Dead North and low, Mr.P? I think those are stars..Have a look at this Put in your co -ordinates and ...well, it's pretty fab It's great for checking just before a pre-dawn or night run so you 'know' what you're seeing out there. The Orion constellation for me, as I head westwards..
It's the best system I've found..because it's not all charts and diagrams.It shows the earth and the horizon and, once you've put your co-ordinates in, you just have to orientate yourself and look up. You can use the constellation overlays etc...but I still can't 'see ' those animals. the ' fast forward' lets you plan runs towards the planets. They're usually easy to spot.
The brighter one is Venus and the other to the northwest of it (for now) is Jupiter. You'll notice they are getting closer together each night. Meanwhile over the other side of the sky Mars is visible, reddish, and in the area of the moon at the moment.
Wow. Check this out - all five naked-eye planets are visible in the evening sky at the moment. Including Mercury which a lot of people haven't seen before.
Son and I were admiring them on the drive home tonight. The sky is definitely bigger and brighter tonight, and quite stunning. And just as we approached the undulating, narrow road to home the biggest, darkest, blackest cloud I've ever seen swallowed the light of the near touchable full moon as if Mr R Scott himself had drawn the curtain. Amazing and inspiring.
Now......
Do I really want to move to a proper Sticksville house, lovely as it is, that is a longer commute, entails more taxi journeys, is a snow/flood-in spot and that, on paper, is entirely impractical but means I could live in the middle of nowhere, in a quite beautiful valley, with running, walking and road/MTB routes on my doorstep and will allow me to have the chickens that I want and allow me to indulge in a little bit of dog ownership?
GAH! Goddam perfect house in the middle of nowhere!
Mr. Puffy, are you sure you were looking north? As T Rex says, the planets are really bright at the moment. But they're west-south/west... No rain, here, today so things are looking good for tonight...
if any of you have an iPad, get an app called StarChart (£1.99) - you can then go outside and line it up on what you see and it will tell you what you are looking at (and all the surrounding stuff). as it uses your GPS location it updates as needed so it's correct all year.
it's effing brilliant! there are other similar ones around but StarChart tends to be the most highly rated
gfb - it works on iPhone as well but the bigger screen of an iPad makes it more suitable as you get a better resolution and coverage.
it shows the constellation charts as well which always make me think if someone was pissed when they decided a collection of stars looks like, say, a winged horse (Pegasus)
Glad someone asked that, as I had been wondering. My little boy pointed to the brighter one and said that's grandad, and the other is our dog that became a star last year. That really made shed a little tear.
Wow. Check this out - all five naked-eye planets are visible in the evening sky at the moment. Including Mercury which a lot of people haven't seen before.
Right it's a lot clearer tonight, Mars is very clear and very red over the back garden and Venus and Jupiter looking a little further away than last night. Saturn is there but I can't idientify Mercury.
Comments
That's them...just waiting for it to download...
It's the best system I've found..because it's not all charts and diagrams.It shows the earth and the horizon and, once you've put your co-ordinates in, you just have to orientate yourself and look up. You can use the constellation overlays etc...but I still can't 'see ' those animals. the ' fast forward' lets you plan runs towards the planets. They're usually easy to spot.
Err, stargazing apart, how are you?
It's clouded over here now so I can't see but it's quite fascinating, I'll try tomorrow.
We're both very well thank you, off to Paris in couple of weeks. I'll drop you a line
The brighter one is Venus and the other to the northwest of it (for now) is Jupiter. You'll notice they are getting closer together each night. Meanwhile over the other side of the sky Mars is visible, reddish, and in the area of the moon at the moment.
Enjoy your night runs.
Wow. Check this out - all five naked-eye planets are visible in the evening sky at the moment. Including Mercury which a lot of people haven't seen before.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury
Yes I saw them while out doing laps. I assumed they were Orions Belt.
The full Moon was impressive as well, sky was clear, lots of runners out.
Including one lady with rather nice shorts and an impressive pace on her.
...what?...what did I say...she was fast and had nice shorts...nothing wrong in that
Running is a lonely pursuit, nice shorts can brighten up an evenings training ......
Son and I were admiring them on the drive home tonight. The sky is definitely bigger and brighter tonight, and quite stunning. And just as we approached the undulating, narrow road to home the biggest, darkest, blackest cloud I've ever seen swallowed the light of the near touchable full moon as if Mr R Scott himself had drawn the curtain. Amazing and inspiring.
Now......
Do I really want to move to a proper Sticksville house, lovely as it is, that is a longer commute, entails more taxi journeys, is a snow/flood-in spot and that, on paper, is entirely impractical but means I could live in the middle of nowhere, in a quite beautiful valley, with running, walking and road/MTB routes on my doorstep and will allow me to have the chickens that I want and allow me to indulge in a little bit of dog ownership?
GAH! Goddam perfect house in the middle of nowhere!
it's effing brilliant! there are other similar ones around but StarChart tends to be the most highly rated
it shows the constellation charts as well which always make me think if someone was pissed when they decided a collection of stars looks like, say, a winged horse (Pegasus)
Venus and Jupiter are really close these days. You can see some of Jupiter's moons with a pair of binoculars. The trick is keeping them still.
Uranus was apparently visible last month too but I couldn't find it - I think you need either a telescope or better binocs than I've got.
sorry about that - I obviously wasn't bending over far enough....
Thanks for the link T Rex.
Some odd comments at the bottom though!
LOL! Potty mouth.
Does anyone remember the *Bumhole* sketch on Spitting Image? I still laugh when I think about it...
Right it's a lot clearer tonight, Mars is very clear and very red over the back garden and Venus and Jupiter looking a little further away than last night. Saturn is there but I can't idientify Mercury.