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It's been a long time!


stolenfeather

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January 16th, 2012

It has been nearly 2 months since I last gazed at the stars. As each night filled with clouds passed, a small part of me ached and succumbed to darkness. December sneaked by without revealing any sky splendours yet I rejoiced about being reunited with loved ones. My return to the north was one filled with many teaching responsibilities making stargazing difficult. That January night, the skies seemed to come out and embrace me as I brought out my telescope to acclimate to the cold.

Since this felt more like a reunion than mere exploration, I decided to gaze at sights I knew well but stirred strong emotions from the past. The first was Venus, the first planet I found and observed with my telescope a long time ago. Looking at this planet like it's first observers from earth did in antiquity, I marveled at its beauty. I resisted thinking about its hostile surface and tried to imagine exactly how early astronomers saw this planet. Aphrodite, Goddess of love and beauty,.. With time we now recognize it as something totally different. Mind you, does that translate to our view of love and beauty today? Can danger be beautiful? Is love, a state of mind and emotion, devoid of danger?

Tell me now,.. Does this look dangerous to you?

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With an atmospheric pressure 92 times more prevalent than earth's, an atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid,.. you should. Then again, we say that a sunset is beautiful as well but I wouldn't go strolling around on it's surface either. Love? We all know the perils yet we still venture forward. So Venus,... shine bright, your title is well deserving!

Jupiter was also shining brightly but was quite camera shy so I tried my luck with something that pushed the limits of my small point-and-shoot technology. It was with this picture of the Orion Nebula that I packed up my equipment and returned to the warmth of my living room. It just doesn't get any better than this:

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Isabelle

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hi great images,hows you and the hubby well i hope, Venus is a great sight with a set of 10x60 binos you could see Neptune the other day ,all in the same field of view jupiter is still a great sight here at the min ,Perseus as me hooked at the moment i saw the crab nebula for the first time last night great night ,nice to see you back

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Isabelle, I feel your pain - its been a long cloudy spell here in BC too! I always find that just when I think I need to find another more sane hobby like hard drinking or knitting, I get one good session that picks me up again and recharges the batteries to carry me over the next dark spell. Thanks for another great blog!

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I have yet to see the crab nebula. I was told that it is quite elusive to see!

Thanks James! The cloud cover receded last night but with the humidity and cold,... it was condensation fever out there!

Isabelle

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The Crab Nebula is quite small, so when you are scanning for it at low power it is easy to miss. Once you've seen it through the scope you will always be able to find it again. I remember never being able to find The Ring Nebula - I had a 4" Refractor and was expecting something much bigger - I was passing it by for probably a year.

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hmm........ Rosetta nebula i cant find, 3 nights trying, i even dialed it in on Ra and Dec circles. light pollution and been a city dweller don"t help, not seeing the good stuff. really disappoints me when i set out to find a object and i don"t see nothing, iam getting a bit fed up with looking at same thinks, orion neb, jupiter, Venus. moon, pliedies which i like!! always impresses me.

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and then there are nights you look at exactly the same thing you have seen a zillion times and there is a slight difference. Call it an atmospheric jolt of good seeing bu it happens. Like you, I do come inside utterly frustrated of not finding "that one thing" but,... I always return.

Isabelle

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