Sep 30, 2011

One To Go

This is the last weekend the observatory will be open until next Memorial Day.

Last Friday was so perfect. Absolutely perfect. Warm. Cloudless. Moonless. Dark. Manageable crowd. The sky just took my breath away. I stared at old friends, knowing I might not see them again until May, and spent hours roaming around the sky, just roaming. It was perfect.

Managed to get some shots of Jupiter. Knowing the weather here and turn on the head of a pin, I savored it, knowing another ideal night was not likely to come along this season.


Sunset from the bottom of Pine Mountain looking across Millican Valley toward the Cascades.


Sunset from the summit. Smoke from wildfires made for a terrible sunset Friday night. It didn't effect viewing at all though. Thank goodness.


Jupiter through 11 mm Nagler, blue filter on. Zoom.


All four Galilean moons lined up perfectly Friday night. Not sure of the order, but Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. This was taken through a 25 mm eye piece, no filter.

Saturday was still warm, but the wind howled, driving in a cold front and a parade of clouds. Viewing was hit or miss, the clouds having a fun game of hide 'n seek with us. Still managed to get a glimpse at most objects, but it wasn't as clean of a view as Friday night. By the time we got everyone through to see Jupiter and the summit had cleared for me to think about snapping some photos, the clouds socked us in. Good night, Mary, they said, drawing a thick black curtain over the stars.




Lots and lots of clouds. Boo. Pretty, but boo. Tonight is supposed to be clear and it's supposed to get up into the 80's. So maybe I won't freeze too badly. Tomorrow, the weather says rain. So, tonight may be it.

Thanks to Kathy McKendry of Imagine Today and Tara Tyler of Tara Tyler Talks for the versatile blogger award. Two very awesome bloggers. Check them out.

PS, anybody else having trouble following people? I can from the top, but not by hitting the sidebar widget. Google won't sign me in. Another fun blogger glitch? Annoying if someone has the google connect follow, but isn't on blogger.

Come back Monday for a Semper Audacia party, and enjoy your weekend. What plans do you have?