Double Score

Marathon, FL
24 41.17 N 081 27.11 W


Boot Key Harbor here in Marathon is normally not a good place for star gazing. There are far too many lights around. Nevertheless, the night of December 30, we scored twice. With naked eyes, we spotted both Mercury and The Hubble Space Telescope for the first time.

I've tried many times before to spot Mercury and maybe I have seen it, but I couldn't be absolutely sure. The trouble is that Mercury is very faint and it is close to the sun. That means it can be spotted only in the narrow window of time after the sun sets and before Pluto sets. Last night, after sunset, I was staring at the beautiful sky. I saw Venus and the new crescent Moon right next to each other. Farther down near the horizon I could see Jupiter. I was sure because Jupiter and Venus have been tracking each other for the past 6 months. Next to Jupiter was another planet; wow! It had to be a planet because (a) the sky was still too bright to see any stars and (b) it was in the plane of the ecliptic as marked so clearly by Venus, Moon, and Jupiter.

I called Libby up on deck to see the sight while I dashed below to fire up my PC. I ran the Stellarium program (An outstandingly good program that you can download for free. Or just Google for Stellarium.) . I set my position in Stellarium to Havana, Cuba (the closest I could get on their map). Sure enough, it showed Mercury up there right next to Jupiter. The picture shows you what I saw on my screen.




This morning I set my alarm to wake me at 0530. I had a mission. A favorite web site, heavens-above.com, told me in advance that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) would pass directly overhead at 0545. It would be very bright because the HST would be in sunlight whereas I was still in the dark before dawn. I waited and watched in the indicated direction. There is was; big, bright and spectacular! It appeared almost as bright as Venus. I looked at it with the binoculars but that didn't reveal any more detail.

I have yet to succeed in spotting the International Space Station (ISS). I use heavens-above.com to track it. It should be even more spectacular than the HST.

Once, many years ago, I stepped out of my hotel at JFK airport in New York before dawn. I glanced up and I saw a stunning sight. The Space Shuttle was making its final orbit before landing. Therefore it was descending and firing retro rockets. It passed over my head just before dawn, thus illuminating its white tiles in brilliant sunshine while I was still in the dark. I swear that I could make out the triangular shape and the rocket plume with my naked eye. It was an awesome sight.