Face to the Sky

Weather has taken a toll on this fence post.

It seems that weather, or the discussion of weather takes up disproportionate space on this blog. Perhaps not on par with fishing, but close.

This can be attributed to a couple of things, really. When you’re going outside the weather is part of the process. However, when that outside is on the high desert, the weather becomes the view.

Layers of storm clouds fill our view east

Since moving to Central Oregon, we’ve noticed that you can literally watch the weather. Not just the weather you’re in, but all those storm cells moving about you.

Winter still has a hold on the high country, but winter wheat has turned fields green

Get up on a butte and it’s 360 degrees of weather. We were used to small openings through groves of Doug Fir. Doesn’t really matter because that weather was typically hitting against your hat.

Clusters of clouds float across the sky

Drove ’97 North this week. As you finish the grade to the Cow Canyon Rest Area, just past South Junction Road, the horizon line drops to a constant lower third. The other two thirds is sky and this trip we got lucky with the weather filling all that space.

John Day River Canyon walls are covered with fresh spring growth

Half a dozen storm systems were scattered about. Directly above us white streaks of Cirrus filtered the sunshine. Blackish thunder heads trailing gray curtains of rain bumped against the Cascades.

It’s raining over there.

To the East, less ominous but more abundant fronts hung behind projections  of windmills and grain elevators.

After the sun sets there are additional perks to being on this side of the Cascades. It’s our impression that Central Oregon experiences more cloudless days than the place we moved from.

A Cottonwood Canyon State Park vista

Regardless, the vista is wider, even at the bottom of a river canyon.

Cabin lights under a star filled sky

This particular April evening offered excellent star gazing. You just had to scoot chairs off the cabin porch. Constellations I’m familiar with got lost in a night sky filled with the stars not visible in an urban settling.

Never get tired of that view

Constellations I’m familiar with got lost in a night sky filled with the stars not visible in an urban settling.

Looking east  .  .  .  the constellation Hercules might be there on the left.

Much like birding, identification isn’t critical to enjoying the moment. We regularly cast an eye to the night, or early morning sky. On this trip JQ braved the early morning cold and got some excellent images.

If the weather is right you can turn your face to the sky and see all kinds of wondrous views.

 

Astronomy 101

Twilight on Pine Mountain

Something we discovered after moving to Central Oregon is there is minimal light pollution. Even around Bend the night sky is spectacular. A couple of local facilities are open in the warmer months to help the public understand all those bright lights overhead.

The Nature Center at Sunriver has an Observatory open to the public Wednesday thru Saturday evenings and even boasts of the “largest collection of telescopes for public viewing.”

On the top of a mountain half an hour east of Bend is University of Oregon’s Pine Mountain Observatory. Primarily a research center, they do open up to the public on Friday and Saturday nights. There are fewer telescopes, but also fewer people clamoring for a peek at the heavens.

Pine Mountain Observatory

We picked the first dark moon night of the season (they open from Memorial Day to end of September) and made the short journey to the top of Pine Mountain. This night the cumulous clouds offered an impressive distant lightning storm and brought some additional drama to the sunset.

The space station, a small white dot on right, midway on horizon.

In the end they obscured our view of the Milky Way and southern sky. It wasn’t the astrological viewing we’d hoped for.

However, there was a quick look at Mars and we watched the international space station streak across the evening sky. Did you realize it flies past us every 90 minutes? Who Knew?