Sunday, December 11, 2011

Total Lunar Eclipse Dec 10 2011

December 10 2011 Total Lunar eclipse,
all phases are visible from Singapore!!  P1 is 19:33 pm local time moon rising 6:45pm
Chart courtesy of NASA

Rising moon against the Mariana Bay Sands, we went there for an evening stroll.



The Earth's shadow bites into the Eastern limb.. 20:49
Eating into the prominent  'Rabbit in the Moon'. 21:18

and more and more 21:39

Copper red earth's shine  22:01

Around 10:50pm a friend sms me and asked why the moon looked strange tonight.... 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Gardens by the bay - Flower Dome Preview & WOC Nov 2011

Bridal Bouquets - adds 3 D feel




Not in any order...  bizarre pattern of an orchid with umbrella
or a small kid with flowering dress all spread out?



 Yet another one - cropped view.

 Face with eyes, noise  puffy cheeks and slipper of course

 Or a fly dishing out a bat in front? did you notice this orchid while  you were there?

Quite a distance away from my point and shoot

 Fibers from orchids can be used to make these... from Myanmar.



Explosion of colors

from Bali..
Super trees clusters.

Kangaroo's paw - can across this in earlier Garden Festival.
Add caption
Flower domes - the smaller one is under construction. Resembles a waking dinosaur's back!!
Structure of an Orchid flower

Some looks different
View of the adjustable(?) fin's like covering on the dome to
regulate amount of sunlight going through.

Another inside view from the Plant Dome



Saw this while waiting for the bus to WOC. The 2nd rectangle is
actually an opening revealing the construction site. From far it looks like a postage stamp poster.

 Red dot's selling places...

 Pallets constructed  from paper.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Revisiting Yishun .. Pond and Park

Yishun Pond Map.
This little unappealing  unknown service pond some  ten years ago was finally rejuvenated! Tiny butterflies - white ones yellow ones fluttering among the flowers. Two egrets skimming the rather small pond surfaces meanwhile a white headed eagle doing the thermal swirls high up in the sky. Nearby the new Yishun Hospital overlooking one end of the ponds.

Notice  the porcupine spine -like  pattern  & shadows

The other end of the ponds - the spill-away during wet seasons i suppose.
Spiral@Yishun Park connecting the walk way from the pond to the Yishun Park nearby.
Collected some fallen fruits ...

 ... from nearby Safra
CP7000 self timer facing up on the floor and me.

Durians - at least 5 trees were spotted ... this time of the year we still have durian?

Ten years ago I remembered bringing camcorder and sensitive b/w ccd  and tripods, batteries etc to this park for the Leonids event.  So much have changed over the years.  I was told there were durians in the park but i found none then.

Bread fruits.  A visible one torn open scattering the contents on the pavement directly below.



Nanga or jack fruits high up in the branches.

It requires strong teeth to chew through this thorny fruit. Not the monkey i saw picking the easy target - Starfruit close to Safra.

Man-at-work. Inlet to the pond on the left.  Floating leaves were manually scooped out..

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Cave path - where does this cave lead to ..

Hindhede Quarry Cliff face viewed from the look-out-point. Opening bearing from the lookout point is 60 degree NE.
 Can you locate the other entrance of the cave? [Hint locate a ledge like opening on RHS]

A strong breeze can be felt in the afternoon as the other end of ( quarry cliff face)
sucks in the breeze and ruffles the cave foliage. ~68m in elevation
Peeping at the other end with a pair of 10x50  binos reveals tree branches and skyline.

The approximate position of the tunnel from the cliff face to the cave path!
Notice the dark opening between the fore-branches
A closer look.

The dark square hole is there right in the middle. Some painted over sign seen on the extreme right wall.  Could be an interesting cooling spot if accessible ( rope ladder from above?)