Star Gazing

Last night around 9 o clock I looked outside and saw that there was a  full moon. It was prettier than any full moon I'd seen in a long time, because this one was tinted slightly orange, and illuminated the roof tops in my neighbor hood. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to take some pictures, but I discovered quite quickly that my camera's memory card is broken. Defeated, I went back inside.

A few minutes later I heard frantic knocking on my front door. I looked through the blinds and saw my two neighbors, who are in elementary school. I opened the door and said hello, and the girl who is in fifth grade said,

"We saw you trying to take pictures of the moon, and we were wondering if you wanted to go to the Air and Space museum with us to go look through the telescopes?"

I agreed excitedly, and ran to grab my purse and shoes. They asked if I was going to bring a camera, and I was forced to relive the reality that I no longer have a camera that even works, and I am going to have to buy a new one. That ended up not mattering, though, because what I saw will last in my memory for a long time.

The museum was really far out from town, and we had to take the interstate for about 45 minutes to get there. I sat in the back seat with a kindergartener and a fifth grader while there parents drove, and the boy in kindergarten kept giving me advice about star gazing.

"You have to keep your eyes peeled for three stars in a row... That's Orion's belt!' was his most common advice. He also yelled "RED AND BLUE, RED AND BLUE!" every time we saw a police car, but that doesn't really have to do with stars. It was cute though.

Around 9:45 we got to the museum, and all of the lights were turned off in the parking lot so it was pitch dark, and we could just barely make out the shapes of people standing around some telescopes. The night air was hot and humid, yet a slight breeze blew in every few minutes, so there weren't many bugs out, which I was extremely thankful for.

The first telescope we went to, a scientist who worked at the museum showed up how he worked it, and we got to look at the full moon through his telescope. One thing I learned that was particularly interesting is that when the moon is full it's the worst time to look at it via telescope because it will appear flat in your field of view. So we pretty much chose the worst time to look, but it was still breathtaking. I could see all the little craters and mountains, and when I took my eye away from the eye piece my night vision got messed up because of how bright the portion of the moon I saw was.

Another interesting thing I learned is the there is an arrangement of stars in the sky called "The Sickle" and it looks like a backwards question mark, and it is part of the constellation Leo, the lion. There are two stars coming off of the sickle that form Leo's tail, but I found out that one of them is not actually a star, but the planet Mars!

I eventually got to look at Mars through the telescope, and also Saturn. Saturn was my favorite by far. I could see its rings clearly. It was breathtaking, and I say this without hyperbole. Even though I didn't get a chance to adjust the telescopes myself,  I was able to get a chance to look through all of them, and I even saw a galaxy. I can't quite remember the name of it, though.

Eventually, we did have to go home. I finally got back to my house around 11 o clock. All I can say is that was one  of the most interesting things I've done in awhile in regards to science, and I sound like such a freaking nerd but it was amazing. I love astronomy, and I wish I could look through telescopes more often. I wonder if there is an astronomy club at my school, because if there isn't, I want to start one, because I think it'd be so fun to go back and do all that again, except with my friends.

All in all, last night was really great, and I had Josalyn's birthday party earlier in the day which was tremendously awesome and I promise I will write about it soon, I just need to get the pictures.

Background for today: Problem Sleuth screen shot.