Sirius and Orion on an abandoned quarry
spoke a few days ago in this blog of Saturn, the giant planet that seemed to follow at night. But among the stars and constellations that we see during the northern hemisphere winter, the protagonist indisputable is Orion, which dominates the night for its large size and their characteristic shape.
If you look a bit, without binoculars, we see that the star is in the top left of this constellation is different than the others, mostly because its color is orange while the other main stars are white. This is different star Betelgeuse and special color because it is a red supergiant, which is in the final stages of his life, shortly before becoming a supernova and disappear. Still need a million years for that to happen (although in astronomical time are approximately few minutes), but recently, astronomers have found that in the past 15 years has declined significantly Betegeuse size without knowing exactly why.
last Thursday had been cleared throughout the day so I took the opportunity to approach the dark at an abandoned quarry to see if he could hunt Orion. He had been there a few days ago and had imagined the site that appear. And indeed there appeared, escorted by Sirius, the brightest star we can see from Earth.
While riding the tripod and adjusted the camera settings I heard a familiar noise, a tui tui that a few months ago and did not listen and I had not felt for a week when I was in the same place. There was no doubt that this was a midwife toad, the first I heard this year. For those who do not know them, midwife toads are amphibians very special one, since males carry and care for eggs laid by the female until they hatch.
midwife Macho start collecting female
is not easy to find a partner at the time of release, in fact, in kicking over 15 years ago Mount once found only . After commissioning, the couple separated and the male will back legs tangled cord when eggs until the tadpoles are about to hatch approach to free water. Then that night
small obstetricians, perhaps encouraged by the mild temperatures, winter left their drowsiness and began to sing to attract females. First there was one, then was followed by another and another, and after an hour the quarry had become an orchestra where hundreds of males competing with each other to see who had the most powerful song. For you have not heard a chorus of obstetricians encourage you to afinéis the ear and you perceive a stroll through the woods on a spring evening, it will not disappoint. If kindle speakers one can hear these songs on this link .
Little more can you ask for one night in February.
