Backyard Astronomy And Other

The following pencil sketch of an asterism known as the Cygnus Fairy Ring. I was using a 10-inch Newtonian @ 57x with a 1.1º true field of view, a blank 5 x 8 note card with the colors inverted using a scanner.  Only a No. 2 pencil and an eraser were used.           

While riding my bicycle on an August 2016 day: I came across an area beside the road with a true 360º Fairy Ring, and just had to stop and take a photo. I’ve seen partial rings many times, even in my backyard, but this one made a perfect circle, and with more mushrooms than I could count.

There’s much folklore and legends from ancient Europe, concerning those that venture into a Fairy Ring; with some being transported to another world…or worse!

Stories from hundreds of years ago of those walking in the deep-woods of Transylvania, in the southwest region of Romania in the Carpathian Mountains, and encountered a fairy ring, and never returned! This is where the stories of the real Vlad Dracula originated! However, these stories could be just that…folklore, and legends.

Yes, Count Dracula was based on a real historical person, Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula, who ruled as the Prince of Wallachia (in modern-day Romania) during the 15th century. Source AI

Back to my bicycle ride on that day in August 2016:

I thought about getting off my bike and walking inside the ring, but remembered reading the stories of those that chose to do such a thing. And I was fearful of those stories and was not interested in finding myself in another world or dimension, never to be seen or heard from again!  🙂

The only thing that would be left of my earthly existence would be my bicycle beside the ring! Yes…I needed to get home, and now glad of my decision, as always Sophie and Debbie were waiting on my return.

“Plucked from the Fairy Circle” A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring.  Public Domain