Starship Asterisk*

While I'm not a hunter I sometimes tag along.
The weather in Notus Idaho was a bit turbulent this weekend.

Just after sunset, November 2. The Moon, Venus, Saturn.

Super moonrise over Pikes Peak, embedded in the Belt of Venus.

Nice, Chris!

In Malmö, after a week of mostly clear and cold weather, it's going to be rainy and mild next week. But this morning it is still clear. At 5.50 a.m., I contemplated the Super Moon from my balcony, hanging over the roof of a condominium house. It's still all dark here, with no dawn or Belt of Venus in sight, but the Moon was still nicely cream-colored.

Oh, and yes, it looked large, too.
The Lady in the Moon was on her back, staring straight up in the sky and contemplating the expanse of it as she sank toward the horizon.

Ann

I didn't see Venus.

But Venus is in Sagittarius, and I have never seen that iconic teapot in Swedish skies. As for Williams, I know nothing about her whereabouts.

Venus, move north, please!

Ann

Ann wrote:
I didn't see Venus.

But Venus is in Sagittarius, and I have never seen that iconic teapot in Swedish skies.

• . https://astrobob.areavoices.com/2016/11 ... incidence/

I haven't ever really seen the Pleiades, because the sky is almost never dark where I live, but I reckon that the faint, fuzzy little cloud with an occasional twinkle a couple degrees from Aldebaran that I've been seeing (or imagining) is the real deal.

I live in New Delhi, India.
It's one of my life's goals to move to some place where the skies are really clear, so much so that I actually do dream about seeing the Milky Way and the Dipper (because I never have), the Pleiades, and all these other beautiful things. I fantasize about being familiar with the night sky, getting a pair of binoculars and a nice little telescope and star gazing every night.
Does anyone have any suggestions about where I could move, when I'm forty, say? Northern parts of Canada maybe?

Deee92 wrote:I live in New Delhi, India.
It's one of my life's goals to move to some place where the skies are really clear, so much so that I actually do dream about seeing the Milky Way and the Dipper (because I never have), the Pleiades, and all these other beautiful things. I fantasize about being familiar with the night sky, getting a pair of binoculars and a nice little telescope and star gazing every night.
Does anyone have any suggestions about where I could move, when I'm forty, say? Northern parts of Canada maybe?

No need to go to that that extreme (though the skies can be very dark there.) You can (I'm told) find dark skies a lot closer to home. Check out this link...
Stargazing in India: Top 20 Places for the Space Enthusiasts - Holidify
Then contact these people...
Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi (AAAD)

Rob

I think I saw Venus yesterday! Woo-hoo!

I was leaving home at about 4.15, and the sun had set even though the sky was bright, and there in the west was a nice crescent moon and to the lower right of it - a bright, white, steady light? Could only have been Venus! I saw it!

I later learned that Mars should have been there as well, but although I checked around to see if I could spot anything else near the Moon, I didn't know where to look, and I was in a hurry. Mars eluded me.

But I did see Venus!

Ann

Ann wrote:

Click to view full size image

This never actually happened. This is a fake, copy pasted image and Jupiter was nowhere near Venus on that date. The last time the Jupiter-Venus-Moon smiley happened, as far as I can tell, was 2008 Dec. 1st and it looked nothing like this.

Thanks for pointing that out. I googled "Venus smiley", and, well...

Ann

Welcome to the post-fact era, where going viral is more important than reality.

This is what the conjunction really looked like.

I was just looking for a suitable smiley, to celebrate the fact that I had just seen Venus... wasn't trying to make a statement about a conjunction at all. But you're right, I should have checked that picture before I posted it.

Ann

It also looked like this.

Anyway, it's an important thing to learn that those "fun fact" sites are mostly garbage these days.

This morning, I saw yellow-white Jupiter and, to the lower left of it, a gloriously blue-looking Spica. Just now, I saw a terrific lineup of an elegant crescent Moon, a brilliant Venus, and a somewhat faint but strikingly reddish Mars.

Ann

Ann wrote:This morning, I saw yellow-white Jupiter and, to the lower left of it, a gloriously blue-looking Spica.

I've been watching that pair for the last couple of weeks. They're striking, aren't they? If I wake up at 3am or so, they're shining in my window... easily seen even without my glasses on, and almost bright enough to cast shadows! (Venus in the evening is now bright enough to actually cast visible shadows.)

It's been a bit since I last posted but my wife got me a simple Celestron scope for Christmas and I couldn't be happier!! That night I went out and observed Orion's Belt. Since then, the nights have been very cloudy but I did brave the biting winds to look at the moon last week. It looks so much more exciting now for some strange reason! I could see a lot of the details of the craters. It was like looking at a textbook. I had the same feeling seeing the moon through my very own scope as I did when I first saw Saturn at the Lowell Observatory back in 2012.

The other thing I am enjoying is getting to understand my scope and the tech behind it!! Fun stuff!!

Good to hear, Chris! Keep watching the skies!

I was looking for the Simpsons X-Files spoof where Leonard Nimoy visits an X-File-like TV show but leaves before the show is over, forcing a pimply teenage stand-in to say, in his crackling voice:

I'm Leonard Nimoy, keep watching the skis! Eh, I mean, the skies!

Couldn't find that video, so I'm just giving you Leonard Nimoy opening that episode:
Ann

A just risen almost full moon.
Well - 10 minutes ago.

My youngest son and I viewed the moon this morning while he waited for his bus. It was a great time!

Ann wrote:Good to hear, Chris! Keep watching the skies! Ann

I think I would have made you and Mr. Spock quite very happy of me this weekend!!!

Soooooooooooo. I awoke rather early Sunday morning and took my dogs out to the bathroom. It was around 6:30 and I noticed the sky was quite rather clear, a very rare occurance these days in Central Pa. The Moon is also full so I took my scope out to gaze at the moon. I lined it up and enjoyed the view. I then noticed two bright "Stars" in the southern sky. I lined it up and...........wait for it..............wait for it.....................

IT WAS JUPITER!!!! Or rather Neptune as I initially thought- because it looked "blue" and I had recently read that it is possible to observe Neptune with the naked eye. I wasn't convinced it was though and I took another look and NOTICED 2 MOONS IN ORBIT!!! I was thrilled!!! It really was a cosmic moment for me!!! Feverishly I opened up my 4mm lens. It was a race against time as the sun was rising quickly. To that date, I had not been able to get that stupid 4mm lens to work for me so I rolled the dice!!!

AND THERE SHE WAS!!! I SAW JUPITER AND 4 OF HER MOONS CLEAR AS DAY!!! I COULD SEE THE "STORMY CLOUDS" of Jupiter and everything. I let out a victorious laugh as a few minutes later the sun took over and there was no more. It was as if a "star viewing perfect storm" had aligned itself to plop down right on my driveway in Mechanicsburg Pa.!!! I got the planet Jupiter, 4 of her moons and that frustrating little 4mm lens to work all in one fell swoop.

Everyone in the house got up on Monday morning and looked at it with me. I couldn't get the clarity with the 4mm I had on Sunday am but nonetheless, I got Jupiter and the 4 moons in the 20mm lens.

YAAYYYYY

CURRAHEE CHRIS wrote:AND THERE SHE WAS!!! I SAW JUPITER AND 4 OF HER MOONS CLEAR AS DAY!!!

Congrats. Jupiter is one of the great telescopic views. It is easily seen in the middle of the day with a telescope, or even just binoculars. What's tricky is finding it if you don't have a goto scope. Watch for daytime conjunctions with the Moon, which can act as a guide for finding it in the day. This often works for Venus, as well (which you can even see with the naked eye in the daytime sky).

CURRAHEE CHRIS wrote:

Ann wrote:Good to hear, Chris! Keep watching the skies! Ann

I think I would have made you and Mr. Spock quite very happy of me this weekend!!!

Soooooooooooo. I awoke rather early Sunday morning and took my dogs out to the bathroom. It was around 6:30 and I noticed the sky was quite rather clear, a very rare occurance these days in Central Pa. The Moon is also full so I took my scope out to gaze at the moon. I lined it up and enjoyed the view. I then noticed two bright "Stars" in the southern sky. I lined it up and...........wait for it..............wait for it.....................

IT WAS JUPITER!!!! Or rather Neptune as I initially thought- because it looked "blue" and I had recently read that it is possible to observe Neptune with the naked eye. I wasn't convinced it was though and I took another look and NOTICED 2 MOONS IN ORBIT!!! I was thrilled!!! It really was a cosmic moment for me!!! Feverishly I opened up my 4mm lens. It was a race against time as the sun was rising quickly. To that date, I had not been able to get that stupid 4mm lens to work for me so I rolled the dice!!!

AND THERE SHE WAS!!! I SAW JUPITER AND 4 OF HER MOONS CLEAR AS DAY!!! I COULD SEE THE "STORMY CLOUDS" of Jupiter and everything. I let out a victorious laugh as a few minutes later the sun took over and there was no more. It was as if a "star viewing perfect storm" had aligned itself to plop down right on my driveway in Mechanicsburg Pa.!!! I got the planet Jupiter, 4 of her moons and that frustrating little 4mm lens to work all in one fell swoop.

Everyone in the house got up on Monday morning and looked at it with me. I couldn't get the clarity with the 4mm I had on Sunday am but nonetheless, I got Jupiter and the 4 moons in the 20mm lens.

YAAYYYYY

Congrats! And live long and prosper! By Jove!

Ann

CURRAHEE CHRIS wrote:Or rather Neptune as I initially thought- because it looked "blue" and I had recently read that it is possible to observe Neptune with the naked eye.

FWIW, you're not likely to see Neptune without a telescope. It is barely on the edge of visibility by the most expert observers with extraordinary vision working under the darkest skies. And even for them, there will be no hint of color. This is an object that an expert will only see as another faint star in a field of stars. It will never stand out.