Dec. 13-21, 2023: The Fourth Jug Band Colline Metallifere Winter Fest

Announcements

This is the flyer for the Fourth Winter Fest organized by the pibinko.org network, in collaboration with those who are willing to collaborate (names of individuals and organizations will be disclosed as the festival unfolds). While the first three editions were set in the Farma Valley, a lesser known location in Southern Tuscany (some 100 km South of Florence), in this round we will propose a travelling event, with a dozen or so stops in three Tuscan provinces. At this stage the finer details are intentionally omitted. Partly for non-business confidentiality agreements, partly in order to turn this into some kind of treasure hunt , partly because some of the stops will be defined in “co-design” mode.

It is to be noted that, in addition to the three past Winter fests, the organizers have proposed an average of one event per month since 2007. So, even though the flyer looks somewhat obscure (also to our Italian-reading audience), for once please trust us and ride the wave.

For more information on places and times of what will happen:

Metà-verse

Must see

This is the gateway to the pibinko.org “metà-verse”. It started in February 2022 with this introductory video, while below that you can read some of the stories which are developing in this space.

For more information: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

Fog from Valdera under Montecatini Val di Cecina (Pisa) – Dec. 7, 2023

Videos

We have been roaming around Val di Cecina and Valdera (the southernmost part of the province of Pisa) for over five years, and we never observed fog in such a scenic form. Our photo report will follow. For other forms of observation and mapping by the pibinko.org network:

For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

A Quiz for Astronomers and Stargazers (BMMPOD #346)

Compositions

NASA, in collaboration with Michigan State University, has been maintaining for years a site where every day an astronomical picture is published. The site was called “APOD” (i.e. “Astronomy Picture of the Day”).

With the BuioMetria Partecipativa (BMP) project we do not intend to challenge the outreach capabilities of this project, but in our own small world we sometimes like to share a “picture of the day”, given our penchant for photography: some may recall that in 2010 we launched a photography contest which had over 600 participants from 52 countries, for example (see Between Dusk and Dawn), and that we have collaborations with various professional nightscape photographers. So, here is our “BMPPOD”:

The image clearly has a low quality and has been acquired in a region with very significant skyglow, so this cannot be in Southern Tuscany (where one of the darkest skies in Italy is found, see TV report). Furthermore, the image might have been taken with a fish-eye-like optic (such as those used in all-sky CCD camersa), and the draped on a plane. We realize this is an extreme challenge, but we also know that there are very qualified experts out there.

If you are able to guess to which celestial region the image is referred, we will be glad to interview you in the context of our activities for interdisciplinary protection and promotion of the night sky. Please send answers and/or comments to: bmp@pibinko.org or whatsapp +393317539228.