Scott T. Kubo, Photography.

Today was President’s Day holiday. The weather was beautiful! Foster Gardens was a little crowded, I usually see fewer than 5 people on the weekend. Today there must have been at least 20 people wandering around the grounds while we were there. I am glad to see people taking an interest! The Bromeliad section of the garden has been greatly improved! The “butterfly garden” has filled in nicely. Not much in the way of butterfly action though. There were about 4 or 5 that hung around but seldom landed. The one I was able to photograph looked like it was attacked by an Anole or Gecko — bite taken out of it’s wing. I searched the milk weeds (Crown Flower) for Monarch caterpillars but did not find any. The new green house conservatory is really cool! Lots of orchids, strange air plants, and pitcher plants. It was a good day to photograph!

stk Galleries, Macro, Nature Afternoon, Butterflies, Flowers, Foster Botanical Gardens, Geckos, Plants

The sky was very clear the other night, perfect for star trails! Mars is the very bright streak on the right side of the above photo. I got really lucky with this first image! In the upper left corner you can barely see three faint streaks running perpendicular to the stars. (Right click to view a slightly larger image.) I am not sure exactly what they are but they took approximately 90 seconds to travel the recorded paths. (Maybe iridium flares from orbiting satellites?) Below you can see Polaris at the center of the star trails. It looks like a stationary point but it is not true celestial North so there is a little bit of wobble.

stk Astro-photo, Night Mars, Night Sky, Polaris, Shooting Stars, Star Trails