ancient astronomy city centre sunrises

The March equinox was yesterday and today is the end day of mistYmuse 20/21: four months after mYm 20/21 started, and five months after False Dawn Week! I hope it helped you through the traditionally toughest four or five months in the UK and northern hemisphere year.

This is one of three posts I hope to bring you today, bringing the biggest mistYmuse ever to a fireworks finale!

Ancient Astronomy Angle

I wasn’t awake for this morning’s sunrise, but wasn’t too bothered, as was for last year’s, and can see from this 20/3/20 photo how much the sun is further along the horizon from the three buildings it rose near on March 12th this year (as seen in photo below it).

March 20th:

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March 12th:

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On March 6th (last year), for the most iconic of mornings, the sun rose the other side of the three buildings:

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On February 28th, this year, those three buildings are nearly out of the photo, and the hospital (circle above) becomes the next landmark;

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On the 17th of February (last year) the sun was over the city centre, with the hospital (circled) nearly out of the photo. That tree has now been cut, exposing the pylon behind it.

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A week earlier (on February 10th this year), it rose near the pylon, between the city centre and the south of the city across the River Aire:

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On January 29th it had been below the city centre altogether.

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POP ART SURPRISE

I nearly didn’t bother taking any photos this morning, thinking it was another clear morning one, and not long after the last sunrise position of two days ago.
The misty line of cloud and PinkyOrangePurple colours persuaded me to start, and then I saw it was lighting up that builiding as it rose; giving it another unique view.

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ancient astronomy amateur

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The ‘sunrise’ is now half way to the city centre from its midwinter most south-westerly first sighting point, with the big tree and v (a little poetry) convenient markers.
This morning’s photos above, and midwinter ones below.

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Y-DAY: MISTYMUSE HALFWAY

It’s now two months since the four months long mYm 20/21 started on November 21st, and the passing of the movement into the muse half is marked today with Y-day. It was started to look on the brightest side of the traditionally toughest weather months in the northern hemisphere, with sunrises at their latest time.

This morning we had a mixture of sunshine, rain and sleet. I posted five Y related videos on Facebook for a bit of a music festival there! Here ‘s photos from the sunrise on January 7th, the last sunrise photos from the first half of mistYmuse 20/21 to be posted:

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Sunrise in Leeds is now back at 8.08 from its midwinter latest time of 8.24, while sunset is half an hour later at 4.26.

midwinter day week away

A week before midwinter’s day and the weather forecast for a clear morning was on the button, providing the inspiration and planning for these photos. That’s not to say it was all polished and professional. A late sleep meant I was lucky (no alarm clock!) to wake this morning at 7.50, just in time for the start of the sunrise, which I followed until it seemed up and behind cloud at 8.30.

Gaia Sun Fun?

Continuing the theme of the last post, where I wrote of my ‘every sky having a sunrise gap’ adaptation of ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, and being open to Gaia theory (and for the sun being alive too) this morning the sun seemed to hide behind the cloud, just providing a silver (or gold!?) lining. Coincidence? I don’t know, so I’m agnostic. Do I want to believe, like Mulder with UFOs in X-Files? Yes, of course.

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When I Think I’ve Achieved Enough, I Feel Like Giving/Passing Away…

The photo gallery design was also provided by the WordPress programmers; and the camera technology by others; and it was only when I uploaded the photos on a previous post at the start of the month that I noticed they mirrored the pop art design that has become a central theme to this website since the PinkyOrangePurple (inspiring new POP art) twilight colours theme was noticed on the XaW Files travel quest for the greenYgrey world’s Andy Warhol, Andy Wolfhol; whose favourite phrase was ‘wolf not war’!

So my main skill is not creating myself, but noticing and linking the creations of others, with some judgement about choosing, editing and taking the best photos; combining 55 years of experience and knowledge with new technology… and love for sun and nature!

Sunset historic photos

Here’s four photos from a historic Stanningley, Leeds sunset, winter 2006 I think, a decade before the new POP (PinkyOrangePurple) age inspired by those twilight time colours correlating with the pop art travel quest theme of XaW Files: Beyond Humanity.

They remind me of some UFO film and photos, especially the triangular one with a light underneath, rumoured to be a new USAF stealth craft called the TR3B, featuring anti-gravity plasma.

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EQUINOX+1: later Sunrise travels south for one week more…

The sun is rising over Leeds again (how it looks to us, although really it’s the way our planet orbits the sun), like it was in the early March photos; making the return journey!

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From our viewpoint the sunrise is now heading back southwards on the horizon, reaching its most southerly point around midwinter (around December 21st). While that is the positive that inspired the mistYmuse (Most Ideal Sunrise Time – Midwinter Until Spring Equinox), really it’s our planet’s tilt pointing the north away from the sun, so we have less sun time: seeing it later and for less time on our planet’s spin, creating short days and long nights.

Our planet’s axis doesn’t change it’s position; doesn’t bank around corners like a bike: it is more like an inflexible rigid stick flying around a circle; so half the year south is faced more towards the sun, and the other half it is the north, changing at the equinoxes, giving each half a summer and winter.

The Earth at northern hemisphere Midsummer about four months ago:

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You can see where it is now at The Planets Today. Seeing today’s image reminded me there was also a beautiful slither of moon visible, with Venus above it dazzling in the sky blue.

At the height of summer (around June 21st), the sun on my horizon was out of sight to the north, and very early in the morning. While that seems negative, in fact it’s just that our planet’s tilt is tipped in the sun’s direction, meaning we see it earlier on our horizon (our planet spinning around): like looking around a corner before reaching it.

So there are pros and cons, positives and negatives, and that’s why I created the mistYmuse: to celebrate the positives at a time of year that is considered the most difficult in the north; especially in the UK, where we don’t have Thanksgiving to celebrate at the end of November like in the USA, filling the gap after Halloween/Bonfire Night.

Next week it is False Dawn Week, when sunrise times are at their latest before the clocks go back in the UK.

Winter Sunrise Photos

After putting my camera off and away again, thinking the photos posted yesterday were the last sunrise opportunities I’d see, as I neared the city, I turned a corner and met this lovely scene with the sunrise framed by a bridge, with trees and grey sky above providing a fascinating contrast.

A Cropped Close-Up

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My recent books, featuring my own previous nature photographing:

Leeds Sunrise Lives Up to mistYmuse Hype

Scheduled to arrive in Leeds by 9am I thought I may see some ‘sunrise’, with the sun now visible from the city after 8am, and the sky lightening and colouring beforehand: this gives mistYmuse its Most Ideal Sunrise Times first-half-of-word acronym (#mYm2019).

As I approached the city on the canal towpath I was thrilled to see there was POP (PinkyOrangePurple) on the horizon; like the common ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ idiom. Here’s a couple of photos, with a third of it cropped for a close-up.

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Fortnight of mistYmuse Twilight Times Spectacular

As twilight times contract:
Sunrise (now 08.05 in Leeds, with sunset only 7/8 hours later at 15.47) photos from this morning, 2 weeks into mistYmuse 2019/20 (#mYm2019 – November 21st was a Thursday).

One of a plane seeming to fly over a (pagan) crescent moon at late afternoon sunset through a frosty window earlier in the week.

The clear sky setting sun inspired me to extend my run/exercises yesterday afternoon, especially as clouds were building around it, and with low pressure forecast for the next few days.

I stayed out until the last light disappeared from between tree branches, making me think that is what tinsel on Christmas trees might represent?.. although Wikipedia says ice.