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Dean and I are planning on Eagle Bluff tonight, sky?s are supposed to be clear by 6/7 and moonrise is after midnight. It won?t be a long night but at least it?s something that?s safe these days.
That sounds good. I was thinking of heading out tonight and Eagle Bluff sounds like a good idea. Probably see you there.
JeffFor anyone thinking of observing closer to Rochester, I was out and looked at Root River park and Keller WMA today. Root River looks to be a little better. Keller is somewhat wet, so you will get some muddy clay on you to take home. Root River will also have some of the wet clay, but you can set up in the grass and avoid the wet dirt.
Root River does have a Road Closed sign at the beginning. Not sure how closed it is. There are some ruts in the road, not a big as the ones when we started going out there early last year. There was the closed sign there, but there was a car heading in when I got there, so I went ahead and followed it. When I got to the parking lot, I was the 9th car there! Most cars I've ever seen there, I think. 🙂 So much for road closed. Anyway, road closed so go in at your own risk. Maybe they have taken the sign down. 🙂
JeffIt was a nice night out at Eagle Bluff on Saturday. Early on some high thin clouds came through, but then it cleared up it was a great night. There was 3 of us out there, Dean, Ellenvega (Barb), and me. Barb did most of the heavy lifting finding whatever Dean wanted to take a look at. We left pretty earlier, left a little after 11PM. Another great night for astronomy!
We are thinking of trying to do a Messier Marathon at Eagle Bluff on this coming Saturday. Stay tuned for that. With all of the Covid-19 stuff going on, may be hard to say.
I was out with the binoculars last night and took a look at Venus and the Pleiades. They are close together now. Venus was in the bottom of the field of view and the Pleiades was in the top of the field. Tomorrow, Friday the 3rd, Venus will be in the Pleiades itself. I'm not sure if we will be able to see it here or not, be raining/snowing, not nice tomorrow. Here is a link to their locations: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200402.html
If you can, get out and have a look it's pretty neat, doesn't happen often. They'll still be close over the weekend.
JeffLooks like we may have a shot of seeing Venus in the Pleiades tonight. Venus doesn't set until after 11:30 tonight. It may start to clear up by 9:00 or so and perhaps clear by 10pm, I hope. 🙂 Venus will be pretty low by then. Have to keep and eye on things and hope it the clouds and snow go through quickly.
JeffWell, never did clear up last night. Stayed up till 11 and just clouds, couldn't even see any hint of the moon.
Tonight looks good. I'll get binocs and a scope out there to have a look at Venus and the Pleiades. Venus should be a bit above the Pleiades tonight after being in them last night.
I guess this happens every 8 years, so another shot at it in 2028. 🙂
JeffLuka, did you take a look on Saturday or Sunday? Saturday was great. Used some binoculars and a telescope. Venus and the Pleiades were easily in the same field with the binos and also in the same field of view in the scope. I had 15×70 binos and a 4 inch refractor with a 30mm 82 degree eyepiece. It looked really nice. I also observed the moon for awhile.
On Sunday, I checked out Venus and the Pleiades again. I only used the binos then. They were still in the same field, Venus at that top left and Pleiades on the bottom right. Very similar to how they were placed last Wednesday except they changed positions.
Last night I was out looking at the super moon for awhile. Been quite awhile since I looked at a full moon up close. Really cool.
JeffDon't know if anyone will see this, not sure how long it lasts, but the Lunar X/Purbach Cross is out and shining brightly right now. Also, there is a Lunar V showing up as well.
JeffThe Lunar X and V are pretty neat. First time I finally got around to looking at it. I've always wondered how easy it was to see and it shows up nice and clear. Using my 100mm refractor. I was at at 36x to start and real easy to see the Lunar X. So it wouldn't take much to see it. It should happen every month, but the timing my not be good. Could be during the day or middle of the night. This was really nice, early in the evening. 🙂
JeffForgot to mention, also took a look at Venus. Been awhile since I really looked at it. It really looks good now as well. A nice defined crescent. Too bad we didn't have the outreach this weekend. We could probably really fool someone into thinking it is the moon. 🙂 At least I don't think we have an outreach, assume it is canceled.
Jeff
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