Blogs

Report - 07/18/2009

Tonight, after returning from watching a movie in the city, I decided to brave the mosquitoes and spend some time outside under the stars.  Completely naked eye, without telescope or binoculars, I got my lawn chair from my car, and plunked myself down on my obseving deck and looked up.   I spent roughly 11:45pm thru 1:00am under the stars.

The Milky Way was completely visible, but what really caught my eye was jupiter, rising in the south-east.  I probalby should have brought my binoculars, but I enjoyed what I could. 

I took in the views of the 'Teapot' in Sagittarius, Aquila, Lyra and Cygnus.  Pegasus was rising in the east, and I could just make out the Andromeda Galaxy as a faint fuzzy.  I also short while looking at the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper and tracing out Draco.  Bootes was visible in the west and by the end of my session, was starting to sink below the treeline, as was the 'Teapot'.

I also saw 4 or 5 meteors streaking though the sky (at various locations), and saw about the same number of satellites, all following a north-to-south pattern, between Lyra and Cygnus.  I believe one of them might have been an Iridium, since it 'brightened' dramatically 3 or 4 times as it travelled southward.  In cases, I lost the satellite as it entered the Milky Way.