Happy Vernal Equinox!

by Chas

March 20th, the first day of spring, and the day when the sun should rise exactly between two column of the rotunda when viewed from the center of the dome. even though clouds were forecast, Anne, Khamara, and I headed out to see what we could see. I arrived a bit before 7 am. the lights were still on, and bats were flying about.

the cloud cover continued all morning but we could see a bright spot rising between the columns.

although we didn’t get to see the sun, it was still a magical morning. there is something special about watching the world wake up in such a beautiful location.

Rainbow Connection

by Chas

At our training Wednesday morning, Ron amazed us with an fascinating (though unfinished) discussion of the electromagnetic spectrum. At the beginning of the meeting, Ron handed out diffraction grating glasses that allowed us to see all the colors that make up the light around us. “I dare you to wear them all day” was the exclamation as we walked out of our training Wednesday morning. So we did, we wore diffraction grating glasses during orientations, at the outdoor cart, and while roaming. My favorite find of the day was at Lumen Illusion. Simple red and blue rotating neon tubes. I put my diffraction grating glasses on my camera and photographed this.

What did y’all see? I look forward to carrying those glasses around for some future discovery.

Cheers,
chas