Stargazing

Marathon, FL
No LL

Tonight (Thursday) we went to a stargazing party at the Crane Point Research Center. The keys are an ideal place for stargazing because the night time temperature is so pleasant. I wore shorts and t-shirt and I was plenty comfortable. No mosquitoes either.

We got to see a beautiful view of the Orion Nebula through the host's telescope. However, we didn't get to see any galaxies. I've never seen a galaxy directly. I'd love to do so. Supposedly, we should see Andromeda with the binoculars, but I can't find it.

That reminds me of another stargazing event. If you look in the morning sky just before dawn around now, you can see Jupiter chasing Venus up the sky. On February 2, Jupiter will catch up to Venus. What happens then, a collision? No. Not that, even though depth perception doesn't work on planets, Venus and Jupiter are still very far apart from each other. However, the two will visually merge into a seemingly single super bright planet on the morning of February 2. Get up early and have a look.

p.s. The weather forecast for Marathon for the next 10 days, is 10% chance of rain, high 80F, low 70F; identical forecast for the next 10 days in a row.