Question of the Day - Monday, March 6, 2023

[MoochNNoodles]

Sorry for the late question. I was staying off my laptop so I could avoid the distraction of coming on here.

This weekend I was really drained and had to push myself to go to a friend's birthday/housewarming bonfire. They bought a farmhouse thats about 150 years old! It needs work but it's still amazing! (And the husband is super handy.) Some things don't look original and of course the floors slope a bit. But it's still really neat to find an old farm house like that. It gave them a ton of room outside for their 4 kids and being out in the country; the night sky was gorgeous! I can't want to see it when all the mature landscaping wakes up this spring.

After touring the house we came outside to see 2 planets just shining brilliantly toward the sunset. It was stunning! I got a new phone a few months ago so I tried to take a picture. Much to my amazement my phone does a FAR better job at photographing the night sky than any other phone I've had. I couldn't get the moon; but my phone was automatically setting a longer exposure and catching stars I couldn't see with my naked eye. We need to bring my little ol telescope over sometime during the warmer months. I'm also in the country; but more closed in by trees and between 2 towns; so our view isn't quite as nice.

I've always loved astronomy; but on a basic hobby level. My kids and I spent a year studying astronomy in science. I probably enjoyed it more than they did. I used to subscribe to an ameature astronomy magazine that closed down. And I have my small telescope; but mostly I've loved stargazing and finding a few star by name and constellations. Since smartphones came about I've learned a lot more with an app that tells me whats in front of me. Before that I knew the basic easy ones and a few others but the star charts I had weren't as easy to use. Maybe someday I'll have the play money for one of those fancy guided telescopes that you tell it what you want to see and it helps you find it. Or maybe I'll get a proper camera and try my hand at some astrophotography.



Can you name constellations in the sky?

 

[Lari]

I can usually recognize Orion. If I'm lucky, I can figure out a dipper. But that's about it. We don't get good star viewing here.

 

[neely]

Maybe Gemini if I was concentrating and looking for it.

 

[DreamerRose]

Just a couple, Orion and the big dipper. Some of the planets stand out, but none of the big constellations. The North Star and Venus and sometimes Mars or Jupiter. Would love to see the Southern Cross, but it's only visible in the southern hemisphere. Our downunder friends will have to tell us about it.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Sorry for the late question. I was staying off my laptop so I could avoid the distraction of coming on here.

Scandalous!!

The only one I can name is the Southern Cross. I hardly see any others, there’s too much light pollution where I live.

 

[Margot Lane]

Bits & pieces like the others. But prefer not to think of them as constellations that serve our mystic whim, more as amazing, humbling, twinkling, far-away gaseous bodies, about which we learn more & more all the time.

 

[mani]

Yes, like catloverfromwayback I can pretty well only pick out the Southern Cross. But a lot of that has to do with lack of knowledge.

I remember being right out in the middle of the Australian desert, South of Alice Springs. The night sky is absolutely stunning out there.. no pollution (and rarely any clouds). It was magical.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

These are a few of the pictures I got. I also got a couple nice ones of the stars over their house but that’s too identifiable for here.

Yes, like catloverfromwayback I can pretty well only pick out the Southern Cross. But a lot of that has to do with lack of knowledge.

I remember being right out in the middle of the Australian desert, South of Alice Springs. The night sky is absolutely stunning out there.. no pollution (and rarely any clouds). It was magical.

That sounds like an absolute dream!! Except for the critters you have down there of

 

[MonaLyssa33]

The Big Dipper is the only one I've ever been able to recognize.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Yes, like catloverfromwayback I can pretty well only pick out the Southern Cross. But a lot of that has to do with lack of knowledge.

I remember being right out in the middle of the Australian desert, South of Alice Springs. The night sky is absolutely stunning out there.. no pollution (and rarely any clouds). It was magical.

Definitely lack of knowledge even if I could see them, lol!

I’ve never seen our skies clearly. I did see the northern hemisphere stars once, from Yosemite National Park. Absolutely stunning.

 

[NY cat man]

Orion, Ursa Major and Minor, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Leo, the Northern Cross; those are the ones I can recognize most easily. On a clear, moonless night, I can also spot the faint band of light that is the edgewise view of the Milky Way. Out at sea, though, is where you could really see some stars.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

Only Orion and Ursa Major.

 

[Winchester]

When our son was young, we gave him a telescope for Christmas one year. And for many summers are that, he and were outside with the thing. I'd come home from working second-shift and he'd be in the back yard. "Mom! I'm out back! C'mon!" Or he'd put it out one of the bedroom windows. There were nights after I ate my dinner that we'd sit in the back yard and just look at the stars. We did a lot of star-gazing, and he knew the constellations, so yes, I can recognize several constellations.

Unfortunately, we have a lot of light pollution now. It's sad.

 

[misty8723]

I can always find orion. When I was growing up we were rural, there wasn't a lot of light polution, and I could see the orion, dippers, cassiopea, and of course the milky way. I bought a book once to try to identify the others, but was never very successful at it. I love the night sky, but it's so hard to see the stars anymore. When I was a kid, I thought being an astronomer would be an awesome profession.

 

[Lari]

Yes, like catloverfromwayback I can pretty well only pick out the Southern Cross. But a lot of that has to do with lack of knowledge.

I remember being right out in the middle of the Australian desert, South of Alice Springs. The night sky is absolutely stunning out there.. no pollution (and rarely any clouds). It was magical.

When I was in Antarctica and spent the night camping I woke up in the middle of the night and had never seen so many stars. It's amazing how much light pollution covers.

 

[strider rose]

ursa major, orion and big dipper

 

[maggiedemi]

Just Cassiopeia from astronomy class.