Sunday, August 07, 2005
A Young Moon
The image to the left is a bit unpreposessing, but it is the earliest crescent Moon I have ever seen. A mere 30 hours old, the glowing chip could just be seen floating over the Adelaide Hills (click on the picture to enlarge). Chez Reynella went for an overnight stay in the Hills at a bush Youth Hostel with some friends. We walked in the bush, tried to photograph carnivorous Sundew plants (unsuccessfully) and failed to spot any Kangaroos (or any other bush creature, six overexcited youngsters have a habit of scaring things away).
Come sunset I took the kids out to watch the ISS pass by Venus. We didn't see the ISS, but we did see the just-a-bit-over one day Moon and Venus and Jupiter (the second picture shows Jupiter at the top and Venus at the bottom. Click to enlarge. Note the scenic telegraph poles. Miles and Miles of bush and the only clear spot was full of telegraph poles). Now, you may be surprised to learn that I have never seen a just one-day-old Moon before. But in my various habitations, landscape gets in the way. Even at the bucolic Chez Reynella, with the sea just over the hill, the combinations of circumstances have never been right for seeing an early Moon.
Later we rugged up against the cold and went night time possum spotting, despite the industrial strength torches we carried, nary a possum could be seen (probably hear the kids screaming "where are you possums" and run off). Later, I showed the kids the centre of the galaxy. "Boring", declared one kid "all the stars look the same".
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 8:52 pm 
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