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.
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.
posted by Lee | 11:05 PM
5 Comments:
Those "stripes" are called belts (dark, IIRC) and zones (light). And why was M13 invisible? It's a good naked-eye object, as I recall.
Those "stripes" are called belts (dark, IIRC) and zones (light). And why was M13 invisible. It's a good naked-eye object, as I remember.
Not sure why M13 was invisible - the students guiding us thought it should have been visible to the naked eye, too. But none of us including them could spot it without the telescope.
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