Well, I'm going to have to brush up on my Astronomy as I know very little. For our anniversary, my husband and I chipped in and got each other a very nice telescope. It finally came in last week and we spent a good portion of our lovely, clear weekend stargazing (or in my case, planet gazing ). I spent most of my time studying Jupiter. I'd say Jupiter was maybe a quarter of an inch in diameter. I could see two of it's red stripes, though I certainly couldn't make out the big storm. I could see four, maybe five, of its moons and actually got to see one set behind the planet.
My husband and his brother and dad stayed up long after I went to bed last night looking at stuff and they got some really good pictures of the moon just using my husband's cell phone camera aimed into the telescope.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1f8a4 ... sp=sharing

I believe our current zoom is 80x magnification. We're adding a few filters (including one for looking at the sun) and a 480x magnification lens to the "want" list in the future.

Nice Moon picture, fantasia.

Glad you got to see some of the bands on Jupiter. The Great Red Spot isn't so red or prominent these days as it used to be so spotting it is more of a challenge. Some sites (like skyandtelescope.com's "This Week's Sky at a Glance") offer transit times for the GRS (when it crosses the center of the planet as seen from earth).

Regarding Bad Astronomy, I'm mostly familiar with the home page which I think of as a sort of snopes.com for a few astronomical hot topics (like astrology or the moon landing hoax). I've only read a few of the blog entries.

I made one of my all-too-rare early morning treks outside to stargaze this morning (unlike some here I'm not a morning person ) and enjoyed a preview of spring skies to come. The Moon hung about a degree from Spica with Mars nearby while Venus, emerging from its solar conjunction earlier this month, adorned the eastern horizon. There was also a great ISS pass (almost overhead, shining at magnitude -3.2). But it's still winter here, and the wind chill of -38F/C chased me back inside all too soon.

So tonight, we discovered entirely by accident, the Orion Nebula. I was just going through the Orion stars trying to learn their names and I was like 'lets look at the back of his knee even though they're not as bright' and tada! It was a pretty cool find. Of course, even though we have a pretty snazzy telescope, this was about as well as we could see it with our current magnification...
http://www.asod.info/wordpress/wp-conte ... 2-asod.jpg
... but even so, we were pretty stoked. Perhaps not having a clue about what or where anything is makes the discovery even more exciting.
We also looked in vain for Uranus but we were unable to locate it. So I looked at Jupiter some more to console myself. I wish I knew how to identify which Jupiter moon is which.

Sounds like you're having a great time with the telescope, fantasia! M42 really is a spectacular sight.

If you have binoculars, might I suggest using them to familiarize yourself with the general area of Uranus (finder chart - click on the diagram for a bigger, more detailed version). Under good conditions Uranus is fairly easy in binoculars (though it just looks like another star, but the finder chart can confirm you have the right object). Uranus is sinking into the evening twilight this month, and will return to the morning sky later this spring.

Jupiter's largest moons are also often visible in binoculars. Check out this article, which includes a JavaScript utility which will help you identify the moons at any given time.

(Notice the 'please choose your view' buttons directly under the diagram of the planet and moons. Most scopes invert the image you see, depending on the optics. Binoculars can help you determine which way your telescope alters the image; just compare the view of Jupiter's moons (or earth's moon) with what you see in the scope at the same time).

Lastly, elusive Mercury is making a favorable evening appearance as January ends (for the Northern Hemisphere). It's always low in the twilight of dusk or dawn, but this is a good time to look for it. More details, and a sky map.

[Orion] graces our evening skies from roughly mid-November until it sinks into the sunset in May.

Love how prominent it is in our night skies now, the Great Hunter watching over everything as the night passes. Like an old friend, in many ways.

a great treat this evening with a complete 360 degree around the moon halo!

Ahhh, lovely, Narnian_Storm! We have had a few of those this winter, and they are really stunning, indeed.

fantasia, I can hardly think of a better anniversary gift than a telescope. What a wonderful idea. And it sounds like you're getting some great use out of it already. We only have a very simple one, but it's still done us in good stead over the years, providing amazing sights, so I hope you are able to have hours and hours of the joy of viewing the sky with yours (which sounds a lot more advanced than ours ... as in no computer therein: we have to have our star chart handy at all times ). How cool you saw a couple of Jupiter's bands and, wow, the Orion Nebula, beauties!

Love that photo of the Moon! Our youngest did the same: he just stuck our camera against the telescope viewer and snapped, receiving some awesome shots of the Moon, including some of a lunar eclipse in late 2010. We have a Moon filter, but have yet to purchase a sun filter. It would be amazing to get one some day!

I will never forget when we first looked at Saturn through the telescope. The rings were so clear, and the entire experience was utterly surreal. It almost looked like we could reach out and touch the planet, and felt like someone had rather pasted a photo of Saturn at the other end of the telescope, but nope , it was the real deal, wow! And the Moons of Jupiter—that sight surely made an impression on us as well. 'Though I, too, cannot identify which is which. Thanks for that s&t article, 'gazer!

Unfortunately, I missed seeing Mercury this round, and it's becoming so dim soon. Plus, we don't have a clear view of the SW horizon anywhere within easy reach.

The Moon hung about a degree from Spica with Mars nearby while Venus, emerging from its solar conjunction earlier this month, adorned the eastern horizon. There was also a great ISS pass (almost overhead, shining at magnitude -3.2).

Ahh, beautiful!

Since, as most of you know, I am an early morning person, I have been thrilled to see Venus rising steadily higher over the past few weeks. What a sight it is (when the clouds are not present ), like a burning eye there in the SE sky before dawn.

On my walks, when I see something that particularly strikes me in the night sky, I make a mental note to post in this topic, but then arrive home and daily stuff gets in the way, and I then forget. One thing about this snowy winter, though, we have not had a lot of clear skies, but when the clouds break away, the crisp cold of the winter heavens is truly glorious, as always.

The other night when we were shoveling after a major snowstorm, I saw the huge cloud mass moving off towards the east, giving way to a starkly vast open sky. Stunning! And so we kept shoveling with Orion and Jupiter now looking down upon the sight of many outside trying to clear their driveways. I don't know how to say it, really, but the unexpected unveiling of that sight dotted with sparkling stars and planets, was a perfect way to end the storm.

This early morning I reveled in the SE view of the burning eye of Venus, only one finger-tip away from the crescent Moon—their Dance. The sky was cloudless; the scene stunning in its brilliant winter clarity. And the earthshine was very pronounced. So beautiful! And then in the SW, ruddy Mars shone, seemingly larger than it was a couple of months ago.

Having indicated how I love such a clear, crisp night sky (which I do!), I give a huge nod to a spectacular cloud-covered sky I saw a few months ago (and forgot to mention here at the time): they were a huge mass, but looked like individual puffballs, and with the Moon nearly full, it backlit all these marshmallow clouds in such a surreal and gorgeous way.

So, my walk this morning was a beauty: there were similar clouds to what I described above, with a bright Moon lighting them from behind, but in between there were a few small, clear spaces where stars would peep through. A few times the Moon and Mars were visible together (in the general SW), which was a beautiful sight, interspersed with the clouds. And no sign of Venus in the SE until all of a sudden, or so it seemed, that large bank of cover moved off and Venus shone out like a floodlight. What a morning! The streets are so quiet at that time, but I felt like knocking on people's door to come out and see the wonder of the pre-dawn sky.

stargazer, to the south of the Moon (I have noticed these before), there are three stars in a horizontal line, almost equidistant, about 2 finger widths apart. Then above the middle star there is another one, a bit dimmer, maybe 1 finger width up. What is that? The unique configuration really stands out to me.

It's so fun to read your early-morning accounts, jo...almost enough to make me a morning person. Sunrise is about as late as it will be for months right now, so I should get up.

Alas, it's been cloudy most of this month. In fact, I had an odd astronomical dream the other day, perhaps because it's been so long since I've seen the real sky.

I was outside in some unfamiliar place, marveling at a true meteor storm (thousands of meteors everywhere I looked). Most were fairly dim but awesome in their numbers.

My first hint something was odd came when I saw Perseus low in the northeast (an autumn evening position here) but Sirius low in the southwest (a spring position). I also couldn't identify what meteor storm this might be, so a word flashed in the sky. I knew then I was dreaming.

I'm not sure about the star formation you asked about jo; it depends on when you saw the moon nearby. The morning of your post, the moon was north of the east end of Hydra, so it's possible that's what you're seeing.

...almost enough to make me a morning person.

LOL!

Very interesting about your astronomical dream. Fun and cool too.

Seeing unknown star formations in the sky occurs too often with me , and I realize my description ^ was rather sparse and inexact, which is why I wish yet again that you could apparate over here for a few minutes to explain things at the very moment. This morning, the moon was in between the two right-hand stars. I think I will go and study my planisphere/star chart in more detail ... *pause* ... okay, did that. Still not sure. Hydra appears to be a bit too far west. I am thinking that though those three stars are prominent to me, it appears they may be part of two separate separate constellations, rather than one. Next time we're at a Moot when these are in the sky, I will point them out to you.

On another note, just want to exclaim that the sight of the bright Moon shining through very cool clouds, all mysteriously displayed behind the leafless branches of winter trees is a wondrous sight to behold.

Your last paragraph reminds me of one of my favorite sky scenes: the bright moon or stars shining through leafless trees in the cool clear nights of autumn.

Your latest description helped me make a better guess as to what you're seeing, jo. (I used the star chart on heavens-above for this morning). I think the left-most star is Antares, the middle one is Delta Scorpii (itself the middle of three vertical stars west of Antares; the one above it you mentioned would be Beta Sco), and the westernmost one is actually Saturn. (I was out around 0100 this morning and spotted Saturn just a few degrees to the upper right (northwest) of the Moon before clouds rolled back in). Please check the chart and let me know what you think of these guesses.

April holds some fun sky sights, like the first total lunar eclipse since 2011 (the Americas are favored) and good opportunities for a couple of asteroids. More details as the time approaches...

one of my favorite sky scenes: the bright moon or stars shining through leafless trees in the cool clear nights of autumn.

Hear-hear and ditto!

*pops over to see the starchart* Hmm, let's see ... you know, I think you may be on to something there. I was wondering if one of them was Antares. Thanks for taking that time, 'gazer! As well, I was wanting to figure out which of the many points of light in that general direction was Saturn, so that's cool too. Must take a 'closer' look tomorrow morning ... and wish we had our son at home who knows how to work the telescope so well.

Woohoo, looking forward to that April lunar eclipse! Here is an article on all the eclipses of 2014.

Thanks for that eclipse link, jo. This is the first of 4 consecutive total lunar eclipses, each 6 months apart. This tetrad is a little unusual but there are 9 of them this century so they're not rare right now (however, there were none of these in the period 1600-1900).

Look up tonight for the red planet Mars. It's at opposition (opposite the sun as seen from earth), and so is at its best. It rises around sunset, is due south around 1 am (daylight time) and sets around sunrise. Some news outlets make it sound like this is the only night to see it, but it will be easy and bright all month. Look for its reddish ember near the blue star Spica in Virgo. For most of the US this means about halfway up in the south at midnight.

Mars is actually closest to the earth on April 14, about the time of that eclipse. The Moon won't be far away, making it even easier to spot the red planet.

(however, there were none of these in the period 1600-1900).

Interesting. That is a looooooong time.

I have been noticing Mars in the pre-dawn hours in the west, and it is beautiful! Tomorrow morning will be clear, so it will be lovely to have another look at the red planet. When there are a few cloudy nights in a row, it always throws me on the next clear view, because everything has (obviously) shifted. So, I was surprised yesterday morning how (relatively) far Mars had moved from Spica already.

Oh, here is a S&T article on bright Mars.

And, 'gazer, a note on that 3-star formation: once the skies cleared again, I noted the right-hand star had not moved at all away from the other two, so I'm wondering now if that orb is not Saturn. ??

I have to get up pretty early now to have my entire morning walk in the dark, and Venus is disappearing into the sunrise's glow in the east by the time I'm finished it. However, if I can get walking by 5:45, I still enjoy a good chunk of the time under the stars.

Venus is beginning to sink back into the sunrise glow; I should think about getting up and seeing it a few more times.

I stepped out earlier for an excellent ISS pass and also enjoyed Mars at opposition.

I noted the right-hand star had not moved at all away from the other two, so I'm wondering now if that orb is not Saturn. ??

I'm not certain, but it might still be Saturn. The ringed planet moves pretty slowly near opposition (coming May 10), so its motion often is not very obvious. Too bad we can't be out under the stars at the same time to compare notes!

I should think about getting up and seeing it a few more times.

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Oh yes, do try. It really is stunning.

Nice about the lovely ISS pass and Mars. This morning I saw a -8.3 Iridium flare in a faultlessly clear sky at 0514, to be exact. Beautiful. And its peak was right above Saturn! Thanks for the heads up re that planet, 'gazer. I will continue to keep a close eye ... as much as I can, anyway, with dawn starting to arrive earlier.

Too bad we can't be out under the stars at the same time to compare notes!

Ditto!