Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Summer Solstice and Lunar Eclipse - farewell 2010.

Well, the year is not quite over, but it might as well be.


The Summer Solstice is here (as I write) - but eastern Australia has been in the grip of huge blasts of wintery weather. That seems un-natural, but not totally unusual - as Climate Change fastens its grip on our weather patterns. Snow has been reported from the alps in many Decembers previously.


This evening, just after sunset, the full moon rose in the shadow of the earth, creating a lunar eclipse.
I watched it from the top of the Illawarra Escarpment, at Lees Road. We are looking at the lights of Port Kembla, and the mountains on the left are the hills overlooking Wollongong, which is just out of sight, a bit further up the coast. Click to enlarge image.
Lunar Eclipse over Illawarra 22.10.2010



Here we are overlooking Lake Illawarra, and Port Kembla (the Steel Works burst of steam is visible in this shot). The lights at sea come from Coal Freighters awaiting loading from Port Kembla, ready to spread our disease of carbon addiction across the world. 
Click to enlarge image.



Lunar Eclipse 22.12.2010 over Lake Illawarra and Port Kembla.

2 comments:

Keith said...

We have not had any decent settling snow here for many years now, not even in winter. But it used to snow here for xmas many years ago.
Bring on the next ice age!!!

Denis Wilson said...

I take it that your old crafts are better at making rabbit skin coats than fans and air-conditioning (perish the thought).
Word is that we are going the other direction, but some people point out that strange things can happen - to trigger unexpected temperature shifts.
Best wishes.
Denis