"My very own 'Light of Durin's Day' Experience." (The Hobbit)
"I coincidently saw this on my scope and took this photo in 2011. I call this ‘Visual Illusion’. You'd have to be in the right place and time looking from the last chalet facing the mountain at #PhilipGardenChalet "
Type #MtKinabalu on Wiki. Just shadows.
The Scope. A Celestron Nexstar 4SE computerised 'Maksutov-Cassegrain' telescope. 4SE means its lens diameter is 4 inches.
The Story
We were having a family trip for a 2D1N at Mesilau, so I decided to bring my computerised telescope up as I knew the nights there would be a good time to see the stars. Truly, the night was clear and I was able to view the sky for the most part of the night. Next morning I set up my scope to watch the climbers descending from the summit. I took a video of that too. After watching a string of climbers making their way down I used my scope for some general viewing of the mountain. There were views that you don't get to see if you're looking from another angle - surely this view was new to me.
So section by section I scanned the features of the mountain and noted several jagged outlines that really brings one to a fascination and awe. "What a beautiful mountain!" I scanned to and fro, left to right, and whenever I saw something interesting I would occasionally look up and see where it is in relation to its surrounding. By just looking into the 'eyepiece' for long period of time can cause eye fatigue and disorientation. As I swept further along the line of some prominent feature....my eye caught a 'dark patch' and it was as if someone was looking at me! Quickly, I panned left and there it was. A face! I couldn't believe my eyes but it really looked like a face of an old person.
I was still boggled by my discovery. Lost for words. My face was glued to the scope eyepiece it seemed. "There it was! Wow!" "A face of an old man or woman." I was excited that I was the only one who discovered this 'visual illusion'. Or 'shadow play' , or whatever you want to describe it. I Googled it and I found no one has seen it and none had written about it. Within 15 minutes it was gone or that it had 'disappeared' and transformed into a featureless shadow.
I captured it on video and made stills out of it. One thing that I forgotten to do was to note down the place and time of the event! OMG!! The discovery was so captivating that I forgotten to take notes. Something in astronomy that you'd never miss! How could I forget! And since it only happened only on a specific time and location, I missed that window.
Presently, I'm still searching that place where the shadow appeared. *Gosh* And to make things worse, the photo taken was in Maksutov-cassegrain ('Maks' in short) sense. Which means the image is "upside down" and inverted "left to right" (like reading through a mirror) orientation. So that makes searching harder, but not entirely slower.
Maybe I need to go back to "Durin's place" to try and wait for the right time while scanning on my scope. This sounds like the Indiana Jones adventure where he waits for the sun's rays to shine through the sceptre and reveal the location on the ground. No one will see this 15 minute feature unless they stand in the exact location, time and month.
