I was out sitting on my back porch at dusk and later this evening,
listening and scanning for Common Nighthawks, which have just been arriving
in Oregon over the last week or so. I have an average of <1 nighthawks per
year at our place.
Anyway, no nighthawks tonight, but I noticed some planets in the western
sky (the big "stars" that come out before the others), and took a look at
them with my spotting scope, then looked up what they were. The largest,
brightest one, lowest in the western sky is Venus (just about out of view
now as I type). Next, up and to the left was Jupiter, with 4 moons that can
be seen as little tiny points of light with a spotting scope. Then, to the
southeast, harder to pick out among the bright stars in the SE sky, is
Saturn. I was amazed to be able to see the "globe" and the "ring" of
Saturn, both shining brightly, but distinct in my spotting scope.
I just wanted to bring to your attention to some neat things in the sky:
potential birds, and amazing planets.
I'll keep my bedroom window open in case a nighthawk flies over the house
calling.
Matt
