Tonight look for a close conjunction of Jupiter and the waxing 9-day old moon. View Jove’s gorgeous moons Io, Ganymede and Europa lined up to his east, Callisto all by herself to his west.
Venus is spectacular in the west, you can't miss her.
The QUADRANTID meteor shower is star of the show this week. Conditions here look perfect, cold but clear.
Shower maximum for the Quads (100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions) expected Wednesday morning between 1 and 2am CST. Good article HERE
More good news today from the moon. Grail-B is tucked into orbit with it's sister. Orbit refinements over the next couple months will lead to kick-off of the science mission in March.
Temps tonight are predicted to drop into the 20's, so where are the hand warmers left over from Antarctica? Still searching.
My sherpa has left for a few nights, so I'll have to be content with the baby telescope, already outside reaching thermal equilibrium. The Clyde gets to stay warm indoors.
I wish, wish, wish my city-bound buddies could share the night sky, and my hard working buddies could stay up all night too. Hurry retirement, HURRY!
UPDATE
Hammock, check. Electric blanket, check. Down comforter and pillow, check. Hot tea? No thermos.
Let’s keep fingers crossed for a glorious shower.
Have fun scanning the night skies ... and, my dear, even in retirement, don't expect "some" of your buddies to stay up late let alone all night :-)))
ReplyDeleteThanks for humoring me and adding the last couple of photos ... I think they make the post :-))))
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