New Moon and Venus Conjunction

 

"Brilliant image of the close conjunction of the planet Venus and the new crescent Moon captured by Dr Chrissy Roberts with his iPhone from Cambridgeshire last night. Thank you Dr Chris for sending this to Kurt in hospital" - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO, the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

Something may go bang in the sky soon'

  

A star map for June and July in the Northern Hemisphere- looking South after dark. Map Credit: Astronomy.

Sometime soon and possibly in the next few weeks the star T Coronae Borealis is predicted to explode in a nova. This is a star that doesn't collapse to create a neutron star or a black hole. Instead T Coronae has been observed overtime to go through recurrent nova. 

This will be witnessed from earth by a significant brightening. So significant, that T Coronae, which cannot usually be seen with the naked eye, will be easily visible.

If you are interested we recommend you find the asterism (a pattern of stars) as shown on the above map as a crescent of brightish stars and check from night to night as to whether T Coronae is visible. If it is, you have witnessed a nova a literally enormous explosion in the Cosmos. LoL

 

Double Bow in the Sky.

 

It's what Noah would have wanted! 🕊️

A double rainbow happens when sunlight reflects twice inside raindrops, creating a second, fainter arc with reversed colors. 

🌈 What causes a double rainbow?

A double rainbow forms through the same basic physics as a single rainbow — refraction, dispersion, and reflection of sunlight in raindrops — but with one key difference:  

the light bounces twice inside each raindrop instead of once.

Here’s how it works:

- Primary rainbow:  

  Sunlight enters a raindrop, bends (refracts), reflects once inside, and exits. This produces the bright inner arc at about 40–42° from the antisolar point. 

- Secondary rainbow:  

  Some sunlight undergoes two internal reflections before exiting the droplet. This extra bounce sends the light out at a wider angle — roughly 50–53° — creating a second arc outside the primary one. 

Why are the colors reversed?

Because of the second internal reflection, the order of colors flips:

- Primary rainbow: red on the outside, violet on the inside  

- Secondary rainbow: red on the inside, violet on the outside  

This reversal is a direct result of the altered light path inside the droplet. 

 Why is the second rainbow fainter?

The secondary rainbow is dimmer because:

- Each internal reflection causes light loss, so less light reaches your eyes.  

- Only a fraction of sunlight follows the double‑reflection path.  

The secondary arc can be as little as one‑tenth the brightness of the primary. 

 What’s the dark band between the rainbows?

The space between the two arcs is called Alexander’s Dark Band.  

Raindrops in this region do not direct light toward the observer, making the sky appear noticeably darker. 

A double rainbow appears when:

- Sunlight refracts into raindrops  

- Reflects twice inside the droplets  

- Exits at a wider angle  

- Produces a second, reversed, fainter arc  

It’s a beautiful combination of geometry, optics, and atmospheric conditions — and one of nature’s most striking displays.

The thing is, if we know what questions to ask, we can in seconds have an answer neatly provided in whatever format and language we require.  Perhaps we should ask AI if - " there is gold at the end of the AI rainbow?"

Art and Artificial Intelligence

 

I uploaded to Google Gemini, one of my images based on a photograph I took many years ago on a New York Subway Station. It included a digitally added image of a nude female in a garden, that I had painted in oils and a 'smock'. 

I asked Artificial Intelligence to recreate the image in the styles of: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol. 

It did quite well with the very stylised Andy Warhol version and not badly with the Rembrandt version. It struggled with both Vermeer and Edward Hopper. 

I was particularly surprised with regard to the  Edward Hopper version, as when I created my original image, I had Hopper in mind.

I am fully aware of the downsides of AI including the deleterious impact it is already having on the  art, architectural, engineering, design and graphic professions. I cannot, however, resist the impulse to interact with whatever AI is, even though this may be 'A dance with the devil in the pale moonlight'.

A Bee.

 

'Bees hanging-on'

A Bee.

Apiaries.

Workers, Drones and Queens.

Buzzing.

Busy.

Swarming on a warm afternoon.

 Seeking nectar in the last nine yards.

A Bud opens to flower and scent the air.

A Bee balances heavy in perfume and sunlight. 

A Pollinator is hard at work in our 

'Bee-friendly'  Backyard.

George Roberts 'arranged honeyed words' June 2026

Don't delete this it's art.

 

'Still life with Arancini and Parmigiana' mixed food media on a table- artist in residence Anita Roberts June 2026.

"A work of art that thankfully wasn't too good to eat! 

Of all the things you can do in this wonderful world, marrying an intelligent, loving,  kind and talented woman is number one in my book!" Said the artist 's husband of over 50 years.

Scallops

 

Some prefer meat and two veg in dollops

But for my money I prefer 'scallops'.

On hot buttered toast

Much better than a roast

And for something oh so posh!

Not that heavy on the 'dosh'.

Add an avocado pear

A treat to crush and share

With your sister, brother or mother

Or your passionate 'shellfish lover'.

George Roberts  June 2026