(no subject)
This is the first Saturday I've had off since my vaca; before that--since I started working--not a one. So how awesome was it that because I worked my arse off this week, not only did I get tonight off, but it fell on the night of a big star party in the next town over?
We went with my parents, my dad treating us to McD's on the way. Gavs ended up being a real butt when we got to the field, though, so Pan took him home and I stayed with my mom and dad. The directors of the event were awesome, I believe from the Springfield Science Museum. They had big telescopes; we saw the moon first. You could see the shadows going over each crater. Then Jupiter and the four Galilean moons--clear as day.
We saw the summer triangle, constellations like Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper, the band of the Milky Way, and got to use the telescopes again to see the M13 Great Globular Cluster in Hercules and even the Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda's easy to see in binocs, but it's so much better magnified big time (duh). Dad taught me how to use his 'Sky Scout', which is this GPS device for the sky that locates anything you want (as long as its in the sky... but it'll point out what you CAN'T see, it just points to the ground, lol) and tells you what you're pointing it at. Lots of cool stuff; people kept coming over asking us what we were doing. We were the cool kids. :)
My legs are chilled and my eyes are still adjusting, but it was too neat. Dad seems excited that I'm turning into a space geek, just like him. He loves sharing this stuff. I couldn't believe that he trusted me with his toys, lol, but he did. I was hogging that thing, but he didn't care. It would've been nice to see the nebula in Orion, but when I did a search for it, it pointed straight to the ground. It should come up around midnight, darn it. When it's more prominent, me and Dad are gonna explore it using a special camera; you can't see the colors without it, and dang it, I wanna see the colors.
Of course, it added fuel to the fic-fire. :D I even told my parents about how I'd incorporated a lot of space-stuff in a handful of fics, and how I was doing my 'Geek Out' series. Dad seemed interested and amused, at least.
A great night after so much stress... which reminds me, thank you to addie71 and bagma for the gifts of bear hugs. You so totally didn't have to do that, but you did. *hugs back*!
We went with my parents, my dad treating us to McD's on the way. Gavs ended up being a real butt when we got to the field, though, so Pan took him home and I stayed with my mom and dad. The directors of the event were awesome, I believe from the Springfield Science Museum. They had big telescopes; we saw the moon first. You could see the shadows going over each crater. Then Jupiter and the four Galilean moons--clear as day.
We saw the summer triangle, constellations like Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper, the band of the Milky Way, and got to use the telescopes again to see the M13 Great Globular Cluster in Hercules and even the Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda's easy to see in binocs, but it's so much better magnified big time (duh). Dad taught me how to use his 'Sky Scout', which is this GPS device for the sky that locates anything you want (as long as its in the sky... but it'll point out what you CAN'T see, it just points to the ground, lol) and tells you what you're pointing it at. Lots of cool stuff; people kept coming over asking us what we were doing. We were the cool kids. :)
My legs are chilled and my eyes are still adjusting, but it was too neat. Dad seems excited that I'm turning into a space geek, just like him. He loves sharing this stuff. I couldn't believe that he trusted me with his toys, lol, but he did. I was hogging that thing, but he didn't care. It would've been nice to see the nebula in Orion, but when I did a search for it, it pointed straight to the ground. It should come up around midnight, darn it. When it's more prominent, me and Dad are gonna explore it using a special camera; you can't see the colors without it, and dang it, I wanna see the colors.
Of course, it added fuel to the fic-fire. :D I even told my parents about how I'd incorporated a lot of space-stuff in a handful of fics, and how I was doing my 'Geek Out' series. Dad seemed interested and amused, at least.
A great night after so much stress... which reminds me, thank you to addie71 and bagma for the gifts of bear hugs. You so totally didn't have to do that, but you did. *hugs back*!