By the Light of the Moon

After dark, our float cabin deck becomes an astronomical observatory. On clear nights, Wayne sets up his Meade 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope for nocturnal sky and star gazing. Winter nights are the longest, but often cloudy. Summer nights are clear, but short.

Last night we were also battling the moon's bright glow. The moon is an interesting object to explore, so we took advantage of the early evening hours to gaze at the craters and get some pictures with my digital camera. It isn't very sophisticated, a Canon PowerShot A710IS, but I was able to get a few good pictures through the telescope's lens.

After our moon shots, we headed off to bed. To get the darkest possible sky, we set the alarm for 1:00 a.m. There would be a very short window of time after the setting of the moon in the west and the rising of the sun in the east. Typically, Wayne gets up alone for these late night/early morning observations, but last night I joined him to try and get some pictures of Jupiter. My planet shots weren't as successful as my moon pictures, but I'm pleased I was able to get anything.

Then, it was off to bed for me, but the astronomer in the family stayed up for up for some extended personal time at the scope. -- Margy