January 2018 - Post Observations Here

[michel-leblanc]

Got up around 4:30 am, looked at eastern sky to see Jupiter and Mars in close conjunction. Clear sky in that direction from North Houston. Beautiful sight. Visual observation only. Separation definitely less than width of the moon. Wish I had the energy to go out with the telescope but, no, just went back to bed. Glad to have seen it, though.

[steve-fung]

Almost gave up early Sunday morning and started packing when I noticed clouds starting to break up around sunrise. Then, it was a rushed scramble re-assembling my mount, telescope, and camera setup. This was taken using C9.25 SCT (2350 mm fl), Nikon D800, prime setup on Jan 7, 2018 at 7:37 AM CST.

[rene-gedaly]

Whoa, Steve! N-eye-ice!

[rene-gedaly]

6:45 AM 1/12/2018 Woodlands. Nice grouping of Moon, Jupiter, Mars and Antares, even in twilight. Looking thru the trees for Mercury and Saturn but no go. Will catch these in coming days but beautiful weather so switching to night time at the dark site.

[michel-leblanc]

Jan 14. 6:20 am. Home/backyard. Seeing: VG. Transparency: 3. Equipment: Binoculars (Celestron Pro 8x56). Nice view of Jupiter, Mars, Crescent moon, Saturn, and Mercury, all lined up on the ecliptic except for the moon offset towards the north. Very nice. Mercury definitely brighter than Saturn. Moon at 125 deg azimuth. About 7 deg delta between Jupiter and Saturn. About 2 deg between Saturn and Mercury.

Later, 7:30, confirmed direction of sunrise, 118 deg E. (116 E magnetic). Sun was already about 4 deg above horizon.

[rene-gedaly]

15 Jan 2018 at ~ 6:10 am. Beautiful equilateral triangle of Jupiter, Zuben Elgenubi and Zuben Elschemali int the southeast, constellation Libra. Mars "further down,'" in the ENE, the head of the scorpion and orange Antares pushing them up. Soon I may see Saturn and Mercury in between the neighbors trees across a little bayou. And the moon.

From my backyard I see objects rise in the east with a good swathe of sky on either side of the meridian. Can see Big Dipper asterism arcing to Arcturus in Bootes, spiking to Spica in Virgo, and curving to Corvus. And then of course those beautiful planets.

[rene-gedaly]

Snow in Greater Houston again. Great observing for larks early Wed 17 Jan 2018. Hope to get in an hour observing time from 5 a.m but I'll settle for catching the ISS in the NW at 6:03 AM reaching a height of 88° and disappearing in the SE three minutes later. Magnitude -3.5.

Update 6:42 AM 1/17/2018: Don't recall an ISS sighting ever so brilliant. As it came over the trees, it looked like a plane but moved too quickly, fluidly. I beat it to the clearing in the backyard and had time to look at the planets and "summer" constellations. Then overhead I saw another Jupiter! It appeared brighter and in orbit to fly by the first one just to the east. The best sighting I've experienced, the morning of two Jupiters, another Jupiter flyby.

ISStimes.PNG

[rene-gedaly]

9:30 PM 1/24/2018 We just came inside from viewing the 1st quarter moon and Ray asked if anyone had ever explained why we call what looks like a fully illuminated moon a full moon but a half-lit moon a quarter moon. In fact, the 2018 Observer's Handbook does just that, which is why I copied it in my plans. Maybe I don't read enough because it's the first time I recall reading the explanation myself:

The term quarter moon refers not to its appearance, but the fact that our natural satellite has now completed the first quarter of its orbit around Earth since the last new moon.

[rene-gedaly]

6:33 PM 1/30/2018 Lunar Eclipse. Cloudy skies forecast for Montgomery County so running to the coast where it's forecast clear all night. Will catch Ceres cross meridian around 1 am (before, too). Good luck everyone!

[rene-gedaly]

6:33 PM 1/30/2018 Lunar Eclipse. Cloudy skies forecast for Montgomery County so running to the coast where it's forecast clear all night. Will catch Ceres cross meridian around 1 am (before, too). Good luck everyone!

Napped too long, didn't run to coast, did see partial thru trees, did not see totality. Met neighbors who did take pictures of partial. Neighborhood park is in fair location to set up planet viewing this coming spring, summer.