STARDUST arrival...

i stood outside in the 40 degree chill early this morning waiting for the NASA Stardust capsule to reenter the earths atmosphere. i went across the street and set my camera and tripod up in the basketball court of Twin Creeks School and faced north. the ETA of the capsule's reentry was 2AM PST. i was on my cell phone with a friend that was stationed at the nasa.gov website so that they could give me up to the minute details of the progress of the fiery orb.

i could have been much better prepared. here is what happened. 5 minutes after the capsule was supposed to reenter the atmosphere i deduced that i missed the siting entirely. i saw nothing in the huge northwestern-ish sky that my vision and camera was focused upon.

around 1:55AM while i was chatting with my own personal mission control i noticed movement above a large walnut tree that skirted the field i was standing near. at first, lost in conversation it did not strike me as anything unusual at all but as my eyes settled it became very clear to me; a small cloud had formed and was passing as closely by me as was possible. above the branches of this tall walnut tree was a white orb of moisture - a small fog sac. 3 minutes before it had not been there, and 3 minutes hence it would dissipate. the night was still and silent but there, above me, a skull-looking cloud appeared and "looked" down upon me. it was really cool! i told my friend on the phone about it and they referred to something from Harry Potter called Dark Spot or something and that i should "run".

after i determined that my photo op had ended i headed back home. passing through the grassy field that flanks the basketball court heading in the direction of my house - more north-easterly than i had been watching, THERE IT WAS! the Stardust Satellite! it blazed across the sky in a downward arc towards the earth. it was a spectacular sight. then i realized something very strange. doing my own geometrics i eyeballed that from where i had been standing with the tripod before, the "cloud" that appeared was in alignment with the direction of my house, which in fact was also in line with right where the satellite fell. (i would have to make a drawing to explain what i am trying to say properly.) basically i was looking the wrong way. When i looked at the cloud my line of sight was pointed right towards where the satellite was GOING to fall. a message? one that i did not heed or even suspect was heed-ful.

soo, rather than go home pic-less i decided to play with the flash on my camera and took the shots above. i am not familiar with night time digitial photography and do not know if these golden lights are a common trait of optics or not. pretty freaky though, eh? i like em!