Sunday, May 06, 2012

The mooning...

We took our telescope out last night (an 8" Dobsonian) to look at the "super moon" and the rest of the sky. You don't need a telescope to get a great view of the moon. It's so close to earth that binoculars work very well (arguably better) for looking at the moon. But I took some nice photos by holding my Canon Elph up against the telescope eyepiece. Here's the moon around 9:30 pm last night...




And look! It's Gordon the astronomer-boy with his trusty sidekick Tristan.


The moon didn't look especially huge once it was up in the sky, but it was really, really bright.

Later on, around 11:30 pm, I took some photos of the moon over our barn and granary...




We had some cloud cover last night but it wasn't too bad.


We also looked at...


... Saturn! The picture's pretty crappy, because I couldn't hold the camera still enough. With our telescope you can actually see the Cassini division between Saturn's rings when conditions are right.



And Venus was a beautiful crescent last night. Looks more like a blob here! If you didn't know, Venus has phases just like the moon. Venus will be making a transit (passing between earth and the sun, and appearing as a dark orb moving across the surface of the sun) on June 5-6.

We looked at Mars, too, but I didn't take a photo.

It was a lovely evening to be out looking at the sky. Not too cold, but cold enough that we weren't covered in blackflies! The frogs and toads were singing away, and later on the coyotes started howling, which was pretty eerie.

Hope you had clear skies last night. On another note, Emily the kitten decided to go into heat to celebrate the full moon. ARGH! We were planning on getting her spayed soon (at six months) but I guess she wasn't prepared to wait. She's an indoor cat but we'll be extra-careful not to let her get outside before her spay. More on this fiasco to follow!

Have a good Sunday.

23 comments:

  1. Wow beautiful pictures and yes the moon was very bright last night.

    Hugs
    Elna

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    1. Glad it wasn't cloudy where you are!

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  2. That's fun. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. My pleasure! We had a really nice time outside.

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  3. So jealous of your telescope!

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    1. It has been great! Made in China but you know, it's really good. We ordered it from Efston Science in Toronto:
      http://www.escience.ca/

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  4. So, didja see Uranus?

    C'mon, somebody had to ask!

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    1. HAHAHAHAHAH! You two kill me!

      That said, Emily is showing EVERYBODY her, uh, Uranus, these days...

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  5. Anonymous2:45 pm

    Gorgeous photos. I tried and got a shining light behind some clouds. Walked out late and it was dark dark -- moon was covered by a thick layer of storm clouds.

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    1. That's too bad the clouds rolled in, Janet. :(

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  6. Wasn't it gorgeous...we didn't get the telescope out..but could see quite clearly (no clouds here).
    Oh, there is nothing more pitiful than a cat in heat, we didn't wait six months for our girls....I guess it depends on the vet.
    Jane x

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    1. I htink really it's better to look at the moon with binocs than a telescope. It's almost too big in a telescope.

      EMily is wandering around right now wailing her head off.. it's absolutely pitiful. Spay appointment is next Monday!

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  7. Those photos are so precious. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed them, Claude.

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  8. Thanks for mooning me (never thought I would say that)! I was all set up, but the clouds were much too thick to know there even was a moon.

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    1. Hmmmm, wonder just how many hundreds of people I was mooning?! :)

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  9. I love these pics, Natalie! I've linked to them on my blog so I hope you see even more traffic. Thanks for sharing them!

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    1. Thanks for linking them, Steve!!

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  10. You had n awesome evening. Thanks for the description and photos. There was heavy overcast here last night. I will watch tonight.

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    1. Did you get to see the moon last night, Red?

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  11. Weren't you guys afraid of the wolfman in a super full moon night out there in the dark with the telescope? I wish you had a picture of the Mars too, so we could wave back at the marsians :)
    yeah, those kitties can go into heat as early as four months of age. How about some cute little kitten? Are there even any uncut dudes around?

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    1. Nahm but the howling coyotes were a little eerie!!

      Alas, there are no manly man cats in the house. Just eunuchs! (Sorry, to be clear, Gordon is not a eunuch. HAHAHAHA!)

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!