Astronomical Sweetshop

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

I was dozing at 4am this morning,when the wife said to me "look at that bright star!" Of course it was Venus,but, as I blearily looked out of our bedroom window,I had to admit that the sky view was fantastic! There was Jupiter,Taurus with the hyaides,Pleiades,Auriga with brillant Capella,and to top it all,Orion in all it's splendour! A marvellous foretaste of the winter skywatching season to come. Wished I'd tried to spot Mercury now.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Not enough to drag you out of bed though? I need to spot Mercury still, but i have no view of east, so it either means a very early start, or a very late finish at a clear site somewhere.

[Dave]

Winters well on it's way...

[ronaldo999]

Views like that inspire you to spend more time outside in the winter months, i have not seen a clear sky for months now. Looking forward to winter too.

[Sp@ce_d]

Winters well on it's way...

Thats exactly what I was thinking looking out at Orion 4:30 this morning

[FarSide]

You have to be a hardy astronomer to be out at 4:30 viewin Orion. I can just about do it when the girlfriend isn't about!

[LeeB]

Cotterless popped in today to say how great last nights early hours were, and to rub in how transparent the seeing was........ I was fast off!!!!

[goolosh]

I can hardly wait for Orion to return to our skies here. I do miss Saturn already though, it sets far too soon these days.

[Sp@ce_d]

You have to be a hardy astronomer to be out at 4:30 viewin Orion. I can just about do it when the girlfriend isn't about!

Couldn't sleep... annoyed that I had a whole bank holiday weekend & it only cleared up in the early hours before a work day!! Think the girlfriend was pleased anyway.. we'd been keeping each other awake for all the wrong reasons..

[LukeSkywatcher]

You have to be a hardy astronomer to be out at 4:30 viewin Orion. I can just about do it when the girlfriend isn't about!

4:30am is just about the best time to do any observing (not so in summer because its already bright). During the winter months at this time (4-6am) the earth has lost all of its heat there is to lose and the air is so still and calm. Its an amazing time. It really makes you feel at one with the universe.

[PorkyB]

It was an exceptionally clear night. I saw things that I haven't seen from my garden in a long time. I stayed out until 4:30 (as described elsewhere on this forum) but I may have fallen asleep at work.

It was back to normal last night, I got to a dark site but a thin layer of cloud obscured all the stars. I did have a pleasant hour looking at the moon though.