Tonight was a great night and brought back memories from almost a year ago. I looked out the window and saw two bright stars low on the horizon. I checked Sky Safari Plus, and sure enough, it was Jupiter and Aldebaran. When I got home I went out at 10:00pm. Conditions weren’t great; the almost full moon lit up the sky, Jupiter was still low in the sky, and seeing was poor. However, I got a look at Jupiter for the first time on over 9 months. I clearly saw Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. Europa was behind Jupiter at the time I was observing. The Pleiades were above Jupiter, and they looked good in my 21mm Baader Hyperion. I spent some time looking at the 93% Waxing Gibbous moon. I put in my moon filter which blocks some of the light, it helped a little. I need a high powered eyepiece to observe close up, as my highest power is only 150x right now. I put in my blue filter just for fun, experiencing a “blue moon.” I spent the rest of my time getting some wide field images of Jupiter, Aldebaran, and the Pleiades. I’m really looking forward to winter and I’m getting ready for Orion and the other familiar constellations appear. This is the last part of the sky I have not observed, but I’m still excited for winter; and the long, dark nights. In the meantime I ordered SkyandTelescope’s Pocket Atlas. Pictures taken by me.
15 sec., ISO 200.
