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The long drought in my astronomy pursuits comes to an end. Tonight I took my 7x50 Celestron binoculors and a lawn chair out to the backyard for some
fun. I was hoping to
catch some of the brighter Messier objects in Sagittarious. That didn't happen. In fact, I couldn't even see Sagittarious through the sky and moon glow. I'll have to catch those clusters and nebulae from Baylor or Cherry Grove, two of the Minnesota Astronomical Society's dark-sky sites.
The moon had just risen and was still a golden yellow. It was full tonight. I looked at it for a while and was amazed at the things I didn't remember noticing
before. It looked like
there was one enormous impact. in the upper left that left a huge hole which was later filled by lava flows. I've usually tried to see how much detail I can see in a specific crater in a high-powered view through a telescope. Because of that, I missed some of the larger features. Sort of like not being able to see the forest because all the trees are in the way.
I wandered to the Big Dipper and looked at Mizar, the double star in the handle. This is a bright and easy to see double. In fact, I can also see the second star
naked-eye. I saw the
double part of the "Double-Double" in Lyra. Those are two stars close together (first double) which themselves are both double stars, hence the name. I couldn't see the second double stars with the binoculars but it was fun anyway.
So even though I didn't see any deep-sky objects, it was nice to get familiar again with the night sky. Iit's been so long since I last looked up. I'm looking
forward to the next MAS star party on the 25th. If you are in the Minneapolis area, stop by Baylor and have fun with us. Check the MAS web site for directions and for the hotline phone number that will give the go/no-go decision for the night.
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