Monday, September 20, 2021

Another random shooting star, this time as a fallen angel

I've seen many random shooting stars in my life.  The first one wasn't until my mid-teens.  From there, I've seen shooting stars relatively frequently.  In the past 10 years, I spotted most of these while walking my dogs.  That makes sense, since my dogs are the main reason I'd be outside at night often enough for the opportunity to see these spectacles.

A couple nights ago, I spotted yet another shooting star.  This one was unlike any others I've seen before.  At first, it appeared as a piercingly bright light just above my line of sight. I thought a street light just blew out.  However, I quickly remembered there was no street light above me, and I instantly realized it was yet another shooting star.  I looked up to see the shooting star falling down in the Northwestern sky towards the horizon.  However, instead of just a bright spot, or a bright spot with a streaking tail, or just a steak, or a quick flash, or a massive fireball; this shooting star was composed of opposed half-circle plumes on either side of a small bright spot. The plumes were bright at their tangent point and faded at their respective vertical centerlines. There was also a short streak emanating from the bright tangent point.  The color of the shooting star was unusual.  Though being generally bright-white, the shooting star appeared to have a faint tint of green on the left plume (to my perspective) and more reddish on the right plume.  These features gave the shooting star an appearance of an angel plummeting to Earth.  

As the shooting star came down to the tree line, it faded out nearly completely.  It's core remained as a dimming amber just as it reached the tree line.  Judging the final brightness, the shooting star seemed like it landed somewhere close-by (well, closer than usual).

Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Fleeting view of the Flintstone House

Fleeting view of the Flintstone House.  It's been a while since I've seen it.  I wasn't quite sure where it was on the hillside as we approached Northbound on I-280. As such, this photo sucks. However, the menagerie is still visible.

More random photos without context

Kings Fish Seafood @ Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, CA

Pinkberry @ Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, CA

Han Sung Korean BBQ @ Santa Clara, CA

Shabuway @ San Jose, CA