APOD: Time Lapse Clouds and Sky Over the... (2011 May 16)

[NoelC]

Just beautiful! I love that we're seeing more and more of this art form; it allows us to see things in an uncommon way.

I am also impressed at the hardware used to both move and pan the camera very slowly during the exposures. That certainly adds an element of depth.

WELL DONE!

Question: What's is it that's moving around on/in the lake from 2:35 to 2:44? Some flotsam blowing around on the surface? Divers with lights underneath?

-Noel

[dg]

I have both Echium wildpretii and Echium pininana in my yard (and Echium candicans, for that matter, known as "Pride of Madeira"). The wildpretii is about thigh-high and the pininana is over waist high. I tried for several years to get them to grow, and had no success, until I simply threw the seeds on the ground and ignored them. They love that.

[JohnD]

Indigo wrote of the clouds moving and churning, but to me in several sequences they acted exactly as waves do, even rising against the coastal slope like a ocean tide.

The time lapse can't very much speed up reality - in the first scene, lizards scitter across the rocks and the courses of individuals can be seen.

JOhn

[NLyons]

If Mr Lopez is on this forum: how do you achieve the smooth plans and zooms shown in the video? Is that done with hardware, a Ken Burns sort of cropping and movement of the image, or by some other technique? Thanks.

[geckzilla]

Question: What's is it that's moving around on/in the lake from 2:35 to 2:44? Some flotsam blowing around on the surface? Divers with lights underneath?

WhatIsThis.jpg

-Noel

That is really weird. What is that?! It does look kind of like some debris on the surface. It's probably some unremarkable thing that is just there to puzzle us with its obscurity.

[owlice]

I thought it was a boat.

[geckzilla]

It's hard to get a sense of scale but the thing only looks like it's a few feet across.

[neufer]

It's hard to get a sense of scale but the thing only looks like it's a few feet across.

[Mikey]

Art,

Thanks for the Joni video. It was a fantastic booby prize for us who can't get the Vmimeo (whatever) to work.

[Jim R Feliciano]

The Tower of Jewels or Echium wildpretii
A beautiful plant, but I do not want one in my yard.

[bactame]

Was raised on the shores of Western Michigan and walk the beach of Lake Michigan in the early morning hours. See the same rhythm in the waves on quiet mornings though those waves don't splash as much as the ones in the video. Interesting that waves in water and clouds have almost the same unrelenting quality about them.

[rstevenson]

I have 5 different computers and Vimeo never ever works on any of them!

You have to have flash player installed.

Not necessarily, though that's the easiest way to get it working. Here's a long thread at the Vimeo forum leading people through various things to try. No, it's not a video.

Rob

[DavidLeodis]

It's a wonderful video. I particularly liked the waterfall of clouds from about 2:50 to 3:00.

[neufer]

I particularly liked the waterfall of clouds from about 2:50 to 3:00.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-9ULWGH ... r_embedded[/youtube]

[marksism]

I'd just like to say thank you for a beautiful film that put a big grin on my face and left it there for several hours. Stars and clouds in one fantastic package, you've made my day. Thanks again

[Ann]

Indeed, it's absolutely delightful.

Ann

[ChristineF]

Merci Daniel L.
Quel bonheur d'avoir l'impression de planer au dessus du monde, dans cette mer de nuages incroyable !
La musique de Matti Palaanen est aussi magnifique !
Réponse sur cette plante endémique de l'île de Tenerife : la vipérine rouge (pour les français), orgullo de Tenerife ou tajinaste rojo (pour les espagnols), tower of jewels (pour les anglais)

[geckzilla]

Sorry Christine, try to use English even if your English isn't so good when replying here. Here is a machine translated version of your post for everyone else.

How fortunate to have the impression of hovering above the world in this amazing sea of ​​clouds!
Music by Matti Palaanen is beautiful!
Reply to this plant endemic to the island of Tenerife: the viper red (for French), orgullo de Tenerife or tajinaste rojo (for Spanish), tower of jewels (for English)

[NoelC]

Just watched the video again, after having visited Tenerife myself... As before, the sheer beauty of the video gave me chills, but I also now recognized many of the places in the shots. It's an amazing island paradise.

The plants grow exceedingly quickly in the Spring, then flower very briefly... I had missed most of the flowers in late June, though there were still some. Can't say I can recall seeing two distinctly different colored flowers on the same plant before.

-Noel

[passion]

This video is a most wonderful work of art...It makes me want to kiss the heavenly creator and give thanks. Also thank you for such great work.

[Julio]

The plants in the video are 'Tajinastes'.
There are several species from genus 'echium' in the Canary Is. Many of them are also endemisms. The vulgar name is Tajinaste, and here is found (in spanish) a list: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajinaste

[pmurdin]

I have never seen an Echium Pininana on Tenerife except cultivated. Pininana is however endemic to the neighbouring island of La Palma. I have often seen them on the road up from Santa Cruz de la Palma to the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. But the last Echium Pininana I saw was in the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London in 1673 for its apprentices to study the medicinal qualities of plants. I don't know what the pininana cures!

Those who identified the plant in the video of from near the Teide Observatory on Tenerife as an Echium Wildpreti are, I think, correct.