10:25pm

Another night stopping by after work … and another decent view!

10:20pm

Rich left the scope and binoculars outside for me again, and I stopped by after work for a quick look. It wasn’t too bad tonight overall, though there were some clouds and the bands weren’t steadily clear. All four moons were visible and in a pretty arrangement, sprinkled two on each side of the planet. I could have stayed longer, but my eyes were so tired they were killing me. It’s so nice to be able to relax for a few minutes after work by watching the sky, but it’s even nicer when Rich is home too, and we can enjoy a drink and a snack at the same time (as long as we don’t drink so much gin & grapefruit juice that we might see 12 moons, as Rich feared on Saturday night!).

10:30pm

It was a long day, but nothing soothes like looking at the sky for an hour or two. Rich and I had a clear view around 10:30pm, though we could see nothing around 4:00am.

10:30pm

Tonight’s “wiggly” atmosphere prevented us from enjoying the sharp views of Jupiter that I saw on Monday, but at least we had some kind of a view. Three moons were easily visible; Europa was traversing Jupiter at the time, but of course we weren’t able to see its shadow (I can hardly wait till we get a real telescope that will allow us to see the shadows!).

Mars and Saturn were long gone by the time I got home, but Rich said that he had been unable to find them earlier in the evening anyway due to cloud cover.

3:45am (Friday)

The moon was up and we spent some time sitting in the middle of the yard exploring all the craters and mountains we could see. I pointed out the Apennine Mountain Range just crossing the terminator. Due to its elevation it’s actually visible slightly beyond the terminator, and you can even see this with the naked eye if you look closely. We need to find a good lunar map now so we know what we’re looking at, and so we can plan what we want to search for!

Jupiter was not visible at all at this time of morning.

Tonight, just like last Wednesday, I left work two hours early so that we could visit the observatory in Fleetville. John Sabia was speaking on “Observing Planets with a Telescope.” Just like Jo Ann’s presentation last week, it was extremely interesting and informative. We picked up some tips on how to proceed when we finally buy a real telescope, and we even learned about many features of the moon that we can easily observe now. It was well worth the drive, even though (as usual) when we emerged after the presentation, the sky was completed clouded over. As a bonus, John took us into the dome and spoke about the telescope for a few minutes, even though it was obviously pointless to try to use it tonight.

10:30pm

I had a decent view when I first arrived (not as good as last night, but close: I could see the 3 visible moons pretty easily through the binoculars). But after about 20 minutes, it became too cloudy to see the moons or the bands on Jupiter. And the large tree in Rich’s back yard was getting in the way. I had to move well out into the yard in order to continue watching the planet and moons. I’m afraid we’re losing our great views of our Summer friend!

10:30pm

Though he was working again tonight, Rich left the tripods, scope, and binoculars out for me so I could look at Jupiter after work. Cloud cover was heavy during the day, but I was astounded how clear the southeastern sky became tonight! This was one of the clearest, steadiest views I’ve had yet. I could see all four moons through the binoculars with no effort at all; that’s how clear and bright my view was. And through the scope, it was even better. The bands looked like they’d been drawn on the planet with a Sharpie marker. It was a terrific view, but I missed being able to share it with my partner!

9:45pm

Tonight Rich was at work, but I went to try to view Jupiter anyway. He didn’t miss much! Right after I arrived, thick fog moved in … it was almost like being in Maine. Irritatingly bright light from the park across the street reflected off the fog and made the situation even worse. I couldn’t see a single thing in the sky other than Jupiter, and even that was very faint. I couldn’t find it through the camera at all. I watched through the scope for a while and eventually I was able to see three moons. I could see Ganymede far to the left decently well, but I could only see Io and Europa if I looked at Jupiter rather than at them. And I could only see (or rather “sense”) Callisto if I zoomed out a bit.

10:00pm

Today was a relatively lazy summer Friday. With heat and humidity so oppressive, we spent most of the day trying to stay still and cool. Tonight we watched the movie “Toys” but ran outside halfway through to see what we could spot in the sky. Jupiter was visible as usual, though quite dark and weak tonight through all the haze. First we could see only Ganymede, but then the others became faintly visible one by one. I was able to spot all four moons once or twice (while looking at Jupiter, rather than directly at the moons). I think Rich only saw three tonight.

At 4:00am (Saturday), well, there might as well have been a wool blanket hanging over this town. Couldn’t see a thing through the soupy atmosphere.

10:30pm

Probably because we weren’t going to the observatory tonight, we had a relatively clear evening. We had a decent view of all of Jupiter’s moons, and I even enjoyed a tiny peek at Saturn as soon as I got home.

… Our second try at capturing the moon was more successful!

4:00am (Friday)

I had the same awe-inspiring (yet miserable compared to Rich’s experience) view of Saturn when I got home tonight. The haze quickly obscured it once again, and it was time for Jupiter-watching.

10:20pm

While Rich turned his scope toward Jupiter, I set up my camera on a second tripod. I was easily able to find Jupiter but I could not see the moons. I took a photo anyway and let the camera do what it wished, just to see what the results would be. Autofocus and a 7-second exposure didn’t work all that well! I did expect to see streaks since we currently have no way to compensate for our planet’s rotation, but I’m wondering if we can shorten them a bit. Rich’s experimentation with manual focus brought us a slight improvement: sharper streaks! Rejoice! They may be awful, but it’s still a real thrill to have taken my own first photos of Jupiter, Callisto and Ganymede.

… My very first crappy image of Jupiter and two moons.

… Rich’s experiments with manual focus produced a slightly better image … at least the streaks are sharper!

Through the scope, we noticed that it was the best night yet. We could see the bands sharp and clear, with no shimmer, and the moons were all very bright.

Trees hid the moon at this time, but we experimented anyway and got a potentially useful result … more experimentation to follow.

… Hidden by trees, the nearly-full moon presented a challenge. We were able to record some texture along the left edge.

3:40am (Wednesday)

A clear sky provided us with a very pretty view!

11:00pm

As usual by the time I got home Saturn was nearly obscured by the haze, but I caught a few moments’ worth of a shimmering, unfocused view. It’s a thrill no matter what! I loved the first view we had tonight … Io looks almost like “Bubble Rock” balancing on the edge of the planet! Tonight we had the sharpest, steadiest view of the bands we’ve had yet.

4:00am (Tuesday)

We had so much fun at last night’s program at Lackawanna State Park that tonight we decided to return to see the presentation of “Wild Pennsylvania,” a series of photographs from state parks and forest lands across the state. The show was excellent and lasted about an hour, until 10:00pm. Of course the sky was free of clouds (though it was hazy) and we could see plenty of stars, and Jupiter led us home.

10:30pm

This is the most interesting configuration of moons we’ve seen yet!

4:00am (Sunday)

10:15pm

I was still at work when Joe arrived at Rich’s house tonight around 9:30. He brought along a slightly larger scope that we hoped would give us a better view of Saturn and Jupiter, and perhaps even Mars. They had great views of Saturn (and a Mars sighting) early in the evening, but by the time I got home around 10:15, only a few minutes remained to view Saturn. I took advantage of the opportunity and watched until it had descended too far into the haze to be recognizable.

Then we turned our attention to Jupiter. Joe’s scope gave us a bigger and brighter view of the bands and the moons! We enjoyed being able to share our “discovery” with someone else. Tonight, only three moons were visible; Jupiter blocked our view of Ganymede.

The rest of the night was spent looking at some of Joe’s photos from Acadia and, after Joe left, sharing a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers, smiles and laughter, and Forensic Files before bed.

4:00am (Friday)

Now Callisto is hiding and Ganymede has emerged:

10:30pm

A very cloudy sky “miraculously” cleared just as I pulled into the driveway. This time I had a view of Saturn and a quick glimpse of Mars, but only through the binoculars. This was the first Rich had seen of them all night due to the clouds. Jupiter, of course, rose large and bright over the haze! Callisto and Ganymede appeared very close together tonight.

Cheese (sharp provolone) and crackers (stone-ground wheat) and beer (Victory Whirlwind) rounded out the evening quite nicely!

4:00am (Thursday)

The view wasn’t terribly different this time:

10:30pm

Tonight I came home to a very bummed Rich standing next to the spotting scope in the back yard. He told me I had just missed (by two minutes) seeing Saturn! It dipped down behind the trees the minute I pulled into the driveway. He’d had an excellent, sharp view of it for about 45 minutes, in fact, until it entered the haze. But if I’d been just a few minutes earlier, at least I would have caught a glimpse. He said it was as if even Saturn conspired against me!

We did have a clear view of Jupiter and three moons:

4:00am (Wednesday)

And a view of all four at 4:00am:

11:00pm

It was a murky, hazy night with heavy cloud cover. Arriving home around 10:30pm, I had little hope we’d see anything in the sky and was about to declare that it was a good night for a beer and maybe some TV. But we lounged outside on the patio just a little longer, and our faithful friend Jupiter emerged from the haze, moons intact!

4:00am (Tuesday)

At 4:00am, skies were still clear and all four moons were visible to the right of the planet.

9:00 – 11:00pm

I remember reading that it’s common for people to really become hooked on astronomy when they first view Saturn through a telescope. Tonight’s alignment of Saturn, Mars and Regulus along with its close proximity to the Moon raised my hopes and encouraged me to take a close look. Time was short, since our view to the west is limited by buildings and mountains, and the planets were only visible for a short time after sunset (when the sky is still somewhat bright). At first all I could see was the Moon, but as the sky grew darker I thought I spotted two points of light to the Moon’s right.

At this point, Joe called from Maine. While Rich spoke with him, I grabbed the binoculars and could easily see what I assumed to be Saturn, Mars, and Regulus—though no detail was present. I could just determine that Saturn was larger than Mars. I sat down at the scope and began to pan around. A bright spot flew by as I moved the scope too quickly. Moving it back slowly brought Saturn into view. I almost shrieked! I could see the rings and the gap between them and the planet. Even though Rich was still on the phone, I sat him down in the chair and had him look. Moose-high-five! as he explained to Joe that I had just found Saturn. Awesome! A few moments later I found Mars. It looked like a big red star; no details could be seen.

This is not our image of Saturn; we haven’t progressed to the point where we can take any astrophotos at all (though I am tempted to see what, if anything, we can produce using my Panasonic FZ50 with telephoto conversion lens). But it is very similar to what we saw when looking through our scope. There’s nothing like the feeling I had when I zeroed in on Saturn for the first time, and recognized it!

This is the view we had of Jupiter and moons around 10:00pm. At 4:00am (Monday), it was cloudy.

10:30pm

Thursday and Friday were cloudy nights; Rich worked on Thursday anyway, and Friday we were tired and stuffed from the picnic, so maybe it’s best that we just relaxed in front of the TV. But tonight we had gorgeous clear skies again, and resumed our observations of Jupiter:

4:00am (Sunday)

Clear skies still: