Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsAll right, I KNEW the moon would be more than 75% full! I KNEW it would be hanging right in the middle of the night sky, blowing away any chance of seeing anything faint and fuzzy! But the clouds were gone and I hadn't been out with my telescope since April 10th and it was driving me crazy. So I went. Two equally frustrated stargazers from the Greenbelt Astronomy Club, Carol and Martha, also showed up; so there were three crazy observers at the Tuckahoe ball field by 8:30. Of course the first thing we all wanted to see was the five-planet lineup in the West. From my telescope's position I cold only see four planets -- Mercury was perfectly located behind a tree. But I moved towards second base and was rewarded with a sweeping view of all five of the "wandering stars" that were known to the ancients. Mercury was lowest, at treetop level but bright enough to see in the 8:40 PM twilight. Venus was next, brilliant even against the moon-soaked sky. Significantly higher, Mars and Aldebaran made the base of a perfect equilateral triangle with Saturn at the tip. And finally, bright Jupiter anchored the line high in the sky. Get outside and see this! It lasts from now through early May, and then won't happen again for more than 50 years. Unfortunately the rest of the sky was not as viewable. Moonlight turned the moist air a bright gray wherever I looked with my scope. Castor in Gemini was an easy split, and the bright stars in the Beehive glowed like the Pleiades. But normally bright clusters like M37 were pale ghosts of themselves, and even M13 looked more like a galaxy than a globular. The moon didn't seem willing to dim itself or set ahead of schedule; and when frost began to form on our dark cars and equipment boxes, we all packed up about 10:30 and went home. Steve Long |