Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Looking Out My Window
You can see amazing things in the most mundane of places. While doing the washing up I can look at flowers blooming on the vine covering the fence outside the window, watch honeyeaters flying past, or watch the stars.The picture shows Venus as seen from my window* (you will need to click on the image and enlarge it to see Antares nearby). The experience of a sky in the outback is something to take your breath way, even from my backyard the sky is amazing, but from my window I can see great things in the slice of sky I can see while washing up.
I've watch crescent Moons chase bright planets and stars, I've watched past encounters of Venus and other planets and the current gyrations of Venus in the head of the Scorpion. Washing up can be a mundane chore, but every so often I get a skyshow to go with my dishes.
I've written before about keeping an eye out for things in our environment, and this post is another (albeit rambling) example of being familiar with the sky. You don't need an observatory in the outback to keep track of the stars, just and inquisitive eye and a nicely placed window will do.
*The bottom of the plastic drink bottle is a home made terrarium for my Venus Fly Trap, the Sundew is just out of frame. Yeah, I grow carnivorous plants.
Labels: Observational Astronomy
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:34 am 
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