VISIONS OF A
SUMMER SOLSTICE EXPEDITION 2009
(Bucegi Mountains, Romania, 2009.06.18-21)
-a SARM (Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy) dedication
to “The World at Night”,
a Special project of the International Year of Astronomy,
led by “Astronomers Without Borders”-
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INTRODUCTION
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Photo (The Romanian Sphinx and Jupiter with a Crown):
Alex(andru) Conu
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The ancient inhabitants of Romania’s territory
before the Roman conquest,
the Dacians,
practiced an oral culture,
so it is just supposed that they had a spiritual centre
in the Bucegi plateau
(at over 2200m altitude),
guarded by sacred stone monuments:
“Babele” (the Old Ladies, 2206m altitude),
“Sfinxul” (the Sphinx, 2216m altitude),
and “Varful Omu” (the Man Peak, 2507m altitude).
But nobody can be sure if
those monuments are natural or made by people,
or are just combinations.
Only the stars do know it.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
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Photo (Milky Way and Old Ladies):
Valentin Grigore (expedition leader)
Photo (Moon, Mars, Venus and Sphinx):
Valentin Grigore
Photo (Milky Way, Sky Observers and Man Peak):
Valentin Grigore
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ALEX CONU’S
ASTRO-PHOTO-POETIC VISION
Between June 19th and June 21st,
I was in the Bucegi Mountains
for an expedition of astrophotography at a high altitude.
One night at the Babele Chalet and one night at the Omu Chalet.
I made many photographs. Many, many. And very little processing.
Let’s see them.
Scenic views with geomorphic elements
and various interesting landscapes:
The “Babele” Chalet and the Milky Way
The “Babele” Chalet and the Milky Way
The Sphinx and the Milky Way
The Electric Sphinx and Jupiter with a Crown
Ursa Major over the “Omu” Peak and a Smoke Trace
(I am waiting for suggestions here:
What can it be?
It seems like a fireball train,
but nobody looked upwards at the time to confirm it.)
The Milky Way at the “Omu” Peak
The Milky Way at the “Omu” Peak
The Milky Way over the “Omu” Chalet
Landscape with the Moon and Airplanes to the East
I made a photo
even with the convex mirror:
Soon after sunset,
we played a little:
Over the World
I didn’t resist
and I photographed the galactic horse:
The Milky Way at the “Babele” Chalet
The Galactic Horse
Obviously,
I took the conjunction in the viewfinder too:
Moon-Venus-Mars Conjunction
Some views
with noctilucent clouds:
A few
optic atmospheric phenomena:
Venus’ Belt and Anti-crepuscular Rays
Venus’ Belt before Sunrise
Kogaion and its Shadow
Irisations in Clouds
And, if sunrises/sunsets also happened over there,
I photographed them:
Sunset at “Babele”
Sunset at “Babele” and an Airplane
Sunset at “Omu”
Sunset at “Omu”
Before Sunrise at “Omu”
Sunrise at “Omu”
Sunrise at “Omu”
Sunrise at “Omu”
Watching the Sunrise at “Omu”
Colors of Sunrise at “Omu”
Finally,
I have to say that
the weather was extraordinary
and the stars were…
very cooperant.
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COSMIC GAMES OF THE SPHINX OF BUCEGI -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
with verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
“Stay with me,”
the Great Sphinx of Giza said to me,
“the Sun will spoil you,
you can cool yourself in the Nile River,
and the Pyramid of Khafre will show you magnificent secrets.”
“Stay with me,”
Purushamriga the Indian Sphinx said to me,
“I shall defend you from the bad things.”
“Stay with me,”
the Sphinx of Thebes said to me,
“I shall delight you with my unique riddles.”
“Sorry,” I replied,
“the Sphinx of the Bucegi Mountains has just invited me
to watch its cosmic games
with the Moon, Mars and Venus…”
“Anyway, Dear Sphinxes,
just as heavenly bodies seem to be always fresh,
I wish all of you to never erode
in time’s unseen flesh!”
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CRISTINA TINTA’S
ASTRO-PHOTO-POETIC VISION
It is too little to say:
Wonderful!
The clear sky allowed
far views,
making us float
over mountains.
It was a superior feeling:
the sky and us…
and nothing else mattered at that time.
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Dan Mitrut-
I can learn to know
together with the midnight
about the ceiling of the heart
pulled out of hinge
up there
a pantomime of angels
imagining the Cosmos
down
the cluster of Perseus
counting its own stars
I believe
somebody watches Ursa Minor
through my eyes
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THE WORLD AT DAY -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
with verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
During the daytime,
our longing for stars
is frequently fed
by fascinating shows of clouds,
sublime atmospheric substitutes
lightened by sunlight.
But only seldom
echoes of such beauties
appear during the nighttime
as noctilucent clouds.
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
I pass under stars,
I have many friends over there,
some of them beckon to me,
I send them replies.
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SKY VARIANTS OVER A HUMAN PEAK:
COSTILA RELAY
(2490m altitude) -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
I had a dream:
people knew
the main astral combinations
in constellations
as well as
the main monuments
in their countries.
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ATTACKED BY A BEAR
-dialogue-
Valentin Grigore:
One night during our astrophotographic expedition
in the honour of the summer solstice 2009,
a bear attacked me close to the Sphinx of Bucegi.
All I could do
was to baffle him with the light of my lantern
and to run to the chalet.
Photo (Ursa Major over the Bucegi Mountains): Valentin Grigore
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe:
Maybe the constellated Great Bear
is also a lover of astrophotography
and gave you protection
from stellar immensity.
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BOGDAN CALIN’S
ASTRO-PHOTO-POETIC VISION
Between June 18th and June 21st
we tried to catch in our photographs
the splendours of the starry sky
over the Bucegi Mountains.
We greeted the Sphinx,
bowed to the Old Ladies,
and conquered the Man Peak.
There was so much joy!
So…
What’s the next expedition?
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A LEGEND OF THE BUCEGI PLATEAU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Since immemorial times
a Dacian king
(that we see as the Man Peak)
is fascinated by two princesses
(that we see as the two Old Ladies)
lowered from stars.
Photo: Valentin Grigore
All of them stand still
because the princesses are so beautiful
that the Dacian king can never choose
one of them
to be his wife.
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MEDITATIONS IN A MOUNTAIN PLACE
-by Victor Chifelea-
The Universe is merciless.
Simply:
Every one of us must give it
A cote of death.
Photo: Valentin Grigore
Largely:
Anything we would do,
We have to move inside it.
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A RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX OF BUCEGI
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
“If Venus is a symbol of beauty
for humanity,
then,
bigger in appearance and smaller in reality,
what is the Moon?”
asked me the Sphinx of Bucegi
during a conjunction between the two heavenly bodies.
Photo: Valentin Grigore
“As I have a Dacian body,
Roman arms
and a Romanian head,
I think that the Moon is a celestial sphinx
who guards the gates of the heavens
and puts riddles
to astronauts
and to some flying Oedipus.”
was my answer.
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FROM STONES TO STARS -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Zigmund Tauberg-
The stars must always be
To humanity
Challenges for science
And themes for poetry.
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CIPRIAN GRIGORESCU’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
with verses by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
It is quite captivating to follow
a traffic sign to the Milky Way…
… and the dances of the Moon
with her cosmic fellows…
…and a celestial fashion show
with the Moon and the Pleiades
as dressed in noctilucent clouds…
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-
I wanted to find the planet Jupiter
and I saw it over a mountain peak.
The Polar Star, where is it? ,
I asked myself.
And I found it in the Little Chariot
after I imaginarily prolonged the Great Chariot to the north.
I wanted to understand a telescope,
but I could not see ciphers and equations that composed it.
In exchange,
Neptune sang a great hit.
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ODE TO SKY OBSERVERS -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION
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ASTROPOETIC INTERLUDE
-by Pompiliu Alexandru-
I do not try to find a magic word
in order to be assigned to the Universe.
I rather try to create a game of thinking
around its understanding.
How many forces enliven the Universe?
How many of them are visible to us?
Where does the influence of the earthly thought
end?
How can the Universe be shaped
by a saturated thought?
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THE WORLD AT NIGHT ON PEAKS -
VALENTIN GRIGORE’S
ASTRO-PHOTO-POETIC VISION
I came back on the peaks of the Bucegi Mountains
with the feeling of the return to a dreamland.
The dream of any observer of the starry canopy.
Last years I had seen over there,
during the Perseid meteor showers,
the clearest sky in my life.
A sky in relief,
with the luminous tops of the Milky Way surrounded by dark valleys,
and furrowing the August sky from the north to the southern horizon.
And I had the world at my feet!
But regrettably,
today this sky is affected by the light pollution
that comes from the towns of the Prahova Valley…
Two nights at “Babele” and one night at “Omu”.
Fascinating nights,
with a June sky dominated by the overflow of the Milky Way
from the Summer Triangle to Sagittarius,
like a connection between
the heavenly heights
and the fabulous terrestrial elements:
the sweet Old Ladies, the proud Sphinx, and the stone of the Man Peak.
Above all things,
as a sovereign of the night, Jupiter - close to a conjunction to Neptune -,
whose brightness towered the sky until the morning,
when he yielded the supremacy
to the luminous horn of the Moon and to the “Morning Star”, Venus.
And the visual show was completed just by the configurations of
three heavenly bodies: the Moon, Venus and Mars.
Plus the appearance of the noctilucent clouds
as blue veils floating from another realm,
a tale world,
spread from the Great Chariot to the east,
over the Moon,
and afterwards under Mars and Venus.
The show of the sunrise after the shortest night of the year
gave a warm and luminous wave over mountains
and over the valleys covered by the morning fog,
gilding all in a golden light,
as in a magic of the genesis,
or rather like in a remake of the world.
A show of Nature,
of the divine creation,
for which people can only be silent witnesses.
Simplicity and grandeur,
just like life is.
However,
watched from the heights,
the sky looks different,
although it is the same…
a story which we hope to be eternal.
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EPILOGUE
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Oh stars
do you really understand
the importance
of the longest moments of light
in the people’s lives?
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
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