[Bluearrowll]

What's in the sky tonight?
August 19, 2012

-Nine Messier objects float within just a couple binocular fields above the lid star of the Sagittarius Teapot, now at its highest in the south in early evening. How many can you detect in my photos, or on your own? Some are easy in binoculars, some are tougher and require a dark sky.

-Jupiter (magnitude –2.2, in Taurus) rises in the east-northeast around midnight or 1 a.m. daylight saving time. Once it's well clear of the horizon, look for fainter orange Aldebaran twinkling 5° or 6° to its right or lower right. By dawn Jupiter shines very high in the southeast, about 30° upper right of even brighter Venus.

Astro Picture of the Day:
August 19, 2012

Source: My Camera
I visited Wasaga Beach for the weekend, and head home in just over a few hours as of this post, but I noticed that it was a particularily clear and moonless night - a rather cool night also helped improve atmospheric seeing conditions. I brought my camera up with me just like I do every time I head up here, and planted myself at a small urban park and could easily see Saggitarious's Tea Pot and Scorpius pulling the milky way - however I could not see the milky way myself at this point. From my prior experience in Cyprus Lake However (the 2nd picture), I knew that Scorpius pulls the bulge of the milky way. So I positioned my camera accordingly and this was the result. After taking a few photos of 2 minute exposures each, I could see the faint, washed out milky way for myself; even though Wasaga Beach does have a large amount of street lights. I suppose it is very helpful that the bulge of the milky way was in the west - precisely where huge Lake Huron borders the town here. These 2 shots are the same part of the Milky Way - the only difference is the amount of light pollution near by. The top photo is in the middle of Wasaga Beach, the second photo is 400km from my home city.