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3 planets, 2 scopes, 1 gorgeous morning
Hi all,
I've been itching to view the morning planets with my new 8' dob and this morning I finally got the chance. Just after 5.30 I set up in the yard with a clear view of the North-Eastern sky where Venus and Mars were shining brightly. To my delight Jupiter was also nice and high in the sky. I seized the opportunity to view Jupiter immediately and wasn't disappointed. The amount of detail was astounding! As a result I didn't get to view the Pleiades which were accompanying Mars and Venus before the sun started to rise, but I wasn't phased at all as I accomplished something I'd set out to do a while ago - view a planet in daylight. And I got to see two! I (manually) tracked Jupiter in the 8" dob and Venus in the 70mm refractor. Jupiter disappeared from naked eye view first, and the viewing deteriorated quickly, so I concentrated on Venus. I didn't lose it until 7.55, and that was only because my scope wasn't polar aligned properly. The clarity of Venus in the morning sky was easily the best I've seen - it's nowhere near as blinding as before dawn and I found it much easier to resolve. I highly recommend viewing Venus in daylight, it's breathtaking.
And to top it all off, my (17 month old) little boy just pointed to a page in one of his books and said "moon!" An apprentice in the making, methinks...!
Cheers
Wade
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