Closer Look
Jun. 30th, 2015 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyWent to a star party a few days ago!
Yeah, the Salt Lake Astronomical Society has star parties throughout the summer. Evidently they've been getting a lot of publicity, since this one was packed. Or maybe these people were all like me, and had been considering going to one for years but had never gotten that far.
But hey! Good night for it! Venus and Jupiter were almost in conjunction, and I got to see Venus's crescent, Jupiter's moons, and Saturn's rings, which I don't think I've ever really done before. And I got to check out the Hercules Globular Cluster. I also got a good look at the moon. And I got to mess with observatory telescopes, as well!
Although I gotta admit, half the fun was just getting there. The Stansbury Park Observatory Complex* is across the valley from me, near the Great Salt Lake, about forty miles away. And I secretly really enjoy driving along a highway at sunset.** Makes me feel like I'm on an adventure.
I also liked being able to share Space Place knowledge with anyone who was willing to listen. It was fun to have some authority that way.
The Space Place dome is great, but sometimes you just gotta look at the real thing. I don't know if I'll go again, but it was fun this time around.
*Regardless of how much I know about what observatories actually look like, I can never help hoping one will turn out to be like those crazy orrery domes from fantasy novels, or that one from Majora's Mask. So far, no luck. This was just a bunch of big telescopes in a field. But hey! I got to look at SPACE!
**Alone, I mean. I hate driving when there are other people in the car.
Yeah, the Salt Lake Astronomical Society has star parties throughout the summer. Evidently they've been getting a lot of publicity, since this one was packed. Or maybe these people were all like me, and had been considering going to one for years but had never gotten that far.
But hey! Good night for it! Venus and Jupiter were almost in conjunction, and I got to see Venus's crescent, Jupiter's moons, and Saturn's rings, which I don't think I've ever really done before. And I got to check out the Hercules Globular Cluster. I also got a good look at the moon. And I got to mess with observatory telescopes, as well!
Although I gotta admit, half the fun was just getting there. The Stansbury Park Observatory Complex* is across the valley from me, near the Great Salt Lake, about forty miles away. And I secretly really enjoy driving along a highway at sunset.** Makes me feel like I'm on an adventure.
I also liked being able to share Space Place knowledge with anyone who was willing to listen. It was fun to have some authority that way.
The Space Place dome is great, but sometimes you just gotta look at the real thing. I don't know if I'll go again, but it was fun this time around.
*Regardless of how much I know about what observatories actually look like, I can never help hoping one will turn out to be like those crazy orrery domes from fantasy novels, or that one from Majora's Mask. So far, no luck. This was just a bunch of big telescopes in a field. But hey! I got to look at SPACE!
**Alone, I mean. I hate driving when there are other people in the car.
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Date: 2015-07-02 06:13 am (UTC)