Cassiopeia

As I was walking home in the wee hours this morning, I noticed quite a few stars out. Turned around, trying to pinpoint a location, and managed to make out Cassiopeia. Yeah, yeah, big whoop, Cassiopeia. Only, I haven't seen this particular constellation since Oregon, from my window or the balcony, and it just made me smile to see it. Oh, some planet too. Probably Jupiter. You can always bloody see Jupiter. Although apparently Venus, Neptune, and Mars are visible now as well. Whatever the planet, it was directly across from Cassiopeia, and looked slightly doubled, which would make sense since Jupiter's basically on top of Neptune right now. Not that I consult astronomy charts or anything.

I get high from the sky

Kitten highs and sky highs. That's what it's all about. And other highs, and butterflies.



I start to rhyme when I have a good time.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

The sky! The sky! Oh my word, the sky! The clouds parted for a brief spell today, brief spells, rather, and in the evening the sky was just absolutely breath-taking. Stars and stars, as far as the eye could see, and full constellations, not this bit of that and smidge of this, but full ones. All of Ophiuchus, all of Scorpius and Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Eagle, Ursa Major, Pegasus, Andromeda, and so on, and on and on. Lightning in the distance, lightning to the left and to the right, and now the rains are back on top of us again and the sky is hidden once more beneath a thick atmospheric blanket.

The sky is the cherry of this trip. It is wonderful to see Josine and Cees again, and I look forward to seeing John as well. I really love Josine and Cees, I just wish I spoke Dutch. But that's my guilt-complex talking, and that I feel guilty that they have to speak English around me. Of course learning Dutch is something I greatly want to do, and have wanted to do, and will want to do until it is done, but for now I shall converse with my Dutch family in English.

ps. Santa Fe's as cute as a button.

Skywatching II

I went out last night again, but instead of darting amongst the sprinklers in the parks, hoping that assholish L.O. cops wouldn't yell at me for being there past closing time, I drove the opposite way and just parked the car off of Bergis. What better area than the patch of farmland we've got in town? I'm sure I looked like a crazy stalker, with my foot long telephoto lens and tripod, crouching in the grass on my hands and knees on the side of the road. Well, unfortunately the telephoto didn't work out, too heavy for my crappy tripod, but I fiddled around with my little digital and I think I might have gotten the quality a smidge better and steadier.

Jupiter in Sagittarius:

If you enlarge the second one, you'll see two little dots on the sides of Jupiter, which I believe to be two of Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa:


Scorpius, Ophiuchus, and Libra at 15-second exposure:

" at 60-second exposure:

Skywatching

Recently a bright star has been seen in the southeastern part of the sky, but in my opinion too bright to be a star. After checking my star chart or whatever it is, and attempting to draw the constellation so I might figure out what I was looking at, and failing by these simple means, I decided to grab my camera and a tripod, and head down to the park. I took photos of Ursa Major, Draconus, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, and of course, the bright dot in the sky that had to be a planet. The tripod sucked. It's small, and wobbly, and only one photo of those that I shot of the planet worked out. But the last one did, and once I did some research it became pretty clear that it was Jupiter in Sagittarius.