I have been using my birding scope to watch the planets for awhile. It is
amazing to me to see the rings of saturn and the moons of Jupiter. You can
often see the crescent
shape of Venus as well. Fun for the kids!
Thanks for a wonderful OBA meeting. I had a lot of fun, unfortunately heat and
allergies knocked me out of the game by Sunday.
Was planning to have Liz show me all the good raptor nests. Sorry Liz, hope you
had fun.
Mark
________________________________________
From: umpquabirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [umpquabirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Matthew G Hunter [matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2015 1:48 AM
To: ub
Subject: [Umpqua Birds] Night-Hawking
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
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