Stargazing

Last night we went to see the stars at Leasburg Dam State Park, about 15 miles north of Las Cruces near Radium Springs. The Sky Safari consisted of two New Mexico State University (NMSU) graduate students setting up an 8" telescope to view various stars and planets.

As the sky darkened, we were treated to a wonderful display. Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were all in the sky and visible to the naked eye. In the telescope, more details were visible - the rings of Saturn, stripes and other features on Jupiter. The second starMizar, in the Big Dipper has another star next to it, visible to the naked eye. In the telescope, another star in the system with Mizar became visible. One of the oldest star clusters in the universe, M13 was invisible to the naked eye but a beautiful cloud in the telegraph.

The students guided us through various constellations in the Zodiac and the rest of the sky and walked us through descriptions of each of the planets in the Solar System.

We learned a lot of astronomy. Sitting under the stars is always inspiring and getting to do so in a place without a lot of light around was truly wonderful. I'm looking forward to getting into our new house which is in an area with no streetlights and few house around to be able to go out every night to see the stars this way.

Speaking of intense...

I haven't posted since April, which could lead one to wonder if my inbox cleanup had done any good to free up time to do other things! The answer it that it freed up some time but I filled up the time saved and a whole bunch more.

To make a long story short, we decided early this year that it was time to sell our house in Colorado Springs. It was a dream come true to live in one of the old Victorian houses in the Old North End.

Having made that decision, the question of where to move surfaces immediately. We had talked about various places to move at various times. One of those places was Las Cruces, New Mexico, where my parents have lived for the last 20 years.

This is the beginning of our third week in New Mexico. We are now in a furnished rental house with the expectation that we will close on our permanent house at the end of the month. All our stuff is in storage at the movers. We brought our computers, some clothes, our wine and our bikes.

Comcast came and installed cable and high speed internet connectivity on Memorial Day. The Tivo box is up and running and so is our wireless network. So we are back at work and play.

More to follow. The last few weeks have been incredibly busy, so I'll post some entries about the excitement of getting the houses ready to sell and all the moving. Things will not really settle down until late summer but I'll try to post regularly so I get caught up on the move and keep up with all the new things happening in New Mexico.