Astronomy

[msslave]

Same here in Minne-snowda. Cloudy with chance of snow showers. Weather easy to predict. If there's a major astronomical event, we'll have cloudy skies.

[ObiDongKenobi]

I realised that a local viewpoint a couple of miles from home would give me some relief from the light pollution and also 100 feet of elevation. At the fourth attempt I had a relative cloud free sky (on two attempts the only clouds in the sky were right in front of the conjunction) and frankly was a bit disappointed. The separation was greater than I had imagined and Saturn could only just be seen with the naked eye, however the rings could just about be distinguished with binoculars.

I spoke to someone who had taken a picture with his telescope similar to the one below and he said the closeness and brightness was overhyped in the media.

[ToeinH2O]

I spoke to someone who had taken a picture with his telescope similar to the one below and he said the closeness and brightness was overhyped in the media.

I always get pissed when the media turns an interesting astronomical occurrence into “STAR OF BETHLEHEM APPEARS IN SKY!  A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!”  I’m pretty sure that Jupiter and Saturn do not observe Christmas, and it is hardly miraculous.

Then all the religious nutties on social media start embellishing things even more... It’s just painful to watch.

[Jed_]

Said it was Norway.

[Shiela_M]

[Jed_]

Yep, that’s my cloudy sky.  I traveled to see the total eclipse in 2017 on the North Carolina Tennessee border, but that’s about the only good luck I’ve had with these astronomical events in the last several years.