Spinners

Near the ground we call them land sharks:

LandShark

My rocket buddy Erik and I have developed a knack for spotting a likely train wreck in the sky. There was a certain lack of craftsmanship in this Sonotube build that cued us to be ready with the camera:

Aerial Train Wreck

I just held the motor drive down for this one... Click...click...click... It does a hop over Black Rock in the first frame, and the O-size motor separates from the body in frame 14/15:
IMG_6736 IMG_6737IMG_6738 IMG_6739 IMG_6740 IMG_6741 IMG_6742 IMG_6743 IMG_6744 IMG_6745 IMG_6748 IMG_6749 IMG_6751 IMG_6752 IMG_6753 IMG_6754 IMG_6755 IMG_6760 IMG_6761 IMG_6762

And a couple close ups of this Twisted Firestarter:

IMG_6743 IMG_6752

Pop goes the motor.

More like this

"Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the Earth." -Ptolemy As regular readers here will know, earlier this month I went to Glacier National Park, meeting up with an old…
I was an angry 14- or 15-year-old in late 1978 or early 1979 - can't recall which year, but definitely angry - walking home on a Sunday night after a dishwasher shift at Grandma's Saucy Apron, a now-defunct Italian restaurant in my hometown where I was working to make money for a Spanish National…
Only one lens can take this shot If you've paid attention to insect photography over the past decade, you'll likely have noticed that a single lens, Canon's MP-E 1-5x macro, has come to dominate the market.  Every professional insect photographer I know owns one, and many of the dedicated…
(On July 16, 2009, I asked for volunteers with science degrees and non-academic jobs who would be willing to be interviewed about their careers paths, with the goal of providing young scientists with more information about career options beyond the pursuit of a tenure-track faculty job that is too…