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- #26
Ugh and me with a cloudy night. Mars has been pretty easy to spot for me the last couple of weeks. Venus on the other hand, seems to have pieced out for the time being and I can’t seem to locate it in the sky.
Planet observations
Ugh and me with a cloudy night. Mars has been pretty easy to spot for me the last couple of weeks. Venus on the other hand, seems to have pieced out for the time being and I can’t seem to locate it in the sky.
- Moderator
- #27
I am outside playing with my dogs and I saw this. Then saw this thread pop up and what do ya know. Answered my question I had to myself lol
Timely bump @Snickerdog !
I'm definitely intrigued by all the detail and features of different planets and such, especially as a kid. Now with these high res photos its even cooler.
Anyone see the photos of that asteroid that has like $10b of precious metal. I feel like it'll be a mix of avatar and Armageddon
Anyone see the photos of that asteroid that has like $10b of precious metal. I feel like it'll be a mix of avatar and Armageddon
- Thread starter
- #30
Great shot!!!
I did see that. It is thought to be the iron-nickel core of a planet that somehow never formed. It was the iron and nickel content of the asteroid that resulted in one astronomer estimating its value at $10 quadrillion.
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- Moderator
- #32
It may be in one of those times of year where it’s close to the horizon, and I’m blocked out by trees and stuff. I use Star tracker and I basically have to go to due south and 0 degrees to get it to pop up on it. Spots everything else pretty quickly.
I used to have an 8" Dobsonian telescope, spent many nights out looking up at the sky. Could see the polar ice caps on Mars, the rings around Saturn, the "eye" on Jupiter, craters/features on the Moon, and lots of cool interesting stars, galaxies, etc. Even a good pair of binoculars will let you see a lot of neat things out there.
If you're interested in learning more about the night sky, check out skymaps.com - they have a downloadable map for every month of the year that shows you what stars/planets to check out, and which ones are visible with the naked eye, binoculars and/or a telescope.
- Thread starter
- #34
I'm going to leave a bit early for work in the morning, just at the edge of town it rises up and has a great view to the east for a long way. Should be able to see it in the early morning.
Rain here tonight so no chance to gaze at the night sky. Keep looking up. The show is wonderful. The only drawback is the appearance of the stars of winter in the sky.
There are also a lot of phone apps that are cool for astronomy. I use Distant Suns on my iPhone - fire it up, point your phone at the sky, and it uses the GPS and accelerometers in your phone to project the sky onto your phone screen, identifying all kinds of constellations, stars, planets, etc. If you see something in the sky and wonder what it is, the app will quickly identify it for you - just point your phone at it.
- Thread starter
- #37
Need to check that out. Thanks.
- Moderator
- #38
I’m minorly salty that ISS isn’t zinging by me at any hour I care to go see it for quite a while. My favorite time is right before kiddo’s bed time, we’ll go rush out and see it. I took her out to see the three visible planets and that’s fun and all, but there’s something fun about catching a moving object in the sky that’s worth the minor bit of research on when and where to look.
MetroCat
Well-known member
Years ago when it was really close I viewed it through my 10 inch Meade LX200, could see the polar ice cap. What a sight to behold. I've moved on to astrophotography though and haven't looked through an eyepiece in a long time.
- Thread starter
- #40
Jupiter and Saturn are very visible in the southwest sky tonight if you have clear skys.
I’ve been watching them for the last couple of months. I’ve always dug astronomy.
Buckeyegolfnut
Well-known member
OK, so how about some pics? I'm sure we'd like to see them!
Many years ago I arose quite early in the morning to go archery deer hunting. After a fairly long drive I emerged from my truck ready to go. However, it was close to zero F*, and the sky was as clear as I've ever seen it here. It was crystal! The sky looked like something you might see in the Colorado mountains, or someplace else out West. I looked up, and was transfixed! Absolutely incredible! After a while of looking, I got cold! So, I got back in my vehicle, started it, and got the heater going. And guess what? It felt good and I fell asleep! I woke up shortly after daybreak, with the parking lot full of other cars. I drove home!
- Moderator
- #43
Can’t miss em right now it feels like. Was bummed out that a telescope I bought last week just sucked so bad. The app to locate never did, so I got to manually find things in the lens. Then once I somehow found something, changing lenses and even a 2x on top of that still didn’t get me a damn thing. Jupiter looked like a blob. Didn’t even try Saturn :/
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I’m an astronomy junkie and I’m looking for a easy to set up high powered binoculars to buy. Any suggestions?
BTW if you go to the ISS site and put in your zip code, it will let you know via text when the ISS will fly over. Pretty cool to see it in the sky at night. And it’s amazing accurate.
BTW if you go to the ISS site and put in your zip code, it will let you know via text when the ISS will fly over. Pretty cool to see it in the sky at night. And it’s amazing accurate.
For sky lovers, there are many sites and applications. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html This one is most likely known to everyone. But that didn't make it worse. How often do you see satellites through a telescope? Or are they out of your sight?
The kids have really gotten in to this lately. I see a telescope in our future for sure.
- Moderator
- #47
Very accurate indeed. Once you've spotted it once and you know what you're looking for, it's a piece of cake to do it again. Kiddo loves going out to spot it when it's at a time she can see it, and even she's gotten good at spotting it quick. Free entertainment is always the best.
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It is fun once you see it for the first time and becomes easier to pick up the second time - The best is when it's up for 5-6 minutes, it just amazes the mind.
International Space Station
See the International Space Station! As the third brightest object in the sky the space station is easy to see if you know when to look up.
- Moderator
- #49
It feels like it's up there forever when it's the 5-6min viewing. The minute or two ones I feel like I'm in a mad dash to spot it. Throw some late night clouds into the mix and it's like a needle in a haystack.
They'd easily be visible through a telescope - but spotting them and tracking them would be more problematic because they're moving so fast. I imagine one of the newer motor-driven/guided telescopes might be able to do it though.