Tag Archives: night

0510, 2012

The “Last” Oxford Picture

Joseph/ October 5, 2012/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

How many experiences this place has brought to me! How many challenges, opportunities, hurdles, and fun. The last three years in Oxford have quite simply been some of the best of my life – and scribbling these few words conjure up the warmest of memories – and I haven’t even left yet! It is a strange place, Oxford. You arrive full of preconceptions and presuppositions about what the place should look and feel like – well, in that sense not quite unlike the feeling one would get prior to moving anywhere

2909, 2012

Moon and Spires

Joseph/ September 29, 2012/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

I was on my way back home when a friend of mine texted me to let me know that the moon looked particularly interesting this evening. And indeed, right behind me the moon was peeping from behind some splendid Altocumulus floccus clouds. I spent the next half an hour or so waiting for cars to pass by so that I could hop right to the middle of the street as soon as it cleared momentarily. (I am sure passers by must have found this odd behaviour quite amusing.) Anyway, I wanted

2907, 2012

Light Pollution

Joseph/ July 29, 2012/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

I took this picture, which you are encouraged to share, with the sole purpose of creating awareness about the problem of light pollution. The solution is not to switch off all lights, but rather to turn off what is not required and use properly designed lighting fixtures whenever illumination is needed. Properly designed (full cutoff) lighting sends the light where it is wanted, namely the ground, instead of wasting it up in our skies. Not only is poorly-designed lighting a waste of energy, it also blots out pristine starlight which has

2507, 2012

The Heart of the Galaxy

Joseph/ July 25, 2012/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

This is a quick snapshot of the very centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, taken from Malta. Since we ourselves lie in the Galaxy, we cannot see its grand spiral design from our point of view, just as we cannot perceive the Earth’s spherical shape whilst being bound to its surface. So in essence, this picture shows the point of view of a citizen of the Milky Way. Enjoy!

1807, 2012

Of disappearing and reappering acts

Joseph/ July 18, 2012/ Uncategorized/ 2 comments

I presume that last Saturday, at about 3am local (Maltese) time, most people were fast asleep, unaware of a magnificent spectacle going on above their heads. Jupiter and its moons slowly disappeared from the skies, as our own moon glided steadily in front of them, thus occulting the Jovian system, starting with icy Europa and and volcanic Io, then Jupiter itself, and finally large, rocky Ganymede and heavily cratered Callisto. Of course, the surface features of these moons are not visible with small ground-based telescopes; instead they appear as tiny dots

0612, 2011

Sights in the sky

Joseph/ December 6, 2011/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

At long last, I’ve taken a new picture. This evening was particularly cold, at least according to my perception, although I maintain that 2degC should be deemed cold by anyone. Anyway, I was on my way back home from college when I was met by the sight of Jupiter and the moon staring back at me from behind Tom Tower. As I hastily took out my camera, I expected that I’d be shooting a couple of pictures and move on. However, I soon realized that clouds were moving quickly and that

0510, 2011

ELIXIR meeting ~ Madrid, October 2011

Joseph/ October 5, 2011/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

Here’s a quick post of a picture took in Madrid, where I’m currently attending an ELIXIR (Early Universe Exploration with NIRSpec) meeting. NIRSpec is an instrument built by the European Space Agency (ESA) that will go on board the NASA/ESA James Webb Space telescope (JWST). I will try and upload some more pictures when I find the time. In the meantime, enjoy this one!

1906, 2011

Night in St Aldates

Joseph/ June 19, 2011/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

What do you do on a rainy Saturday night? You wait at a window sill with you camera in hand for about an hour, until someone walks in front of a car that happens to be facing in your direction so that you get a blurred silhouette against the shiny ground that adds interest to your composition. Well, at least that is what I did. And I can tell you that when you stare at the same place for that long you do get to see some quite amusing things happen.

2805, 2011

The Sheldonian at night.

Joseph/ May 28, 2011/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

I know. As soon as you read the title of this post you probably thought “The Sheldonian… again?!” But bear with me a moment. I invite you to look again at the pictures of this place which I’ve posted in the past – and I am sure that the first thing you’ll notice is that no two photos quite ever look the same. And indeed, whilst the building is the same old one in each and every picture, the light plays its magical game in an infinite number of different ways.

1505, 2011

Majesty at Night

Joseph/ May 15, 2011/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

It is 1am. You are tired and about to leave for home. But when you’re met with such a scene (and you also happen to suffer from the condition known as obsessive photographic disorder) you simply sigh and resign to the calling. You slowly take out your camera and the reluctant side of you tells you that you’re crazy because you already know that you’re going to be spending more than just a few minutes, first waiting for that cloud to move just a little bit more to the left, then