Tag Archives: moon

Blue Hour Reflections

Posted on by

Walking home this week, and while it is still dark by the time I leave work, with it being lighter till a little later every day as we move into spring, there was a smidgen of blue light in the western sky. I didn’t have the tripod with me, so sat the camera in timer mode on the stone wall by the Walker Bridge over the Union Canal, where it runs between rows of Victorian tenements.

Blue Hour Reflections

And I was lucky enough to catch this gorgeous Moon rise over the Union Canal, as dusk fell, the Moon chasing the setting sun across the sky.

The Moon Chased The Sun Across The Heavens 02

Blue Moon

Posted on by

Walking home last night, as the planetary parade was taking place. It was a clear night, the very tail-end of Blue Hour, most of the sky dark save a fading, blue glow in the west, and above the tenements running parallel to the Union Canal, Venus shining diamond bright. I didn’t have the tripod with me, so I set the timer and sat the camera on the stone ledge by the bridge over the canal to steady it for a long exposure and crossed my fingers:

Venus Shining Down

Then this evening, the 1st of March, walking home, same spot over the Union Canal, Venus in a clear, dusk sky, but this time joined by a gorgeous, large, crescent Moon over the old tenements, so I improvised again, resting the camera on the stone ledge of the bridge to get a long exposure:

Blue Moon, You Saw Me Standing Alone 01

“Blue moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper, “Please adore me”
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold
Blue moon
Now I’m no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own”

Blue Moon, You Saw Me Standing Alone 02

The Moon and Venus, Dancing in the Heavens

Posted on by

Walking home from my first day of work of 2025, frigid but beautiful winter’s night, amazingly clear skies, even over the city. Above the Union Canal, which was rapidly icing up, a large, bright, crescent Moon, with an incredibly bright Venus shining right next to it.

The Moon And Venus Danced Among The Heavens 01

As I was coming from work, I didn’t have my tripod with me, so I improvised, setting the timer on the camera, then resting it on the edge of the old, stone bridge over the canal to steady it for a longer exposure, and crossed my fingers. And while it isn’t as good as with the tripod, given it is a makeshift night shot, it’s not too bad:

The Moon And Venus Danced Among The Heavens 02

And this was the view looking east – you can just see Jupiter in the sky above the buildings at the end of the canal in this one, just right of centre:

Union Canal, Winter's Night 01

And a wee zoom in closer to the old Leamington Lift Bridge, and the cold waters starting to freeze over:

Union Canal, Winter's Night 03

As ever, click on the links to see the full-sized versions on the Woolamaloo Flickr stream (now north of 28, 000 photos on there!)

Red Moon

Posted on by

Red Mars,
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Orbit Books

(cover design by Lauren Panepinto, art by Arcangel Images)

I’ll confess right away to being biased here: I think Kim Stanley Robinson is one of our consistently most thought-provoking and intelligent science fiction writers we have working today, and any new work from his pen is most welcome. In Red Moon we’re roughly three decades into the future, with well-established Moon bases – numerous nations have a presence, from Brazil to Britain, the Americans, the Russians, but the biggest player by a Lunar mile is China. Robinson imagine the vast monetary surpluses China already has today, much of which is invested in gigantic infrastructure projects, and plays that out on the astronomical scale with huge investment in colonising and exploiting the Moon. Among the various nation states there are also freebooting prospectors, 49ers in spacesuits and Lunar rovers and a form of free town, a domed settlement run on co-operative lines where the architecture takes advantage of the lower gravity (humans leaping and swinging from structure to structure like orang-utans).

American Fred Fredericks works for a Swiss technology firm, tasked with taking a special communications device to a customer, a senior Chinese official on the Moon. The device is quantum-entangled, it will only talk to its paired device back on Earth and is pretty much un-hackable. On the shuttle to the Lunar surface Fred meets a fellow traveller Robinson fans will remember fondly from Antarctica, Ta Shu, now quite elderly but still up for exploring a new destination for his much-loved travel shows. Ta Shu takes a shine to the awkward Fred (who is better with systems than people, it’s hinted that perhaps he is on the Spectrum), and when his young friend finds himself mixed up in a mysterious assassination of a Chinese official (which almost kills Fred as well), he does his best to help, which draws him into the orbit of Chan Qi, daughter of a high party official, who needs to get off the moon quickly after breaking the rules big time – she’s heavily pregnant.

Ta Shu, Fred and Chan Qi find themselves soon treading through a labyrinth of conflicting ideologies and movements, some local, grass-roots (Qi is involved with a people power movement across China), some internal party politics (leader succession time beckons and different groups want a different direction for China), and global conspiracies (America is even more in debt to China than it is today, but trying to compete and play the Great Game against a backdrop of economic chaos at home). It’s an incredibly rich stew of the political, economic and scientific, but as with his previous works Robinson is good at ensuring there is always a personal level here that isn’t overwhelmed by the events going on around the characters.

These are characters you come to love – the brave but brittle and testy Chan Qi, the awkward but trying his best Fred, and, for me most especially Ta Shu. There are some beautiful little emotional moments, such as Ta Shu meeting an old friend, who takes him to the best spot to watch the Earth Rise above the Lunar surface, after which the two old gentlemen, in the traditional, refined Chinese manner, each compose a poem for the moment. Fred forced into close contact with Qi for a long period on the run, has to deal with his problems in interacting with others, while Qi is slowly forced to realise that individual friendship is as important as the Great Cause she is fighting for.

Robinson, as he often does, uses his future fiction to address many of the ills of today’s world – the vast economic inequality (both individual and national level), the importance of equal rights for all, the problems of mass, illegal migration (although of a different type from what you may think), and weaves in an environmental aspect to it all. Red Moon also echoes his much earlier Antarctica novel (written after Robinson himself travelled there, part of a writer and artist’s programme by the National Science Foundation), not just in having Ta Shu, but also echoes its feel in some places, the Lunar colonies reminiscent of the scientific bases on Antarctica, the stark, barren beauty of the landscape also evoked by the Lunar surface. But at its heart this is less about the science or the politics but the people involved, and that is what makes it so compelling.

This review was originally penned for The Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland’s leading journal of Science Fiction

Moonrise

Posted on by

Gorgeously bright winter moonrise this evening. I was coming home from an afternoon walk so didn’t have the tripod, but had to try with the low light mode for a freehand shot. The result isn’t as sharp as with a proper long exposure on the tripod, but I had to try and grab this glorious, deep blue dusk sky and the Moon rising, just as it was about to go behind the tower of Saint John’s Church on Princes Street:

Moonrise and Tower 01

And a quick, rough freehand close-up:

Moonrise and Tower 02

Moonrise Kingdom

Posted on by

Watched the Moon rising over McEwan Hall the other evening, from the roof terrace of the National Museum of Scotland (one of the best spots for looking out over the roofs, spires and domes of Edinburgh – and like the museum it’s free):

Winter Moonrise 01

And while I had that elevated vantage point and dusk was falling, I thought I would try to zoom in a bit and see if I could get a Moon shot too:

Winter Moonrise 02

Then as night fell properly I went for a stroll with camera and tripod, over to Bristo Square and Edinburgh University to take a pic of the Teviot, which is the oldest purpose-built student union in the world (and resembles what Hogwart’s student union would look like if they served booze). Used to enjoy the regular CeilidhPartyDisco nights there when I was an undergrad (live band Ceilidh for first half of night, then late night disco, we had fun), still a hugely popular venue:

Bristo Square at night 02

And then the recently refurbished and enhanced McEwan Hall at night – this is just half an hour or so after the shot at the top of the dome with the Moon rising above it, already full darkness fallen. This is where my graduation ceremony took place, we all stood in this square afterwards taking photos with our families, feels like a lifetime ago now:

Bristo Square at night 04

Clair de Lune

Posted on by

Debussy’s Clair de Lune is one of my favourite piano pieces; in this video NASA has paired a special performance of the piece by The National Symphony Orchestra Pops as part of NASA’s sixtieth anniversary celebrations with imagery from the Lunar Orbiter. The piano plays as our moon turns slowly below the camera, the light of the sun casting growing shadows across the desolate beauty of the lunar surface. Pause your day for a few moments and treat yourself to some wondrous beauty… (via BoingBoing)

Winter sunset and moonrise

Posted on by

Down on the coast near North Berwick, short but beautifully golden winter day, sun setting, casting long shadows and warm, copper coloured light over the distinctive triangular shape of North Berwick Law (a major local landmark, it can even be glimpsed from parts of Edinburgh on a good day) as the rising Moon chases the sun from sky:

Edinburgh moonrise

Posted on by

Moonrise over Edinburgh – spotted on walk home from work, sun almost vanished in the west, glanced over shoulder to see moon rising in a pale eastern sky. I stood to one side on the Royal Mile, right by the Mercat Cross. Stand a few feet to the left or right and this scene wouldn’t exist, but stand in just the right spot and there is is, an early spring moon rising right above the royal unicorn and saltire atop the Mercat Cross. Most folks walked past on their way home from work without even noticing. For those of us who do know to look for these things though, sometimes, just sometimes in the mundane, workaday world, you can find a moment of magic…

Moonrise Kingdom

Posted on by

I was out taking some night shots in Edinburgh this evening – I say night, but actually I started around half past four in the afternoon as the sun has set by then at this time of year! Looking over from Princes Street Gardens to the Old Town on its volcanic ridge I could see a half moon rising in the winter night over the Bank of Scotland headquarters on top of the Mound, where the road snakes up from the New Town to the Old Town. Magical scenes like this are one of the reasons why I love living in Edinburgh, it has the most beautiful cityscape in the world (click to see larger version on my Flickr).

winter moon rising over Old Town

First snow

Posted on by

First snow pics I’ve taken this winter, just a very light fall in Edinburgh on Sunday – nothing like this time last year when we were knee deep and basically dealing with very heavy snow and ice for weeks on end. Just a little bit scattered across the town, like these patches on Arthur’s Seat today at dusk:

Arthur's Seat, December day, first snow

And as we drove around a slushy, icy road in Holyrood Royal Park past Arthur’s Seat I saw this pale moon rising at dusk over the ancient rocks; shot out of window of friend’s car, amazed it came out…

midwinter moonrise

Under an orange moon

Posted on by

Walking home from work a couple of evenings ago I was crossing North Bridge, which is one of the great vantage points for views of Edinburgh as it strides its way across the valley below (where the Waverley train station lies) that seperates the Old Town and New Town and offers up views westwards looking along both Castle Ridge and Princes Street towards the Castle, the National Gallery, Scott Monument and more, while the eastward view towards Calton Hill and out down the mighty Firth of Forth and out to the sea (on a clear day you can even make out the distinctive shape of North Berwick Law further down the coast). Walking home this particular night it was a clear sky and bitterly cold. I looked eastwards and rising directly above Calton Hill, as if it came out of the Forth, an enormous full moon. An orange-red full moon.

orange moonrise 01

As I was on the way from work I didn’t have my tripod, so I improvised a night shot balancing the camera on a ledge on the bridge and setting the timer. Sadly I simply could not get the moon to come out more clearly, although everything else isn’t too bad, all things considered. Even if it had come out it wouldn’t have done justice to the view I was drinking in, before the cold drove me to get the gloves back on and get going. Rush hour on the bridge so it was packed, but most people hurried past, heads down, without noticing this astonishing visual gift nature and our ancient city were offering up to those who had eyes to see.

orange moonrise 03