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rootofnewtTonight, we decided to look up.
I saw that an Iridium flare was predicted for shortly after 6pm. It was predicted to be about a -3 here, but the flare track center, where the flare would be brightest, was only 10 miles east.
We drove about 10 miles east or so (actually, we drove further, then doubled back) and furtively pulled well into Western Albemarle High School's parking lot. From there, we waited, admired Venus and the Moon (gorgeous earthshine!) and waited for a -7 flare off of Iridium 59. It was worth driving out for. :) For reference, Venus was about at magnitude -3.4 tonight. ;)
We attempted to hit the BR Pkwy to find a nice overlook to watch the Moon and Venus set, but were thwarted by the closed gates (ice). So we drove around and eventually stopped at the overlook on I-64E so boy could play. I pulled out the binocs, but before I could look at anything, I made boy get out of the car and watch Cosmos 1484 (mag 3.4) speed overhead from South to North (more or less). I played around, spotting star clusters in and around Taurus, looked at the moon a bit, and said hello to the coat-hanger asterism. Mars and Saturn made their greetings as well. I also scanned the sky around Aquarius and Capricorn and likely saw Uranus, but I didn't have a star chart to compare to and I don't know that area of the sky well enough to spot anything out of place, especially something at mag 5.9, which is about the limit of my eyesight in relatively dark skies. Neptune is around mag 8, which wouldn't be visible due to light pollution around there.
Boy and I did some stealthy recording for an as-yet-secret project while we were out there.
Came home, drove by the lights over off of Route 20 on the south side of town, drove near home, then realized that the Moon was just barely visible, so we headed off to Pantops to see if we could watch the last tips set. We managed to see two red tips of that crescent slowly sink below the horizon. Quite cool. Boy also enjoyed the view of Cville from the "mountain". We drove around the shopping center so I could show him more when we saw that Blockbuster was open. We decided to use the giftcards we were given (we rarely rent from BB, simply because we like our local shop better) and bought three DVDs: Hedwig, Casablanca, and Labyrinth.
I jokingly told boy that had the Iridium flare been in the East rather than the South, I'd have said "Behold, a Child is Born!" He told me that he would've found it funny anyhow and wouldn't have realized the significance of direction. I love that boy. We both have attention for very different kinds of details.
We had fun in our warm car. We saw pretty skies and pretty holiday lights. We came home and I did dishes whiile waiting for the pasta water to boil, then I made the vodka sauce. I finished eating quickly and decided to post about the pretty sky.
I saw that an Iridium flare was predicted for shortly after 6pm. It was predicted to be about a -3 here, but the flare track center, where the flare would be brightest, was only 10 miles east.
We drove about 10 miles east or so (actually, we drove further, then doubled back) and furtively pulled well into Western Albemarle High School's parking lot. From there, we waited, admired Venus and the Moon (gorgeous earthshine!) and waited for a -7 flare off of Iridium 59. It was worth driving out for. :) For reference, Venus was about at magnitude -3.4 tonight. ;)
We attempted to hit the BR Pkwy to find a nice overlook to watch the Moon and Venus set, but were thwarted by the closed gates (ice). So we drove around and eventually stopped at the overlook on I-64E so boy could play. I pulled out the binocs, but before I could look at anything, I made boy get out of the car and watch Cosmos 1484 (mag 3.4) speed overhead from South to North (more or less). I played around, spotting star clusters in and around Taurus, looked at the moon a bit, and said hello to the coat-hanger asterism. Mars and Saturn made their greetings as well. I also scanned the sky around Aquarius and Capricorn and likely saw Uranus, but I didn't have a star chart to compare to and I don't know that area of the sky well enough to spot anything out of place, especially something at mag 5.9, which is about the limit of my eyesight in relatively dark skies. Neptune is around mag 8, which wouldn't be visible due to light pollution around there.
Boy and I did some stealthy recording for an as-yet-secret project while we were out there.
Came home, drove by the lights over off of Route 20 on the south side of town, drove near home, then realized that the Moon was just barely visible, so we headed off to Pantops to see if we could watch the last tips set. We managed to see two red tips of that crescent slowly sink below the horizon. Quite cool. Boy also enjoyed the view of Cville from the "mountain". We drove around the shopping center so I could show him more when we saw that Blockbuster was open. We decided to use the giftcards we were given (we rarely rent from BB, simply because we like our local shop better) and bought three DVDs: Hedwig, Casablanca, and Labyrinth.
I jokingly told boy that had the Iridium flare been in the East rather than the South, I'd have said "Behold, a Child is Born!" He told me that he would've found it funny anyhow and wouldn't have realized the significance of direction. I love that boy. We both have attention for very different kinds of details.
We had fun in our warm car. We saw pretty skies and pretty holiday lights. We came home and I did dishes whiile waiting for the pasta water to boil, then I made the vodka sauce. I finished eating quickly and decided to post about the pretty sky.
