Thursday, June 11, 2015

The View From The Bridge

I've just come down from the bridge, where I and the members of the eve-watch have been admiring the view of Venus and Jupiter.  It's a partly-cloudy night, and the thirty-five knot wind is kicking some spray from the crests of the waves; this wind also drives the clouds toward us out of the west, giving the illusion of much greater speed across the water. 

The overall effect is impressive; our two brightest planets blaze in the gaps between clouds, then are snuffed-out as the edges of the occulting cumulostratus formations drive across them.  Venus and Jupiter, the major players, seem to fly across the sky, accompanied by 1st-Magnitude Regulus in line with them to the southeast and the equally bright "twins" of Castor and Pollux to the northwest. 

Just beautiful!

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