Venus at dusk...

This afternoon we said good bye to our youngest son who had been home for a much needed break after a full summer of college courses.  It was so good to have him home for a while, and he and I took evening walks most nights at dusk or later --dark-thirty.  As we walked and talked, we pointed out satellites flying by, constellations, the Milky Way and we noticed bright Venus in the southwestern horizon.  It's just beautiful to see Venus setting with a pinky-orange sky as her backdrop. 

We noticed the extra-bright milkiness of the Milky Way.  With a moonless night, the Milky Way is brighter now than usual.  I like how Akira Fujii describes it from one of my favorite sky-gazing sites, Sky & Telescope:

 

The Sagittarius Teapot and the surrounding rich Milky Way are highest in the south right after dark at this time of year. The brightest puff of the summer Milky Way seems to rise like steam from the Teapot's spout. All of the labeled objects here and many more are good binocular targets under a dark sky. Click the image for a larger view.

~Akira Fujii

Have you ever used binoculars to sky-gaze?  It's fun.  When the moon is in its various phases and not full, you can see so many craters and mountains with just a good pair of binoculars.  You can see the moons around Jupiter and get a close look at other planets when they are in view.  One October night when the kids were young, a friend brought her telescope out to the ranch.  She wanted practice using it and needed a sky with no street lights invading it.  We had such fun looking at the moon and planets and some of the brighter stars, and it was then that I found out that you could use a simple pair of binoculars to get a really good look at the night sky.  No need for expensive equipment.  Our family spent many nights looking through binoculars with arms anchored to the pick-up box to get a steady, close look at nearby planets, stars, a few comets, and the moon.  Check this link  and this one for articles on using binoculars for sky-gazing.  One of our most useful books for learning the constellations back in our homeschool days was H.A. Rey's book, Find the Constellations.   We also used the Sky & Telescope website a lot.  The "Sky at a Glance" link became a well-worn tool to guide us in our sky-watching.  I've just come upon this book:  A Child's Introduction to the Night Sky.  It looks like a book I may want to buy for the grandkids and for myself.  The book and a pair of binoculars would be a great family Christmas gift, I think.

Do you like to Sky-watch?

Psalm 19

1The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.