There are sky memes where beautiful cloud and sky photos are posted. There are some very talented photographers out there.
What I'm thinking about are the night skies and what we can see and enjoy.
We've had a week or two of very clear weather. I get up at 7:00 AM and usually take a look out the window. I noticed a very bright object in the southeast sky. It was obviously a planet as it didn't twinkle. finally I used my sky watch app to see what was out there. It turned out to be Venus. A little higher up and to the right is Mars. I could see these from my window. In line with Venus and Mars is Jupiter, but you have to go outside to see Jupiter because it's further west and maybe is northwest. .
So if you have some clear mornings take a look at the sky. These planets rise around 3 or 4 AM. They set sometime in mid afternoon or early evening. You can check for times if you check a chart. You may see Venus again at sunset.
This week there is a meteor shower that I'm looking forward to. The Gemini's meteor shower will happen this weekend. Look in the eastern sky. The peak will be Dec. 13-14 night. You should see meteors Dec. 12-15. Now most of the activity will be after midnight? If it's clear, I'll be up.
As for meteors there's one I'll never forget. Half a dozen of us were in the farmyard in the middle of a very bright Sunday afternoon. In the north west sky there was a brilliant flash and a trail of smoke. All of us were startled. Being very young at the time we did not think of a meteor in the daytime. It was a mystery until later newscasts reported the meteor and the flash was explained.
By the way , there are many free apps for looking in the night sky. These apps tell you what you're looking at.
So do you watch night skies?
The other night when I went out for my walk I found my 12 year old neighbor, Kenny, standing on the sidewalk with her dog. She was supposed to be walking her dog. Instead she was standing two doors from her house and looking up in the sky. I asked her what she was doing. (Dumb question.) She was obviously looking at the stars and she told me she liked stars.
It was one of the clearest evenings we've had for a long time. She told me, "That's Orion over there." I said, "No way! Orion is in the southeast." Kenny bought her ipad out of her pocket and started fiddling around. Then she said, I have an app to show me Orion. Kenny pointed her ipad skyward and all the stars, constellations and planets were named as she pointed at them. I was completely blown away. I am familiar with star maps and charts ,but never imagined these things would be refined into a computer map. Papers used to have star charts once a week and maybe some papers still do.
So we forgot the dog. I forgot my walk and we looked at stars. It was clear so we'd point and say, "I wonder what that one is?" In a second or two the app would give us a name. Jupiter is now very bright almost above us and to the south. Take out your field glasses and have look.
So half an hour goes by in a hurry when you're star gazing. I think the app is called Star Rover and it's free.
Kenny is one of he best twelve year old neighbors you could have. She's a "yakker" and she knows how to talk to adults, even old ones. So had a few pluses in a short time...star gazing, visiting and being outdoors.
