Trout Lake Report: Awkward Goodbyes

You think this will be your last trip to the lake for a long time. You're in the middle of packing everything in the house, loading a U-Haul truck, and getting ready for a move away from Washington back to the Midwest. It's too busy to fish anymore.

So you document the last time you park the truck at the channel (the truck is sold; the new owners will pick it up in a day or two) and the last time you launch the float tube.

But then something goes wrong. You can't document the last fish you catch at Trout Lake because you don't catch it. You miss some hits, and a strong fish breaks you off along the weed beds. You think that might have been the big Brown you've been hoping for. But the end result adds up to a skunk.

Looks like you need to figure out how to squeeze in one more trip to the lake.

Trout Lake Report: Closemouthed

It's windy, then calm. The weather is cool, and the hatches are impressive. But the fish are strangely silent.

Saturn, Mars, Antares (top to bottom)

You watch the planets align and decide to keep your mouth closed about the fact that you couldn't coax a single fish to open theirs.

Hello, Pluto

Image by NASA from the New Horizon spacecraft, taken on July 14, 2015,

from 7,750 miles above the surface of Pluto. From Earthsky.

Very cool. Never thought I would know what Pluto really looked like.

Awe is Good for Your Health

The three brightest objects in the night sky--the moon, Venus, and Jupiter--will be appearing close together over the next three evenings. Take a look: studies show that awe is good for your health.

Why We Fish

Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.

"Choose Something Like a Star" by Robert Frost

Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

Mini-WASP array image captured by Greg Parker,

New Forest Observatory.

O Star (the fairest one in sight),

We grant your loftiness the right

To some obscurity of cloud—

It will not do to say of night,

Since dark is what brings out your light.

Some mystery becomes the proud.

But to be wholly taciturn

In your reserve is not allowed.

Say something to us we can learn

By heart and when alone repeat.

Say something! And it says, 'I burn.'

But say with what degree of heat.

Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.

Use language we can comprehend.

Tell us what elements you blend.

It gives us strangely little aid,

But does tell something in the end.

And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,

Not even stooping from its sphere,

It asks a little of us here.

It asks of us a certain height,

So when at times the mob is swayed

To carry praise or blame too far,

We may choose something like a star

To stay our minds on and be staid.

"Choose Something Like a Star" by Robert Frost, from Collected Poems, Prose & Plays. © The Library of America, 1995. 

Stars and Planets

I went out tonight to find the sky crystal clear. The stars and planets were brilliant. Venus and Jupiter, dazzling in the western sky, are nearing their closest conjunction in years. Saturn moves low across the southern sky, and Mars rises in the east and glows like an ember amidst the glittering host.

Orion was striding right over our house, but I couldn't find a suitable stand for the camera to get a full shot.

Then there was the Big Dipper, the first constellation I became aware of as a child. It still holds a fascination for me, so big and so omnipresent. So rich in lore and fable. So comforting somehow.

I learned something about the Big Dipper that I had never known before, thanks to EarthSky.

 

If you look at the star Mizar in the Big Dipper’s handle, do you see just one star or two? An ancient eye test for those wishing to join the Roman army involved spotting Alcor next to it. If you passed, you got a job as an archer. If you failed, you had to serve in another capacity … perhaps as a cook?

I looked tonight, and I could see Alcor. But that was with the aid of my specs, so I would have had to be content to serve Caesar in some less glamorous role than archer. Perhaps provider of fish.

But here's the kicker. The famous double star of Mizar and Alcor are actually six stars. Now that's an eye test. Read about it here.