[AZ-Observing] Conjunction tonight and other coincidences

I had good luck viewing the planets tonight.

The first success was in the airplane from Phoenix to Colorado Springs.
The sun went down about 10 minutes before we descended into the clouds
of CS. I could view Venus with naked eyes out the window, but couldn't
angle my 11x30 binoculars out the window and get my head behind the
eyepiece in the cramped seats of the AmWest plane. Luck had it that
right before it went under the clouds, it made a turn to the north and I
could then kneel on the floor and get a good view out the window with
the 11x80s.

Fortunately, the stewardess didn't have me interrogated for odd
behavior. In addition, it was probably a wise choice on my part to
refrain from seeing what the laser pointer could do through an airplane
window. (-;

After I landed, I lucked out again because a band of clearing appeared
just in time to get a land based view in the Car Rental Parking lot.

Later on at the hotel I happened to meet an Intel colleague checking in.
He had never seen Jupiter before through an eyepiece so I had to get the
binos out and hold a mini star party because again the break in the
clouds was at a good spot.=20

The hotel desk clerk said he had some amazing views of Jupiter earlier
tonight through his brother's Dob. The interesting part was that his 9yr
old nephew was already an Astro fanatic. In addition, he already had all
of the president's memorized (his favorite was Reagan), and was just
loading up on "grown up" facts instead of memorizing all of the latest
video game skills, Yugio Cards, Pikachu characters, etc. Should be
interesting to see what happens.

What a night!
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.

Other related posts: