Fyi

[berettabone]

For all who haven't heard, we will be visited this year by the "star of Bethlehem". December 21st. This hasn't happened since the Middle Ages. Supposed to happen again 60 years from now. Hopefully, we have clear skies that week I know this will be MY only time to see it................................................ ........................................

[Bobshouse]

Thanks for the heads up!!

[JohnR]

Saturn/Jupiter conjunction. I saw it Saturday night through my spotting scope, and they're pretty close but not close enough to be mistaken for a divine signal. I hope to see them on the 21st, just because.

I could clearly see Saturn's rings and four of Jupiter's moons. I'm one of those geeks who gets all giddy seeing things like that.

[AJBert]

Seems like a perfect way to end this year.

[Armybrat]

Saturn/Jupiter conjunction. I saw it Saturday night through my spotting scope, and they're pretty close but not close enough to be mistaken for a divine signal. I hope to see them on the 21st, just because.

I could clearly see Saturn's rings and four of Jupiter's moons. I'm one of those geeks who gets all giddy seeing things like that.

Years ago I gave my 60 year old (now a classic collectable) Unitron refractor telescope to one of my sons, so haven’t seen them in decades. (Pic below shows it set up for viewing a solar eclipse a couple of years ago)

[berettabone]

I have a friend who has a Meade LX200, and I've seen some pretty amazing stuff through his scope. I have to say the best thing I've seen is Saturn when it's tipped up on it's side. It's the best view angle because you see all of the rings. I've been to the Hobbs Observatory in Fall Creek, Wi a few times. It's one of only a few designated dark areas in the state. They have a 24" telescope in a computer controlled dome house and a 14" Meade. On Saturday nights from May to October, you can go and look through the scopes for free. They also have an area where like minded people come from all over and set up their own equipment and allow others to view through their scopes. All different types and sizes. I was there on a night where there were about 20 scopes set up by different people and I looked through them all. Figured it was the least I could do after the time they had spent. That night happened to be a pretty good night to view Jupiter. It's so dark that they all need to have some type of red light on their equipment so people can find their way to the scope/owner without running in to something. Regular lights are not allowed, so red lights work well. Once you get out of the car and the headlights go off in the parking lot, it's unbelieveably dark. No red light and you could end up on your keaster, or someone else's......................................

[Armybrat]

Those Meades are the gold standard for amateur astronomers. Refractors like my old Unitron are as obsolete as a rotary dial phone.

[JohnR]

I keep wanting to get a nice Dobsonian, but I know it won’t end there.

[getsome]

I have always been fascinated with astronomy and study of the heavens...The one time I was able to take a good look at the stars was on a cruse ship vacation and in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico at night it's about as dark as you can get and on the upper deck of the ship they had a nice telescope set up and I remember being blown away and staying up there for hours, I was amazed because living in the city you can hardly see the stars at all from all the surrounding light at night......Being on the open ocean at first made me think about how big the earth and the sea is but when you look out at the heavens it makes you realize just how incredibly small we really are and how infinitely enormous our God the creator of all things is...

[wyntrout]

I am always disappointed that my pictures of the moon are just blobs... my first digital camera, my present one, and all of my phones always present the moon as a blob with no definition.

I like seeing the stars and wish that I had gotten a telescope that would let me take pictures through it.

While I was in Germany, on one of my trips to Munich and the museum there, I visited the planetarium and watched the show... I guess. I woke up as the show ended and everyone was getting up to leave.

When we have clear skies I always look up and find some of my favorites. I've never really used a telescope. Some of the most awesome skies at night were on a mountain road in Colorado when we pulled off the road for a nap before continuing to my wife's folks home in SW Colorado east of Durango in the winter. There are NO city lights or even a hint in any direction. The entire Milky Way is visible and the stars are just overwhelming!

Though I used the stars for navigation in the USAF, I'm not that familiar with most and don't remember where they are. But, I can always find my favorite, the Pleiades, when I can see the Belt of Orion. I can find the North Star, Polaris, too, with or without Cassiopeia(the "W") or the Big Dipper being easily seen. It's kind of funny that the Pleiades are the stars on the Subaru emblem! I never knew that until after we got our Forester over 2 years ago!

Unfortunately, we have tall trees to the west of us and in my backyard, so it's hard to see anything to the West. The street lights out front don't help, either.

I've always liked astronomy, space, and science fiction books.

I'm really bummed tonight with the death of BG Charles Yeager. I really cried.