Aug 23, 2010

Moon Was So Bright I Had to Wear Shades

A cool and bright Friday up at the observatory. The almost full moon was so bright, it was like standing in New York City. The moonlight washed out all but the brightest stars. The only objects I could sort of get, besides the Moon and Jupter, were Albireo and Andromeda.


Moon through my telrad

It was like invasion of the pod people. There were only two cars in the parking lot, three in the campground. I went inside the dome to stay out of the wind as long as possible [to keep from freezing too early]. When the crowd came up, they had somehow transformed from a small handful to a mob of more than fifty. How'd that happen? I sure was surprised.


Moon over the 32 and Earth's shadow [the darkest blue of the lower sky]

Saturday was completely different. I'll discuss it later on this week. It gets a photo essay all its own.

Venus