Starship Asterisk*

There was a lovely conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter, and Venus was some distance away from the beautiful pair.


ann

I thought that might have been Jupiter, it was so bright. Yea! I guessed right. YEE-HAA!!

I noticed that Venus had a little bit of a glow about her tonight. Maybe Mercury paid her a visit

Last evening I saw the Moon, Jupiter and Venus in a straight line conjunction, starting more or less overhead and running roughly from the north-east to the south-west

Venus and Jupiter are going to be in conjunction next month. That should be quite a sight.

Space Cats!

Just been enjoying another early morning viewing of majestic Saturn before dawn. Good clear conditions, with reasonably little atmospheric disturbance evident through the scope. It is such a simple pleasure to be able to see it, it never fails to make me smile.

. . . wait a moment, was that a space cat I saw just peeping from behind the rings?

I saw a bright, round, big, plump, white, full Moon shine in through my bedroom like a lamp.

Yeah, big deal. But it looked nice.

Ann

Oh yes, I sure love this post and all it’s threads. What did I see in the sky tonight / last night?
Well it was a most peculiar it was, there were actually and unbelievably four distinctly different points of light in the Los Angeles night sky; imagine that! I’m thinking that perhaps one of them might have been the moon though but who can say? In any event we were certainly blessed we were.

Venus and Mars [were] alright tonight

(...with Jupiter loitering between 'em)

Also saw quite an impressive meteor streak from east to west directly overhead at about 8:45pm GMT

starstruck wrote:Venus and Mars [were] alright tonight

(...with Jupiter loitering between 'em)

Also saw quite an impressive meteor streak from east to west directly overhead at about 8:45pm GMT

I didn't get to see a meteor, but the planets and the winter constellations were (briefly) impressive. Well, before the clouds rushed in again, of course.

The lovely Pleiades are sinking fast, so enjoy them while you can!

Ann

I went camping over the weekend at Monkey Mountain National Reserve, and I was far away enough from the city that I had dark skies. I saw quite a bunch there. Friday night was too cloudy, but Saturday night gave me a chance to see a lot. I saw the winter coonstellations, Venus and Jupiter, and a meteor heading from northwest to southeast. When I woke up at 5 a.m., I was able to see Mars and Saturn, the Big Dipper, Scorpius (oddly enough), and another meteor from the west.

18:45 while walking I saw what I believe was a meteorite. It was to the northeast, quite bright. split into two parts before fading out. My location is near Adana Turkey. Was it viewed by others?

I saw what seemed to be the 2nd or 3rd days growth of moon looking like a little smile, heading for the horizon. I caught the first sliver of moon onetime, boy was it painful!! Took me a while to get it out. It's a lot bigger than it looks.

There was a splendid Venus and crescent Moon conjunction, and Jupiter not far away.

It was lovely!

(And for some reason, this moon is feeling sleepy.

Ann

The western sky at sunset was a lovely sight. Between two buildings there is an opening, so that I can see a bit of the western sky almost down to the horizon. Near the horizon the sky had a lovely apricot-rosy hue. Above the glowing rosiness the sky took on a luminous, pearly colorlessness, and above that, a blue softness was everywhere. But the blue expanse was punctuated by two small bright white points, almost as if a child had pressed two pieces of white chalk into a very large blue "blackboard". It also looked a bit as if a very big sky god with two very small white eyes set very wide apart was staring down at me.

In the south, Sirius was sparkling and spitting colors, mostly blue. I could faintly make out Betelgeuse and Procyon, so that the Winter Triangle was complete. High in the south rode a bright half Moon.

How lovely.

Ann

The sky god with his white chalk point Venus and Jupiter eyes in the soft blue evening sky had gone to bed long ago, but he managed to reach up a long arm and apply a broad stroke of rouge on the eastern horizon in the morning. Above the rouge, he he had spilled some lemon juice, giving the sky a yellow tint, which almost but not quite bled into green as it joined the blue sky above. The blue sky was crystal clear, impossibly azure and bottomlessly deep.

But as a the eastern horizon rushed down to meet the Sun, a film of white seemed to coat the entire sky. The whiteness wasn't clouds and perhaps not even mist, just a brilliance that seemed to obliterate all colors. Along the western horizon, a faint hint of pink marked the belt of Venus, with the sinking Earth shadow an almost imperceptible deeper blue below. But the eastern horizon took on an intense, brilliant reddish-orange hue, redder than Betelgeuse will ever be.

And then I had to go to work, so I couldn't watch the sky any more.

Ann

Darn work It interupts everything. Maybe you'll have a nice morning sky to describe tomorrow, Ann Or do you :gasp: sleep late on the weekends and miss the sunrises

Beyond wrote:Darn work It interupts everything. Maybe you'll have a nice morning sky to describe tomorrow, Ann Or do you :gasp: sleep late on the weekends and miss the sunrises

I got to bed at eleven and woke up at four! 4 a.m.!

I managed to fall asleep again after about two hours, so I missed the sunrise.

Ann

Ann wrote:I managed to fall asleep again after about two hours, so I missed the sunrise.

That sounds healthy. I always worry a bit about people who regularly see sunrises!

Early this morning, when it was still pitch dark, the full Moon was making a pass at Mars, or at least it seemed to be approaching it. To the left of it, Saturn and Spica were sailing the skies serenely like a pair of heavenly lovers.

Ann

EDIT: So it wasn't a full Moon. It was gibbous. Sheesh!! Defending myself from criticism I haven't received. Sheesh!

The Sun was very red when it rose. Betelgeuse, go and pull something old over you!


(What - you don't know that Swedish idiomatic expression? )








Ann

Saw a pretty bright aurora in La Crosse, Wisconsin! Pictures here.

--
Sam

Sam wrote:Saw a pretty bright aurora in La Crosse, Wisconsin! Pictures here.

--
Sam

Ah, yes, the green, green grass sky of home.

I saw nuthin' last night, it was cloudy. However, at daybreak, just before the sun was visible through the trees in the east, i saw a rainbow in the west. It was sprinkling gently outside, just enough to form a pinkish bow. The south side had just a hint of green and was a double bow. Also, about a fist at arms length to the east another pinkish bow was starting. I don't recall ever seeing a rainbow in the west before. They've always happened in the east, or almost overhead, in the late afternoon as the rain would be ending and the sun going down. It only lasted about five minutes, so i'm glad i caught it. My first sunrise rainbow.