Shooting the Moon

The past few weeks up at the observatory were obscured by full Moon then by very cold nights the following week and clouds.

Full Moon weekend was warm. I didn't even have to zipper my coat. We were bombarded by moths outside. My car is still covered in moth guts. There wasn't much to see besides the Moon and Jupiter that weekend. I couldn't even find the brightest guide stars to point my telescope to where another object would be. Those I could find were severely washed out. To add insult on Saturday night, clouds rolled in. Between those and all the smoke in the air, Jupiter rose a bright orange. I'd never seen it that color before. My photos of it didn't turn out so great. But I did get some Moon shots.

Autumn in the high desert doesn't bring a lot of color in the form of trees, but the brush changes color, bursting with yellow. Juniper and cedar are evergreens, and the deciduous kind of tree doesn't really grow here.

Almost full Moon before the clouds swallowed it up.

Here's a video of the clouds covering the moon.



Last weekend was frigid. I managed a few shots between shivers on Friday night.

Saturday night was completely socked in. :-( No star gazing.

Only two more weekends before we shut down until next May. :-( I hope the weather cooperates so I can savor these next few weeks. The Moon will be out of the way if the clouds stay away.