painted Pony Resort. It has taken awhile to get things up and running and this is the first chance to create a new video here. Two cameras were used in filming, a Canon Vixia HF100 with a partial fish eye lens was used for the reverse and side views while a GoPro sports camera which has a 170 degree field of view (in the default setting) was used for the wingtip and control bar shots. The stability of the GoPro is good and the mounting is straight forward. It is important to note that the wider the lens the further back everything in the field of view appears, so one has to be right on top of a subject to get a close up and create the appearance of jeopardy. The balance between lens choice and the apparent distance to the subject is tricky and sometimes takes several attempts to get the right look.




you can also view the video at Youtube or at Trike Pilot Social

Wikimapia

Both Amigos del Cielo airpark and the Painted Pony Resort have been submitted for listing in Wikimapia.

The Wikimapia tag line is "lets describe the whole world". Well, the scenery in 1200 square miles of the bootheel can now be viewed through images taken from weight shift control light sport aircraft. Just change the map from Wikimapia Classic to Google Panoraimo using the map type tab at the top of the page and you will find low level aerial images of the landscape as well as aerial panoramas.



Click and hold on map to move, mouse over and click on highlighted areas for information.

Species of the day

Below is a photograph of "Roadie" the resident road runner (Geococcyx californianus) at the Painted Pony Resort. One of several offspring that were hatched in a low tree in the courtyard this road runner has remained on the property and happily eats all sorts of things.

Transition

We've moved! Kinda.
The Sky Gypsies blog will now be created 1 mile east (as the WSC aircraft flies and 3 miles by road) from it's former location at the Sky Gypsies complex in Amigos del Cielo Airpark 5 miles north of Rodeo New Mexico. The posts, aerial photography, artwork, and videos will now be produced at the Painted Pony Resort just east of the airpark. Operating out of a 2200 ft airstrip on the 80 acre resort, the Sky Gypsies blog will continue to create funny videos and bring unique aerial views of the high desert landscape from New Mexico's bootheel.


Click photo to enlarge