Morgana's Cat speaks

A London-based Physicist. Unless otherwise specified, or a "reblog", the still pictures used here are all taken by me. You can comment on any of the posts, just click on the dated post link and you will be able to do so.

[morganas-cat]

I rescued a Hippeastrum bulb that had flowered in the New Year. I put it outside in the dry to get some dormancy after the leaves had wilted and then forgot about it entirely. Without much hope I watered it about 12 weeks ago and to my surprise it became a Summer Solstice flower! It has now wilted and this is what it looks like but with some rather severe curve modification to generate the jewel colours from the reddish-browns of the decaying flowers.

[morganas-cat]

Level 4 in the Blavatnik Building which is part of the Tate Modern in London.

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Closeup of a flower on a Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza Fuchsii) which self-seeded into a plant pot in my garden a few years ago. On the labia are lots of tiny hairs, most clearly seen near the "throat".

Reversed Nikon 50 mm F2.8 enlarger lens on PB4 bellows. Lens stopped down to F11.

[morganas-cat]

Shadows of leaves and unripe berries on my Amelanchier lamarckii (Snowy Mespilus).

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Artwork at Gloucester Road tube station this Friday. The artist is Monster Chetwynd.

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First signs of spring in Perthshire this Easter.

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Bracket fungi

A colour photograph converted to a toned B&W. Some luminance noise reduction (using Raw Therapee) which also gave it a slightly "softer" feel.

[morganas-cat]

Hippeastrum anthers showing pollen grains.

Taken with reversed Nikon enlarger lens (El-Nikkor 50 mm f/2.8) on the PB-4 bellows and a Nikon D7000. Exposure time was ~ 1s with the lens stopped down to F11 or F16

[morganas-cat]

Partial solar eclipse at 11:07 GMT on 29 March. A single frame, from many, taken with a Sigma 100-300 F4 apo zoom plus x1.4 teleconverter. Prime lens used at F8 and taken through a white light solar filter designed for my 20 cm SCT. I had to fight with clouds all during the period of the eclipse.

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[morganas-cat]

A flower that opened today on a red Hippeastrum that I rescued from my front garden last year where a very sad looking bulb had been abandoned.

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My Takahashi FC-100D plus Extender-Q set up to observe mars (now in Gemini) later today. I was looking at the crescent moon against a blue sky before I put the lens cap on and took this photograph. The Extender-Q is a 5 element focal length extender (by a factor of 1.6).

[morganas-cat]

Liquidamber styraciflua in Kew Gardens last month.

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Northern lights very far south last night after the arrival of particles from a class G5 solar storm. These pictures were taken with a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 12-24 mm f4 zoom used at 12 mm and f5.6. Exposures were 1.6 s and in the originals I played around with ISO speeds from 3200 down to 560. Most of my 60 photographs were taken at ISO 1600. Here are a few to show what you couldn't see but the camera can capture.

Visually the green northern horizon (all these are essentially looking north) was obvious and occasionally a deep red patch could be observed. What turned out to be the pink (often then green) rays were just at the limit of visibility in light polluted London and mostly appeared grey to my eye.

[morganas-cat]

Lichens on a birch tree, Cairngorms, Scotland. 300 mm lens at F5.

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Building in Shoreditch, London

Building in King John Court, Shoreditch, London

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The wonderful large scale work "Behind the Red Moon" by El Anatsui in the turbine hall of the Tate Modern. There are three art works, one can be seen in the background, the other which is much smaller, is hidden in this view.