My God... It's Full of Stars!

[bjarvis]

It was rather cold last night --low forties Fahrenheit-- but the skies were largely clear so it was time to break out the telescope, it's first use since cuyahogarvr gave it to me for my birthday back in January.

The first snag is that I didn't have a compass so lining it up north-south was problematic. Instead, I aligned it to Polaris for a best-guess, then used a built-in alignment function to get a fix on Vega. Some minor additional alignment tuning was required but I was able to focus easily on Mars and Saturn last night.

The other newly-learned quirk is that while our trailer deck is very level, it shakes excessively under high magnification. If the skies are clear again tonight, I'll try setting up elsewhere on a cement platform.

Oh, and my orbital elements for the satellite viewing are out of date. I'll have to refresh everything before I head out here again.

Still, it was all very fun and I didn't even notice the cold or how late it was getting. Even without the telescope, I saw several meteors, a dozen different satellites (including an interesting trio moving in a triangular formation north to south) and a few bats. Life is good.

Comments

[excessor.livejournal.com]

There is something so completely enthralling about stargazing on a cool, clear night. Were you able to see the rings of Saturn? I don't think I'll ever forget being able to see four moons of Jupiter.

I'm glad you had fun.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I wasn't able to see Jupiter & its moons last night... it's not visible currently. Still, I could see Saturn's rings fairly clearly when the vibration of the deck was minimal. Delightful!

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I was expecting Paul to ask if you had observed Uranus.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

Now you've ruined it. This is why we can't have nice things!

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I've seen the rings once but they were barely visible. It's really quite amazing to find that you can see far more than you'd think with even a simple telescope. For example, the moon is (even more) breathtakingly beautiful through a telescope.

It's too bad that we can't see the further planets. I've always wondered if Neptune would have a blue-ish cast to it. And of course, I've always wanted to see Uranus.

all these worlds are yours, except Europa

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

My God... It's Full of Stars!

Dave -- what are you doing?

my orbital elements for the satellite viewing are out of date.

This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.

If the skies are clear again tonight, I'll try setting up elsewhere on a cement platform.

I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you do that

Bats

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Don't tell me you have bats in your belfry.

*ducks*

[ubel-josh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun.

[meinfs.livejournal.com]

I'm envious... My telescope hopefully should completed and in working order in the next few weeks. Need to brush up on 'wood'working skills... Have fun!

[urbear]

Must have been awfully big bats, to be visible in orbit...

I love astronomy, but I also love living in big cities... a combination doomed to failure and disappointment. Still, I remember how thrilled I was to see three of Jupiter's moons for the first time, to resolve a binary star, and to see a faint comet that was too dim for the unaided eye.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I miss the night sky of my parents' farm. Far, far from civilization, the views were spectacular and the horizon far away. I have, of course, traded all of that for DSL and 24x7 pizza delivery. *sigh*

[urbear]

Yeah, I know what you mean. My parents used to rent a place in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal when I was a kid, and I spent many a quiet evening looking up at the stars... especially in late August during the Perseid meteor shower.