Friday, January 30, 2004

Trying to set up a neat-o feature...but it seems to be messing with the look (theme) of my general site.  Please bear with me. ...why not read some of my latest astronomical "field research" below... 11:40:55 PM

Tonight's Sky It's been awhile since the sky was clear enough to see any stars.  However, I got jazzed reading Wes Stone's The Five Minute Tour of the Universe.  I figure if he can pick this stuff out in between the clouds, I ought to be able to get something... I'd been to several of the same areas, so felt confident. Noticing occasional sunbreaks during the day, I figured I'd at least give it a go.  Even the occasional hail didn't dampen my enthusiasm...there were still some good sized patches of blue sky. Twilight came, and in between the clouds were sprinklings of stars!  I hadn't seen them for over a week...so I grabbed my gear.  By the time I set up on the deck the only sprinkling was the rain.  I drapped my scope and notes with a tarp and decided to wait it out...it seemed to be breaking up... So I sat on my stool under the porch, riffed a bit on the harmonica, and tried to stay warm.  The neighborhood cat kept me company and would meow along.  If I hit a series of high notes, it would crawl under me and scratch at my legs.  Maybe I was keeping it up, or something.  At one point I heard the cat behind me and when I looked up, wham, the snow shovel handle hit me in the face. All that kept the time going pretty quickly.  When the sky would clear a bit, I'd get up and check it out with my planisphere.  Having to wipe the rain off the planisphere in order to read it ... is not a good sign. To make a long story short, every time I set up to view something the clouds would roll in, and everytime I started to tear stuff down to go inside, the sky would clear up.  That and all the hamonica/cat breaks filled the evening. I managed to get a good look at the Moon.   Being surprised at how much the moon lights up the rain clouds ... also not a good sign. 11:15:02 PM