Just got back from taking the dogs out for a stroll, and am reeling from what has been, even by the standards I've got used to, an incredible star-spotting experience!
The sky is absolutely pitch black (apart from the usual light pollution from our nearest English city, Plymouth), and the stars are so clear, and bright, it's like looking at an SFX-enhanced film slide.
To the North, both the Big Dipper, part of the Ursa Major constellation, and the Little Dipper (ditto) are clearly visible, with Polaris in the Little Dipper giving a clear indication of North for those of us who don't carry a compass.
60 degrees to the east, the setting crescent moon is so bright it almost destroys your night vision, and just below the line joining the bottom horn of the crescent to the top, and apparently only an inch or so away from the top of the crescent, Venus is doing its best to outshine the moon. Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon, but tonight it's a really close call.
There are loads of constellations visible too - apart from the Dippers, Orion is still visible above the Eastern horizon, and there's also Casseiopia, Gemini, Ursa Major and Minor, and some whose names escape me.
In Orion, Betelgeuse is a big orange blog up and left from Orion's belt, the line of three stars supposedly circling the hunter's waist, and the bright blue star down and left from the belt is Sirius, thought by the ancients to be the eye of Orion's hunting dog.
Almost directly due south, and about 60 degrees above the horizon is the daily-diminishing red spot that is Mars, past its closest point of approach to Earth, but still clearly the red planet.
I don't always appreciate taking the dogs out at 11o'clock at night, but on a night like tonight, living in an area with minimal light pollution (thanks again, Plymouth) - well, it's hard not to enjoy the free, best-ever science programme around.
And I was spared Dr Brian Cox standing on the nearby hill staring wistfully outwards - I got to do that for myself.
I remember doing a trip across the Pacific a few years back. When we were in the middle of nowhere - literally - we went up on deck after dinner and the captain turned all the lights out.
ReplyDeleteAmazing sight!!