If you get up in the middle of the night like I do you should spend some times outdoors looking up. The meteor shower has waned the last couple of evenings and now Venus is prominent low in the sky, east by southeast. Venus has successfully taken over the "morning star" duties from Mercury. The later being visible around here right after sunset, trading Venus for the "evening star" duties for a while.
Interestingly for any of you all that feel like messing with an instrument this early (it's worth it); the next day or two Comet Catalina will become visible. In the predawn hours the comet will be directly above Venus a few degrees. Hardly visible to the naked eye, an instrument provides a much clearer picture. Comet Catalina (technically Comet C/2013 US10) has an unusual characteristic of having a split, or two tails; although probably not visible without some high-dollar optics.
PS - If you're standing in your yard at 4 AM around here and staring up at the sky, there's a good possibility a local patrol car might pull up with the officer trying to crane his neck to see what you're looking at....it's happened twice now. 😉
Dang! That reminded me of a true story from about 1972. Proof that some people are so stupid it's a good thing they invented the Darwin Award.
I was reading the local newspaper in my college town. Besides the University there was a small College and a Beauty College (whatever that is). A fellow about 20 years of age had been hauled in by the local constabulary and charged with window peeking at the dorm associated with the Beauty College. What made it so newsworthy was that he was attempting to get a much improved view of the sights by pointing his hunting rifle at the window and looking through the scope. THAT'S what caught the attention of some neighbors. It wasn't the fact he was standing in someone's yard staring off into the distance.
When I was a kid I use to use the K&E out of Pops' field truck (actually a station wagon) to observe the heavens in the evening. While I'm sure the thought of gender-driven voyeurism probably crossed my mind, if Pops had caught me he would have discontinued my transit use.
I really don't remember there being any available "targets" around in my area.
Besides..she actually lived two streets over...
Two years ago around New Years we were anchored in a remote, dark secret bay. Sky-watch on my phone told me that the bright object in the east was Jupiter. I had read about Jupiter's moons, Galeleo realizing the Copernicus was wrong, and the French system for determining longitude all around the world by telling time from the passage of those moons. And sure enough, with 7x50 binoculars, I COULD SEE THE MOONS. Two weeks later I set up my spare TS at a party and spent 2 or 3 hours showing everyone, mostly kids, Jupiter's Moons and telling them the stories. Maybe this year I'll take the instrument and a tripod on the boat and set up on the beach.
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Larry Best, post: 349537, member: 763 wrote: Two years ago around New Years we were anchored in a remote, dark secret bay. Sky-watch on my phone told me that the bright object in the east was Jupiter. I had read about Jupiter's moons, Galeleo realizing the Copernicus was wrong, and the French system for determining longitude all around the world by telling time from the passage of those moons. And sure enough, with 7x50 binoculars, I COULD SEE THE MOONS. Two weeks later I set up my spare TS at a party and spent 2 or 3 hours showing everyone, mostly kids, Jupiter's Moons and telling them the stories. Maybe this year I'll take the instrument and a tripod on the boat and set up on the beach.
Yes, Jupiter's moons are visible with some fairly low powered optics. If you know what to look for, the rings of Saturn are visible also with a little simple magnification. Knowing the other planet's perigee with Earth is also important for viewing quality. The crescent phases of Venus is a good show also. What usually keeps folks from seeing these wonderful sights is sometimes not the magnification, but the cleanliness of ALL your lenses and the steadiness of the telescope's (or survey instrument's) of the tripod.
A backsight of 500 million miles requires a steady hand!
