We are frozen solid! Jer and I just spent close to an hour outside looking at planets. Venus was a close call, but we saw it. We couldn't make out Mercury, it was too close to Venus, so she blocked it out. We got out there just a few minutes before she went down. Venus and Mercury are following the sun pretty closely right now, so they set just after sundown. But SATURN! WOW!!
Right now Saturn appears southwest in the early evening. It has a slight pinkish hue that sets it out from the stars. You will find it in the Virgo constellation, a few inches down from the triangle formation in Leo. When we got the telescope, we were told you could see the rings of Saturn. I had my doubts. The rings are pretty perpendicular right now, but you can clearly see them- just jutting out from the planet. It seems we will need to wait a year or so before we can see the rings parallel to the earth. But what I am really looking forward to will be the Perseid's meteor shower in August. At the same time we will be able to see the shower, we can see Jupiter and Andromeda Galaxy. We plan to take the kids with us when we go out to Five Mile. You need to be clear of all light pollution to see the galaxies. All this will happen the second week of August. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome. I am already super excited about this. Jer has been hearing about it since I started tracking Jupiter. I'm sure he can hardly wait to get it over with. I am like a kid counting down to Christmas. I am so over the top, I am well into ridiculous.
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