LUNAR ECLIPSE

A total lunar eclipse occurred in Melbourne on May 26th 2021. A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Full Moon and blocks all of Sun's direct rays from lighting up the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, and only on the night of a full moon.

The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon's proximity to either node of its orbit. A totally eclipsed Moon is sometimes called a blood moon for its reddish colour, which is caused by Earth completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. The only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth's atmosphere. This light appears reddish for the same reason that a sunset or sunrise does: the Rayleigh scattering of bluer light.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly 2 hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only up to a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full Moon.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

GOLDEN MOON

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

BANK PLACE

Bank Place is a street in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a short, narrow laneway, running south from Little Collins Street between Queen Street and William Street in the central business district of Melbourne. Located in the heart of the financial sector, Bank Place (which incorporates several smaller lanes, such as Mitre Lane) is an oasis of heritage pre-war buildings dating from the 1860s through to the 1920s.

The lane also includes several ornate heritage lamp posts and bluestone alleys. It is home to several bars, cafes and eateries which serve many of the nearby office workers. Many of the taller old buildings have been converted into loft style apartments. By night, one can imagine being transported to older times when life was a little simpler...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 840,486 within the city proper, 1,337,743 in the urban area, and 2,431,000 in the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country, and is also North Holland’s largest city. It comprises much of the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, with a population of approximately 7 million.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SYDNEY BY NIGHT

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of theTravel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MOON SKY

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

ANTWERP, BELGIUM

Antwerp (Dutch: Antwerpen; French: Anvers) is a city in Belgium, and is the capital of Antwerp province in Flanders. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium, and with 1,200,000 the second largest metropolitan region after Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the river's Westerschelde estuary. It is about 40 kilometres north of Brussels, and about 15 kilometres south of the Dutch border.

The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. The city is also known for its diamond industry and trade. Both economically and culturally, Antwerp is and has long been an important city in the Low Countries, especially before and during the Spanish Fury (1576) and throughout and after the subsequent Dutch Revolt.

Antwerp was also the place of the world's oldest stock exchange building, originally built in 1531 and re-built in 1872. The inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, "lord", referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

WAITING

For the train to arrive...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

GALAXY

Galaxy | ˈɡaləksi | noun (plural galaxies)

A system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.

• (the Galaxy) the galaxy of which the solar system is a part; the "Milky Way" as is seen in the dark night sky.

• a large group of impressive people or things: The four musicians have played with a galaxy of stars.

The Galaxy in which the earth is located is a disc-shaped spiral galaxy with approximately 100,000 million stars. The sun is located about two thirds of the way out from the centre.

ORIGIN

Late Middle English (originally referring to the Milky Way): Via Old French from medieval Latin galaxia, from Greek galaxias (kuklos) ‘milky (vault)’, from gala, galakt- ‘milk’.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

AUGUST FULL MOON

The August full moon in the Northern Hemisphere is known as the Sturgeon Moon because of the large number of fish in the lakes where the Algonquin tribes fished. Other names for this Full Moon include Green Corn Moon, Barley Moon, Fruit Moon, and Grain Moon from Old English/Anglo-Saxon.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the August Full moon corresponds with the Northern February moon, hence in Australia this August full moon should be called the Snow Moon named after the snowy conditions. It is also known as the Hunger Moon due to the scarce food sources during mid-winter, while other names are Storm Moon and Chaste Moon.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

EVENING STAR

Venus, also known as the Evening Star or the Morning Star, depending on its position in the sky and its relationship to setting or rising sun. As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC, and was a prime target for early interplanetary exploration as the closest planet to Earth (as much as 261 million kilometres far - that's very far!).

It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2) in 1962, and the first to be successfully landed on (by Venera 7) in 1970. Venus's thick clouds render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more complex missions, but they are hindered by Venus's extremely hostile surface conditions, exacerbated by a runaway greenhouse gas effect that have raised surface temperatures enough to melt lead metal.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

AFTERGLOW

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

SYDNEY BY NIGHT

Sydney Harbour is beautiful by day, but at night, all lit up, it takes on a special pizzazz!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

NIGHT

Having the Yarra River course its way through our city is quite marvellous as it affords beautiful vistas along its length. By night, some magical reflections can be seen in the City as the lights come on. These views are taken from Southbank, an entertainment and residential precinct.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE BY NIGHT

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.24 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million.

The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River valley between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range. The metropolitan area sprawls across several of Australia's most populous local government areas, including the City of Brisbane, which is by far the most populous LGA in the nation. 

The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite. Brisbane is named after the Brisbane River on which it is located, which in turn was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres north of the central business district, which was founded in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FREMANTLE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829. It was declared a city in 1929, and has a population of approximately 25,000.The city is named after Captain Charles Howe Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established a camp at the site. The city contains well-preserved 19th-century buildings and other heritage features. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

YALTA, CRIMEA

Yalta (Russian: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative centre of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Population: 76,746 (2014 Census). The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by the Greek conquerors who were looking for a safe shore (γιαλός – yalos in Greek) on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by the mountain range Ai-Petri. It has a warm humid subtropical climate and surrounded by numerous vineyards and orchards. The term "Greater Yalta" is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SKYWATCH

Melbourne has a reputation for its ever changeable weather and as I put together this mosaic of skies of Melbourne it made me chuckle thinking: "Variety is the spice of life"!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

ON THE YARRA

Autumn morning on the Yarra River in Melbourne. Lately, it's been cold, wet and rather grey this past week and currently the best place to be is indoors.

This post is part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.