Once again, we’re treated to quite the celestial treat tonight! The ISS will once again fly over at 8:59, from southwest to northeast. The space station will get about 45 degrees up in the sky, so not as good as last night’s view, but not a bad view! It will be visible for about six minutes.
Then, there’s the comet. I got out at 4:00 this morning and could almost see it with my naked eye in the northeast sky. Try it some morning if you’re up. Venus at that time of day almost looks like a spotlight in the eastern sky and the moon is absolutely stunning. It’s all worth getting up for….trust me! Since you’re already up, just go ahead and get your morning run in! haha Wait, maybe that’s just me. lol
For this evening, look just to the right of where the sun goes down, about 80 minutes after sunset. It seems like it was about 9:30 when I saw it last night. Use binoculars to find it. I use the binoculars to find it and then the telescope to zoom in. Look just above the horizon. It sinks below the horizon by 10:30 (maybe earlier), so your window of opportunity is rather narrow. As we go through the month, the comet will get higher and hopefully easier to see. Don’t forget to let your eyes adjust to the darkness for at least five minutes.
Hey, if nothing else, just look at all those stars! Jupiter shines bright in the east and you can’t miss it. You may even spy Jupiter kinda tagging along to the east a bit (looks like a faint star). We’re so lucky to have such clear skies, thanks to the front that came through Sunday and swept the humidity away…..for now.
So, I’m all set up and I brought along my celestial buddy Mr. Comet! The kids will recognize him from my school and group talks. He’s pretty excited about seeing his cousin this evening! LOL
Once I get this telescope all figured out we’ll have a Master Science class for kids on telescopes and star gazing!
Happy Stargazing!
