Sunday, September 8, 2013

Starry Night

Under the shadow of beautiful crescent moon and numerous stars by the lake Jordan ,surrounded by just darkness !! It was a perfect night and place for star watching. Morehead Planet and Science center organizes monthly sky watching sessions for public and yesterday we took advantage of it by going with some friends. It wasn't the first trip for Anurag and Avi so they took the lead to explain what to expect. We collected our star sheet from a volunteer and Anurag held it above our heads and threw the flashlight covered with a red balloon (for avoiding the glare ) to find our direction and then look for the star constellations. We had a great time looking for the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Sagittarius, Scorpion and  Pegasus. Everyone admired the amazing telescopic views of Saturn, Venus, star clusters ( nebulae)and of course, the Moon, There was an informal tour of the constellations with a Morehead educator, about constellation myths and legends, and experienced observers were available to answer any questions about astronomy. My favorite view was of Saturn ring and the craters on Moon. Avi told me that his favorite still remained watching the storm on Jupiter in his last visit of star gazing. After we had our fill of telescopic views of the planets, we sat down on the bench by the park and savored the sky and its milky ways. A great way to end the weekend !

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