Peggy's Cove Lighthouse Model
Today I created my first Google Earth landmark. It is a model of the famous Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. It is now in the Google 3D Warehouse. I hope it is eventually approved and included in the Google Earth 3D Buildings Layer.
It was created in Autodesk Maya, then converted into Google Earth .KMZ format using Google Sketchup.
View the Lighthouse Model in Google Earth
Comments (0) The free planetarium software Stellarium is very cool and a lot of fun to use. A friend of mine asked me the other day what a sunset time-lapse would look like if it captured the Sun at sunset as it was setting on the horizon over the period of a year. I came up with the idea of using Stellarium to answer that question.
Simulation of 4 Years of Sunsets
This is a simulation created in Stellarium of the Sun's position just before sunset over the period of 4 years as seen from Halifax, Nova Scotia. As the seasons change the Sun's position on the horizon wanders. To create this simulation I modified the Stellarium script "Sunset to Sunset" [which allows you lock the time interval to sunset] to suit my needs. It is part of the Dawn/dusk/sunrise/sunset jumps script package available on the lower part of the Stellarium Script Engine page.
Simulation of the Sun's Position at 4pm Over 4 Years
This is a simulation created in Stellarium of the Sun's position at 4pm (non Daylight Savings Time) over the period of 4 years as seen from Halifax, Nova Scotia. As the seasons change, the Sun's angle in the sky and compass direction change.
Here is a Fall themed sketch of a pumpkin sitting on straw. I did the sketch today in Sketchbook Mobile on my iPod Touch.
Pumpkin Sketch
Here is yet another sketch done on my iPod Touch using Sketchbook. It is of a three leaf clover.
Three Leaf Clover
Icelandic Volcanic Ash
I recently was given a sample of volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcano. This is the volcano that caused air traffic interruptions in May 2010 throughout Europe due to ash drifting several kilometers high in the atmosphere. The ash has a dark gray appearance and the particle sizes varied greatly. I examined the ash under a trinocular microscope at 45x and 90x magnification. Large particles of the ash had a diameter of 0.72 mm, medium sized ash particles were around 0.24 mm, and small ash particles were 0.05 mm and smaller. I used Helicon Focus to DOF (Depth of Field) Stack the microphotographs for clarity.
Measuring ash particle sizes using calipers.
DOF Stacking
Volcanic Ash Pile
More Volcanic Ash
This is a sketch I did of a Pitcher Pant Sarracenia purpurea in the Peggy's Cove Barrens. I created it while on a hike today. It was drawn on my iPod Touch using Sketchbook Mobile and a homemade stylus.
Pitcher Plant
