I’m out in country NSW and the local astronomy group had one of its regular evenings tonight. In very balmy autumn temperatures and under a lovely clear sky we spent several hours dining al fresco and star/planet spotting. Jupiter, Mars and Saturn looked great and the Milky Way was just brilliant.
We also had an interesting talk on the measurement of stars’ magnitudes. Over the course of several hours we noted 16 of the 21 first magnitude stars.
A very pleasant evening.
Thanks for [del]gloating[/del] sharing. I think we have 47 visible stars tonight in Atlanta. And it’s a clear, beautiful night. :mad:
One of my favorite trips of all time was a 2 month drive from Perth to Sydney when I was 20. Your skies are magical. We would drive all day, and stargaze all night.
If you’ll put away all the deadly creatures, I’ll come visit.
I envy you guys’ view of the Milky Way. Up here at 50+ north we can’t see much of the galactic centre, and anyway the light pollution, weather and atmospheric conditions make it difficult to see most of the time. The views from the southern hemisphere are spectacular, I hear.
The deadliest creature the other night was a very old, rather infirm labrador on a leash.
Sounds like a nice evening. I’ll have to come out that way one of these years.
If you’re ever in Northern California the night sky and stars are pretty magnificent on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, like near Bishop or Mono Lake. Lots of deer, too, but no kangaroos or wallabees.
Walking home three nights ago in our city, I was impressed at the clarity of the night sky. I saw a planet near Leo – it looked too bright to be Mars, so I assumed it was Jupiter. Then I saw an even brighter planet in Gemini, but it was too long after sunset to be Venus, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t Saturn. Turned out that one was Jupiter, and the first one WAS Mars. Mars can get brighter than I’d thought.
Jupiter is currently in Gemini, Mars is in Virgo and Saturn is in Libra.
I was outside last night with some friends. Ostensibly, it was my bachelor party because I am to be handfasted today. In reality, I blew off my best man and one of my closest friends to tend to a nervous bride.
The stars were amazingly brilliant last night, and I imagine they will be tonight as well. Absolutely perfect weather here in the Great Smoky Mountains.
I grew up in Atlanta, and the stars were gradually obscured by smog as I grew older. I had forgotten how beautiful they are and I am very glad that my little valley has so little light pollution and when the skies are clear, they are VERY clear.
Mars must be close to its best at the moment - back in 2003 IIRC it did outshine Jupiter for a while, so it’s due for another bright pass about now.
Yes, Mars was at opposition a couple of weeks ago, on 9 April. Its magnitude was then -1.5. Jupiter is still a bit brighter, at around -2.1