22 over 7 = [aspects and concepts of matter and energy / form, flame, light, space, image and imagination]

Closeups from Cheonghakdong

The prettiest place in Korea
(in the autumn, at least)

That would be Samseonggung (Samseong Palace), located near the Cheonghakdong village outside of Jinju.

"Cheonghakdong Village, located at the southern foot of Samsanbong Peak on Mt. Jirisan, maintains the traditional style of daily Korean life. 'Cheonghak' means a community where a crane of blue feathers lives.

"Cheonghakdong is one area where no harm was ever done under any circumstances in the turbulent history of Korea. It is an inland village where electricity came into the village only 20 years ago. Over 200 residents of this community maintain the customs of wearing long hair tied in a knot, wearing Korean traditional clothing, and doing farm work in the traditional manner of living.

"Next to Chunghakdong Village is the holy ground to worship Hwanin, Hwanwung, Dangun and a monastery called Samseong-gung. There are about 1,500 various types of stone towers, which took 15 years to finish. These towers are in a restoration process, to pile stones up on the holy ground called Sodo, the place where ceremonies to praise the heavenly god were held during the Three Kingdoms Era."

The prettiest place in Korea, part two

Daehanminguk dailies, 10.21

10.15-10.21 dailies

Daehanminguk dailies,
10.15 through 10.20

Which of these flats is not like the others?

10.12 thru 10.14 dailies

And finally: Sunday's sunset

1280px version

Ascending Imhosan, part 3.2

This was part 3.1.

Ascending Imhosan, part 3.1

This was part two.

I went around the base of Fierce Tiger Mountain on Sunday, just to get out and active after spending time working on another site. One thing I had in mind was to collect some morning glory seeds. Along the way, I was treated to many sights, textures and forms.

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Double Datura, thrice

Following up on the last follow-up: the D. stramonium variant has bloomed once more. The seed pods haven't cracked yet, but the seeds from Illinois that I planted in September have sprouted. Click this link to see a time-lapse of the flower opening.

Dharma double feature

A prelude to the posts from Gyeongju...
now with contextual information.

1111px version

2222px and 1111px versions

Both are from Bulguksa.

Double sunrise

Meaning that there are two photos...

Daehanminguk dailies,
10.12 through 10.14

1280px version

1111p version

10.4 thru 10.6 dailies

And now, coming back to Earth...

"NASA scientists have created two new images of Earth as it appears from space, a vista often called the 'Blue Marble,' combining data of the oceans, land surfaces and sea ice taken from many different satellites...

"The new images have combined even more of Earth's features into more complete, higher-resolution images of both the Eastern and Western hemisphere. The data used to create the new images span a longer period of time than the original and have a resolution of 500 meters (1,600 feet), versus the 1,000 meters (3, 273 feet) resolution of the older image."

Meanwhile, beyond the asteroid belt...

"This is a montage of New Horizons images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io, taken during the spacecraft's Jupiter flyby in early 2007."

Prelude to retrograde;
a post about the first planet

Mercury will go retrograde in a little less than 24 hours.
Here's an item that I just read about the innermost planet.

"Astronomers at the University of North Carolina have published a new map of the surface of Mercury, containing features previously unseen. Their map is based a technique familiar to amateur planetary imagers: 'lucky imaging.' That is, using a webcam to obtain crisp frames...

"[Cecil and Rashkeev] specifically targeted part of the hemisphere not mapped by the Mariner 10 spacecraft three decades ago. On the mornings of March 23rd and April 1st, 2007, the team managed to record more than 30,000 frames around sunrise. After software picked out the best frames, the final stack of the sharpest images achieved an angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds. Their results appear in the October issue of the Astronomical Journal.

"Although NASA's Messenger spacecraft is due to make its first flyby of the elusive planet in January 2008, results like these can help discover regions of particular interest. Already, the team's new map shows bright splotches thought to be fresh craters 15 to 150 km across, as well as darker regions at mid-latitudes associated with ancient lava flows."

Turning on the lights in Jinju

My Lady Friend and I traveled to Jinju in order to see the annual lantern festival on the Nam River. The highlights of the event are the more-than-life-sized figures from Korean folklore and history that are crafted from paper and wire. One can see some of the same sculptures in the parades that celebrate the birth of Buddha, which are held in May. There are several contributions from other countries, as well.

Sirius starlight

I woke up around 2 a.m. and noticed that the sky had cleared. Even w/o my glasses, I could see that there were a few stars visible. I thought that Orion might be among them, so I grabbed the glasses and the camera. Sure enough, Orion has rising in the southeast while a brilliant and steadily approaching Mars was high above the east. Procyon and Capella were clear and strong above the eastern sky, as well.

That's Sirius toward the bottom of the frame.

It was a pleasant surprise to be able to see the main stars of Orion above the high-rises and the light pollution of Busan, Korea's second-largest city. I'll take it as evidence that the cosmos' signal can still overcome our environmental noise.

Another Datura update

The double-flowered Datura that I bought last month is doing well. It had to endure too much light and heat while we were in Gyeongju, but it's held on and produced two plump, spiky seed pods [like these]. The pod that had already grown when I bought the plant has split, also.