I have a post office box at
our local post office and usually six days a week my wife and I go get the
mail. We always come back home the “back
way”. Each time for the last few weeks,
we have seen a fellow’s front field just filled with blue bonnets and Indian paint
brushes. For some reason I never have my
camera. Saturday, when coming back from
the flea market we stopped at the post office and came home the usual route via
the back way. I had my camera in my
pocket and was ready to get some pictures. This field is on a corner and when I pulled up
to the stop sign, I saw that some people had climbed through the fence and were
walking through this “private” field. Anyway,
I rolled the passenger side window down, handed the camera to my wife and said
take a couple of pictures, which she did. Here are those pictures:
Saturday, I lugged all the
pieces to my big telescope out and got it all assembled. Spent the last of Saturday and the last of
Sunday looking at the sky. Since I sat
it up on the deck on the east side of my house and with all the tall trees all
around, I had a very limited patch of sky to see. I took a pair of binoculars and walked around
to the front yard (looking west) and looked at the beautiful naked eye trio
that was on display. The beautiful thin crescent
moon, along with extremely bright Venus and spectacular Jupiter were putting on
a great show. Back on east side, Mars was
gleaming with a reddish glow at about a magnitude of -1.1. Mars must have been blushing about
something. In respect to each other,
Jupiter was twice as bright as Mars at -2.1 and Venus was trice as bright as
Jupiter with a -4.4.
I put the scope on Mars,
almost too bright to view. Used a oxygen-2
filter and that helped some. I also
swung the scope over to Orion before I looked at Mars. The Orion Nebula never ceases to amaze me, I
can look at it for a long time without getting tired of the view. It was beautiful with and without the O2
filter. I watched it again last night
until it disappeared behind the roof of my house. If that scope wasn’t so heavy, I would move it
to the front of the house, there is a lot more going on to the west, but my
back is still hurting from putting it outside. I believe the manufacturer said it was 265
pounds and of course the three major parts are not the same weight so some are
a little lighter than a third and some heavier.
Please, if you haven’t gone
out after dark the last few evenings, just take a few minutes, let your eyes
adjust to the dark, take a pair of binoculars if you have them, and go out just
after it gets dark and look at the beauty in the night sky at this time. Now, you all have a great day, you hear?
Great to see there are those flowers down there too.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with living in a city is the light pollution. Sacramento is probably one of the best cities where the brightest objects in the sky are visible, but there is nothing like being far out away from the lights.
ReplyDeleteTrouble, yes but they don't compare with the hill country.
ReplyDeleteGypsy, since I don't have a pick-up truck with a cap anymore, I have no way of transporting the scope. It wouldn't fit in the old RV. I will have to do some measuring and see if it will fit in the new one. If not, I got some smaller ones I can take along which would be so much easier to set up. Then I could get out somewhere where there is no light pollution. Those spots are few and far between.
Diz!! I got a BOT that the telescope will fit in. Wannta make me an offer on it? :-)
ReplyDeleteNot at this time. I didn't know you had a cap on it after getting rid of the slide in camper.
ReplyDeleteGood viewing, both day and night. I do miss the night sky I get to see in the mountains. I'll be there in 3 weeks or so, and the sky will amaze me all over again.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how many stars yuo can see when you get to a high, dark place.
ReplyDelete