Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

This will be excellent @Zoe7

After all the stuffing around with the council not having the staff to cover my shifts for the last two weeks I have someone coming from an agency tomorrow for 1.5 hours and then I am planning to get a taxi to Rivers and get myself some new clothes - the last time I got new clothes was last August before I went to Sydney and anyway

On my way back from seeing the doctor I got a brilliant idea about another break in August and that's to fly to Brisbane and catch a bus down the Princes Highway and stop for a couple of nights on the way down to Sydney and fly home from there

I talked about this with my daughter the other day and some time back I sorted out staying away a couple of extra nights - she is happy to check on Companion Cat for a couple of extra nights

Riding on the bus means I won't have to walk everywhere as I usually do - I didn't mean to overdo things in Hobart but I really managed that so I need to give myself time to recover - I really like the idea so I think going to Rivers is a good place to go tomorrow afternoon or sometime on Sunday

I was in such a good mood when I saw the doctor and in spite of hassles and bothers and the other things sent to try us I have been in a good mood and I told him what a good mood I am in and wow - terrific - the tablets I am taking for my BP reduce stress - really - this is a fantastic thing - it's just disappointing that I have strained my knee again but I will recover

Thanks Zoe

Dec

Yes - I need to stop too @Zoe7

I hope you feel better tomorrow - I know you have been battling hard yards lately

I will sleep on the couch again tonight - but bed badly needs stripping and remaking properly and I feel really uncomfortable in there so It's better to settle on the couch with a long DVD and Companion Cat comes

I feel I have a great weekend coming up -bad weather or not

Sleep well Zoe - I really enjoyed chatting

Dec

Hello @Zoe7, @Owlunar, @outlander, @utopia

Hi @Shaz51@outlander@Zoe7@utopia@Sophia1

I had a wonderful view of the morning sky this morning - it was during the morning twilight and I looked outside - the sky was full of stars and there lying on it's side was Orion which to me is a sign that spring will indeed come

On Monday night I saw Venus next to the crescent moon

Of course if anyone wakes up early enough on a clear morning the chances are good they can see Orion but alas - it will be another phase of the moon to see it near Venus again

I love all of this - I love watching the seasons pass too and knowing that the constellations will indeed return each season as they must

All the best peeps

Dec

Up late tonight, @Owlunar. Haven't had a late night for a few weeks.

Your description lends a sense of the magnificence of what you saw and were part of.

Earlier this evening, when C and I went outside to come home from our friend's place, as usual I looked around at the sky there, which is much wider and darker than where we live. Venus was golden and seemed especially chunky. The moon was opposite, a low slung moon, upside down and maybe about a third full.

I often see the Southern Cross. I notice the two pointers and then see the shape of it. It's probably the guiding constellation for me.

I love it in the really darker skies when you can see the milky way. That happens when I visit my friend down south in the country about once every two years. We were looking at the stars at midnight one new year together.

I also like shooting stars and satellite spotting. At that same friend's place a while ago, we all went out in the back yard and saw the space station crossing the sky quickly, much brighter and bigger than the other fainter satellite I spotted on a different trajectory.

In the early years of coming up this way, I sat on the beach during a meteor shower. That was really something.

Thanks Maz

My daughter said to me once - "you are always looking at the sky Mum - and yes - I do - I love clouds and the night sky - it is always different and wonderful

I have seen some fantastic things at night - one of my early memories is when Dad and I went out into the paddock beside our house and watched Sputnik move slowly across the sky - it took its time way back then - I see a sattelite now and again and they move really fast now

Another thing was early one morning maybe 20 years ago now when I saw Uranus rising just before the sun (I was using my binoculars) and the planet was on the other side of the solar system and facing me and normally one would not see that with just binoculars but the sky was unusually clear that morning and I could see the rings around the planet and it only lasted for a short moment - I was really lucky

So - with these things in mind I do look at the sky a lot - and we have lost so much because of light pollution - the night sky in Canberra was much clearer. When I was a small child I saw a comet - it was just after the war and the city had been browned out so the comet was brilliant among the skyfull of stars - I was only little and frightened but I would like to see that again - pity about the light cities produce which is rather excessive

Thanks Maz - I love sharing my hobby

Dec

@Mazarita

I've been watching Mars or Murcury (can't rememeber which one it is) that rises in the East. Very very bright. Easy to see at night. @Owlunar

Hello @Owlunar, @utopia, @Mazarita, @outlander, @Zoe7

this is our milky way the other night @Owlunar xxx

Hi @utopia

That bright red object in the night sky is Mars and it is at its most brillliant because it is close to the earth - it will be a long time before it is so bright again

And thanks for the pic of the night sky @Shaz51 - that is really beautiful

Venus is easy to see in the evening sky when it's clear now - a few nights back it was close to the moon - I really love seeing that

Dec

@Owlunar, what else was in that photo x