the moon & more.

Spring has spring, skies have been clear quite often, and I've been doing some serious star-gazing. Moon-gazing too! Unfortunately, I've been pretty busy and haven't been updating this blog very frequently. Instead, I've been recording my observations in a notebook. So, here's a little bit of what I've been up to lately.

Monday, March 22 - 12:07am.

About a month ago, I was laying in bed trying to sleep... key word being "trying". My mind was racing with a dozen different things I was stressing over, and to add to it there was a bright light shining in my eyes! It didn't take long to realize it was the moon, bright as can be outside my bedroom windows. I reached over to the notepad on my nightstand and wrote down what I saw: The moon was at an altitude of 30 degrees and an azimuth of 280 degrees. I didn't have my camera at this time, so I couldn't take a picture. With a feeling of accomplishment for doing something school-related, I fell asleep looking out the window at the moon.


Monday, March 29 - 8:45pm.

Two weeks ago, I was walking to my car and glanced up at the sky. It was cloudy, and I didn't have my planisphere, but I could still make out some stars. I saw the constellation Cancer at an altitude of 60 degrees and an azimuth of 190 degrees. I could also make out a bright spot near Cancer that I think may have been Mars! I tried taking pictures of my own but with all the lights nearby all I captured was black sky.



10:25 pm.

Later that night, I was driving home and as I peered out my window at the cloudy sky, I noticed the gorgeous moon shining through the overcast. I ended up pulling over on the side of Lake Michigan Drive to take a picture and make an observation of the moon. It was about 45degrees above the horizon, with an azimuth of 110 degrees. I estimated this based off the East-West orientation of the road. Below is the picture I took when I pulled over. The moon is in the bottom of the shot because I was trying to avoid capturing the city lights along the horizon.














Tuesday, March 30 - 12:00am.

Just one night later, I observed the moon again. It was again about 45 degrees above the horizon. This time, it was a little more south, with an estimated azimuth of 150 degrees. Here is a picture I took out my window of the moon:














Tonight, I can't see the moon. But I must observe it one more time so I'll keep looking!