 |
| Astrophotographer Lionel Majzik captured these images of comet ATLAS G3 from Rio Hurtado, Chile, between January 18 and 20. |
The day was dark and cloudy and actually quite cold. Light rain and drizzle continued all day. We had booked a bus tour of the city of Bergen, but based on it's departure time of 5:00pm we decided to just stay in our stateroom. It was just too much to get out in the dark with that weather and there was some outside walking. So we enjoyed a good dinner and rested - after all, we needed to be up and ready to leave for the airport at 3:00am!
I snapped a few pics of the city from our ship docked in Skoltegrunnskaien (Bryggen, the Wharf), a port located in the heart of Fjord Norway.
Oh, I forgot to mention this on yesterday's blog:
I had a nice conversation with Captain Rune Loekling, who has been sailing with Viking for 10 years. We discussed the new ship (Vela) and his time with Viking and the topic of the storm came up during the conversation. When I mentioned it was kind of neat to be able to tell my friends that I was in a class 2 hurricane, he politely corrected me. Turns out it was a class 3 storm, with winds that actually reached 170 mph and sea swells of 80 ft. Yikes. No wonder we were tossed about. I asked him if he had been in similar storms and he said yes, a few, as the North and Norwegian Seas are notorious for these kinds of storms.
And the evidence of the storm's effect on the Vela were obvious today, as we saw a number of contractor crews out and about repairing stateroom closets, many areas around the pool, hallways, restaurants and just about everywhere you looked. Most damage was minor with some moderate damage requiring replacement of whole pieces of furniture and shelving areas. Lots of kitchen dishes needed to be replaced. One of the crew mentioned to me that there were even some dents in the ship's hull that will need repairing when the ship is between cruises.
So there - I can claim to have been at sea in a class 3 storm 😎. It was exciting, but I don't think I would like to do it again. Did we enjoy our cruise even considering the storm and the fact that we didn't get to our big excursions out in Tromsø and Alta? Yes. And, almost forgot, finally got to see the Northern Lights; at least a small display. But it was better than nothing, and I won't have to tell my friends that I went all the way to Norway and didn't see the Northern Lights😄.
And just before we retired for the evening, we got a letter from Viking informing us that we would be getting a voucher for a future cruise valued at 100% of our current expenditure - essentially, a free cruise!
 |
| Northern Lights as seen from the observation deck of the ship Sunday, Jan 19. |
Today we visited Stavanger, a city set on Norway's southwest coast. Stavanger boasts a rich history dating back to the last ice age. Known as one of Europe's most interesting old towns, Gamle Stavanger's cobblestone streets are adorned with a collection of wooden buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries.
We hadn't booked any excursions for this day, but decided, the last minute to do the Fjord Foray by RIB at midday. According to Wikipedia a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are inflated with air to a high pressure so as to give the sides resilient rigidity along the boat's topsides. The design is stable, light, fast and seaworthy. The inflated collar acts as a life jacket, ensuring that the vessel retains its buoyancy, even if the boat is taking on water.
We had taken a similar ride on an RIB when we cruised to Iceland this past summer. However, this foray was quite a different story. With temperatures in the low 30s and the boat speed pretty high the wind chill was quite intense. And where did we have our heated gloves and socks? On the ship of course - poor planning!
Here are a few pics of the town, followed by the awesome, close-up beauty of the fjords as seen by RIB. I didn't get any pics of the actual town by foot as we were so cold from our return from the RIB ride.
 |
| Note the Burger King and 7-Eleven |
 |
| "Pulpit Rock" |
Our stay in Eidfjord was enjoyable - seeing some very interesting landscapes - and viewed a wonderful panoramic film in the Hardangervidda Natursenter; a museum and visitor center at Hardangervidda National Park in Vestland county, Norway.
 |
| What!! Is that what I think it is - sunlight on the mountain? |
 |
| The Voringsfoss Hotel. Situated completely on the edge of the water by the deep blue Hardangerfjorden The hotel has been running since 1889. |
 |
| Venus over the mountains in Eidfyord |
Our voyage continues south toward Eidfyord Norway - as we embark with another delayed start as the sea continues to be a little rough. The winds finally did die down, but the water still exhibited some high waves. Here is a photo of the coastline near Bergen (I had a video, but I can't seem to upload it at this time).
 |
| An artist's conception of the Blue Ghost lander on the Moon Firefly Aerospace |
SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket for the seventh time ever today (Jan. 16). The launch was beautiful (as usual for these Super Heavy rockets).
 |
| SpaceX's seventh Starship megarocket launches on a test flight on Jan. 16, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX) |
One of the goals of this test flight was to catch Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, back at Starbase's launch tower, using the structure's "chopstick" arms, which was accomplished back in October of last year for the first time during flight #5. SpaceX succeeded in doing so once again (see video at MSN).
But approximately eight minutes into the flight, SpaceX lost contact with the Starship upper stage, known as Ship and it went out with a bang. Preliminary analysis has indicated that some sort of pressure build up in the craft caused the explosion (video).
Jeff Bezos must be proud today as New Glenn launched for the first time ever this morning (Jan. 16). It launched off a brand new pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida's Space Coast at 2:03 a.m. EST.
 |
| Blue Origin launches its first New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Jan. 16, 2025. (Image credit: Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo/Getty Images) |
About 12.5 minutes later, the rocket's upper stage reached orbit — the main goal of today's test flight, which the company called NG-1. Unfortunately, the booster, which was expected to return for a landing on a barge, did not return.
See the full details of the launch at Space.com
Comet ATLAS G3 has successfully made its trip around the sun and is now visible just after sunset until about January 20 for those in the Northern Hemisphere. Southern Hemisphere observers will have the best views. For those of us in the north, things are a little more difficult. During this time the comet will be placed very close to the sun; within 5 degrees of the sun from our point of view (that’s about three fingers width held at arm’s length). ATLAS will stay relatively close to the sun (from our point of view) for a couple days on either side of perihelion. See Earth Sky for details on the orbital approach to the sun.
 |
| Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, caught Comet ATLAS G3 on January 15, 2025. |
Although ATLAS is very bright it will be sinking to the south as it exits the sun’s vicinity and so for those of us at 40 degrees north latitude ATLAS will be difficult to see. But, if ATLAS develops a long tail, we might be able to see just the tail after sunset even though the head of the comet may be below the horizon. Back in 2007 Comet McNaught provided this very view.
Since I'm still on a cruise ship in Norway I doubt I'll be able to capture this comet.
 |
| Mountains between the Fjords |
We had an unscheduled 'entertainment' activity last evening (actually, early morning of the 13th). The ship ran into a fairly large wind storm at about 1:00 AM. With winds of 65-85 mph and gusts of over 100 mph, the sea churned with swells of 50+ feet!! Not surprisingly the brand-new Viking Vela (this is only the 2nd voyage since it was delivered to Viking from the Fincantieri S.p.A., Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy) was listing and rocking quite violently. Most everything in our cabin was tossed around and lots of the furniture, bar equipment, liquor bottles, dining room tableware, books on shelves in the atrium, and just about anything else not attached to the walls or floor in the public areas went flying throughout the ship. Our closet doors were damaged as they swung uncontrollably back and forth on their sliders, but other than that, everything else seems to be fine.
Captain Rune Loekling had to turn the ship into the wind to minimize the rocking and swaying and because of that we started heading west and southwest, opposite the direction we should be sailing. Finally, at about 2:00 pm the winds died down a bit (to only 45-55 mph) and the swells got
smaller (20-30 ft).
The captain and cruise director tell us that we can finally leave out staterooms by 5:30-6:00 this evening for dinner service at the various restaurants (we were served breakfast and lunch in our rooms).
Here's to better conditions tomorrow - although another, smaller storm will hit us while anchored in Ålesund. Hey - all this extra entertainment is a bonus, right?
Soldiers Delight Star Party - January 18, 2025Come out and join us for an exciting discussion of what's up in the winter sky. As I am currently on a cruise ship sailing up the Norway coast in search of the Northern Lights, I will not be your host for this session. Our WASI president, Skip, will entertain you!
ORION BATTLES JUPITER FOR CUSTODY OF THE TWINS!
Join us for an epic battle of the Titians as we start the New Year. See Jupiter the king of the planets go toe to toe with Orion the King of Deep sky wonders in a battle to see who will get custody of the twins (Gemini), While Venus and Saturn watch nearby and Mars eggs them both on.
Make a comet to see where meteor showers come from and one lucky person will win a genuine meteorite.
You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/.
All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.
Activity: Making a Comet.
Date: Saturday, January 18, 2025
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Eastern
Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area
5100 Deer Park Rd.
Owings Mills, MD 21117
On Sunday, March 23, a rare celestial event will temporarily cause Saturn’s rings to seemingly vanish from view. Known as a ring plane cross...
