2015-09-29

Foto - Céu sereno - Toulouse (Aufrery) - 18-11-2014

"Céu sereno"

Toulouse, 18-11-2014
JoanMira

"Ireland" - Video

Vélo et vieilles pierres
"Ireland"

Conhece todos os miradouros em Lisboa?... Miradouro Anfiteatro Keil do Amaral

Miradouro de Monsanto, Lisboa

The largest urban forest in Europe hides an amphitheater overlooking the 25 de Abril Bridge, but in between the pines and the picnic areas of Monsanto are also other lookout points facing the city and the Tagus.
No maior parque florestal urbano da Europa encontra-se um anfiteatro com vista para a Ponte 25 de Abril, mas entre os pinheiros e os parques de merendas de Monsanto estão também outros miradouros virados para a cidade e para o Tejo.

Astronomy picture of the day - 29-09-2015 - Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse and Lightning Storm

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.
Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse and Lightning Storm 
Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Antonio Hervás
Explanation: What's more rare than a supermoon total lunar eclipse? How about a supermoon total lunar eclipse over a lightning storm. Such an electrifying sequence was captured yesterday from Ibiza, an island in southeastern Spain. After planning the location for beauty, and the timing to capture the entire eclipse sequence, the only thing that had to cooperate for this astrophotographer to capture a memorable eclipse sequence was the weather. What looked to be a bother on the horizon, though, turned out to be a blessing. The composite picture features over 200 digitally combined images from the same location over the course of a night. The full moon is seen setting as it faded to red in Earth's shadow and then returned to normal. The fortuitous lightning is seen reflected in the Mediterranean to the right of the 400-meter tall rocky island of Es Vedra. Although the next total eclipse of a large and bright supermoon will occur in 2033, the next total eclipse of any full moon will occur in January 2018 and be best visible from eastern Asia and Australia.

Foto - "Fonte da Telha - Costa de Caparica - 16-09-2014

"Fonte da Telha" 

Costa de Caparica 
16-09-2014
JoanMira

2015-09-28

Portugal. “Nous sommes tous des réfugiés”



Cette semaine, l’hebdomadaire Visão consacre sa une aux réfugiés vivant déjà au Portugal. Barré du titre “Nous sommes tous des réfugiés”, le portrait de six personnes en couverture met en avant la diversité de leurs origines. Un long article revient sur les “histoires de ceux qui ont choisi le Portugal pour échapper à la mort”.
Pour illustrer le reportage, Diaby, Sabina, Obai, Ahmed, Ali, Ayad et Mubarak sont photographiés de face car, selon le journal, “ils nous regardent en face comme ils sont habitués à le faire depuis qu’ils ont regagné leur dignité”. Plusieurs fois reproduit, le hashtag#portugalacolhe (#leportugalaccueille) lancé par le magazine prend clairement position pour un accueil volontaire des migrants.
 



Pourtant situé à l’écart des routes migratoires, le Portugal apparaît mobilisé sur la question de l’accueil des demandeurs d’asile. Le pays, confronté à une émigration massive depuis la crise économique, se montre disposé à accueillir plus de migrants que ce que prévoient les quotas européens.

Même António Guterres, haut-commissaire de l’agence de l’ONU pour les réfugiés (ACNUR) et ancien Premier ministre portugais, a déclaré à la chaîne RTP ce 22 septembre que les capacités du pays lui permettraient de recevoir au moins 4 000 réfugiés “sans que cela ait un impact sociétal important”. Le ministère des affaires étrangères portugais a annoncé le 23 septembre que le pays irait finalement recevoir 4500 réfugiés. Les premiers quotas évoqués par la Commission européenne concernaient l’accueil de seulement 1 500 personnes.

Courrier International - France

Astronomy picture of the day - 28-09-2015 - Yesterday: A Supermoon Lunar Eclipse - Video

2015 September 27

Tonight: A Supermoon Lunar Eclipse 
Video Credit: NASA's GSFC, David Ladd (USRA) & Krystofer Kim (USRA)
Explanation: Tonight a bright full Moon will fade to red. Tonight's moon will be particularly bright because it is reaching its fully lit phase when it is relatively close to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. In fact, by some measures of size and brightness, tonight's full Moon is designated a supermoon, although perhaps the "super" is overstated because it will be only a few percent larger and brighter than the average full Moon. However, our Moon will fade to a dim redbecause it will also undergo a total lunar eclipse -- an episode when the Moon becomes completely engulfed in Earth's shadow. The faint red color results from blue sunlight being more strongly scattered away by the Earth's atmosphere. Tonight's moon can also be called a Harvest Moon as it is the full Moon that occurs closest to the September equinox, a time signaling crop harvest in Earth's northern hemisphere. Total eclipses of supermoons are relatively rare -- the last supermoon lunar eclipse was in 1982, and the next will be in 2033. Tonight's supermoon total eclipse will last over an hour and be best visible from eastern North America after sunset, South America in the middle of the night, and Western Europe before sunrise.

2015-09-24

Astronomy picture of the day - 2015 September 24 - LDN 988 and Friends

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.
LDN 988 and Friends 
Image Credit & Copyright: Rafael Rodríguez Morales
Explanation: Stars are forming in dark, dusty molecular cloud LDN 988. Seen near picture center some 2,000 light-years distant, LDN 988 and other nearby dark nebulae were cataloged by Beverly T. Lynds in 1962 using Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates. Narrowband and near-infrared explorations of the dark nebula reveal energetic shocks and outflows light-years across associated with dozens of newborn stars. But in this sharp optical telescopic view, the irregular outlines of LDN 988 and friends look like dancing stick figures eclipsing the rich starfields of the constellation Cygnus. From dark sky sites the region can be identified by eye alone. It's part of the Great Rift of dark nebulae along the plane of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Northern Coalsack.

Drawing from my mind - "Ignore the rain; Look for the Rainbow!"

"Ignore the rain, look for the rainbow"!

Bordeaux, 05-05-2014
JoanMira