Before the moon rises...
D.W.Q.M.: "Our lives are important-at least to us-and we see, so we learn...Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it..." -the First Doctor
The weatherman on Channel 5 says that there will be lots of stars in the sky tonight. So I'm wondering, where the heck does he live?!?!?!!!!!
Once again, I am outside, binoculars in hand, trying to find NEAT!!! I must look like a total weirdo to my neighbors. One of them nearly ran into me a few weeks back when I was trying to find the comet using the smaller telescope my Dad made-the one that has no mount, so you have to hold it in your arms. (Don't ask, I really don't know...)
So tonight I was standing out in the middle of the courtyard with my binoculars, until someone came home and set off all the motion sensored lights in front of the doors. gaahh...
I am sooo naive-and I should know better-I thought, fairly clear skies, the moon doesn't rise until after 11:15 (after all, it's only 4 days past full), plus, NEAT is fairly close to the Big Dipper right now, so it's easy to get your bearings in the sky. I go outside, and what am I greeted with? Haze. Lots and lots of haze. Not to mention light pollution. (Have I mentioned that I really dislike Cleveland skies at night?) I guess I am like my Dad-I know the odds of actually seeing something, and yet I go out, in the hopes that I might get lucky. ;) I was planning on trying to convince some of my friends to drive someplace where it might actually be dark this weekend, but a quick look at the forecast for Friday and Saturday suggests that that too, may be in vain. Arrrrrgggg!
NEAT (and LINEAR for that matter) will start to fade this month. For details and a sky chart to help you find them, click here.
In other astro news, guess what happened 122 years ago? If you guessed that Venus glided across the sun, you would be absolutely correct!! Now, guess what will happen tomorrow? If you guessed Venus will again transit the sun, you would be correct!! Unfortunately, by the time most of you will be reading this (in the Northern Hemisphere), it will all be over. By the time the sun rises in the Eastern time zone, the transit will be about two thirds of the way finished, and Venus will begin to exit the sun at about 7:05am EDT. The whole thing will be over at approximately 7:25am EDT. During the transit Venus will appear as a black dot against the sun's face. Don't forget your solar filters for your telescopes and your eclipse glasses for the naked-eye viewer. For more information (and safety tips!) Check out the article at Sky and Telescope here. :)
If you miss it, you can catch it again on June 6th, 2012, but it will be the only other time this century. :)
The weatherman on Channel 5 says that there will be lots of stars in the sky tonight. So I'm wondering, where the heck does he live?!?!?!!!!!
Once again, I am outside, binoculars in hand, trying to find NEAT!!! I must look like a total weirdo to my neighbors. One of them nearly ran into me a few weeks back when I was trying to find the comet using the smaller telescope my Dad made-the one that has no mount, so you have to hold it in your arms. (Don't ask, I really don't know...)
So tonight I was standing out in the middle of the courtyard with my binoculars, until someone came home and set off all the motion sensored lights in front of the doors. gaahh...
I am sooo naive-and I should know better-I thought, fairly clear skies, the moon doesn't rise until after 11:15 (after all, it's only 4 days past full), plus, NEAT is fairly close to the Big Dipper right now, so it's easy to get your bearings in the sky. I go outside, and what am I greeted with? Haze. Lots and lots of haze. Not to mention light pollution. (Have I mentioned that I really dislike Cleveland skies at night?) I guess I am like my Dad-I know the odds of actually seeing something, and yet I go out, in the hopes that I might get lucky. ;) I was planning on trying to convince some of my friends to drive someplace where it might actually be dark this weekend, but a quick look at the forecast for Friday and Saturday suggests that that too, may be in vain. Arrrrrgggg!
NEAT (and LINEAR for that matter) will start to fade this month. For details and a sky chart to help you find them, click here.
In other astro news, guess what happened 122 years ago? If you guessed that Venus glided across the sun, you would be absolutely correct!! Now, guess what will happen tomorrow? If you guessed Venus will again transit the sun, you would be correct!! Unfortunately, by the time most of you will be reading this (in the Northern Hemisphere), it will all be over. By the time the sun rises in the Eastern time zone, the transit will be about two thirds of the way finished, and Venus will begin to exit the sun at about 7:05am EDT. The whole thing will be over at approximately 7:25am EDT. During the transit Venus will appear as a black dot against the sun's face. Don't forget your solar filters for your telescopes and your eclipse glasses for the naked-eye viewer. For more information (and safety tips!) Check out the article at Sky and Telescope here. :)
If you miss it, you can catch it again on June 6th, 2012, but it will be the only other time this century. :)
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