Aliens are Human, Too

Guest posting over at JL Campbell's blog today. Hope to see you there. :)

So, to alleviate my astronomy withdrawal, I went out last Tuesday with one of my fellow star guides. We met at the bottom of the mountain and set up down there where the hang gliders usually turn off to go up to the other peak. We toughed it out for about 90 minutes. Considering how cold it was, that's amazing.

Although I had bundled up, my fingers and toes protested their numbing experience for two days. No photos. For one, there was no Moon. For two, I didn't even change eyepieces after the first 10 minutes. It was too damn cold to expose my fingers. I thought about snapping a few of Jupiter, but not for long. I couldn't feel my fingers enough to have taken a decent photo.

The sky was amazing. So, clear. The Milky Way just sparkled. Viewed some star clusters in constellations I've never viewed up at the observatory [because they aren't visible up there during the season].

How do you know you really love doing something? The willingness to suffer. I suffered the cold -- it was in the 20's -- to watch stars. And I will again.

I hope the sky is clear December 10th to watch the lunar eclipse. I plan on filming it this year if the sky does cooperate.