If At First You Don't Succeed
Jul. 21st, 2020 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerAfter lamenting here my vacation under darker skies didn’t coincide with evenings clear enough to try looking for Comet NEOWISE, I told myself even a “hazy” sky was clearer than I’d seen and got in my car as it got dark outside to drive north from my small city. At last pulling off to the side of the diminished road where it seemed dark enough, I got out with a pair of binoculars long in my family, but couldn’t spot any stars to the north despite some being visible in other directions. On the way back, I told myself I’d at least made the effort, and that would have to count for something.
With the weekend over, though, Monday morning was clear enough overhead I started wondering about staying up even a little later that evening. Plenty of clouds drifted in over the afternoon, however, and I did get to wondering how many more days were left to have even a “last chance.” In the early evening, though, I did glance out the window to see the sky clear again, and resolved to get on the road once more.
Getting on the move a little earlier than I had on the weekend, I noticed there was still a trace of colour in the sky, and wondered how long I might have to wait even if I could find a place to pull off the road. This time, I managed to sort out a complicated intersection and head up a different way. After passing a car pulled off to the side and realising the people in it might be trying to look for the comet too, I pulled over myself and, remembering a bug bite that had produced a strangely large swelling on my arm, aimed my binoculars up through the windshield.
Having been pointed to the Stellarium online planetarium, I knew to “look down from the Big Dipper,” which seems about as simple as overhead directions can get. The familiar stars of the asterism emerged from the sky, faint enough at first, and I swept down with my binoculars, happening almost at once on something that seemed a little fuzzy. It almost seemed too simple now. As I kept peering into the darkness (and saw a steady light I was ready to suppose was a satellite travel by that fuzzy object), though, I was more and more ready to accept I’d found the comet. I even got out of my car for a better look, and overheard the people back down the road discussing how to take pictures. For my part, I was just trying to fix the sight in my mind, recalling being driven out into the countryside early one morning when young to guess one fuzzy spot in the sky was Comet Halley, managing to spot Comet Hyakutake in university and on the university grounds themselves, and sighting Comet Hale-Bopp while at home. Adding another comet to that small list was positive enough.
With the weekend over, though, Monday morning was clear enough overhead I started wondering about staying up even a little later that evening. Plenty of clouds drifted in over the afternoon, however, and I did get to wondering how many more days were left to have even a “last chance.” In the early evening, though, I did glance out the window to see the sky clear again, and resolved to get on the road once more.
Getting on the move a little earlier than I had on the weekend, I noticed there was still a trace of colour in the sky, and wondered how long I might have to wait even if I could find a place to pull off the road. This time, I managed to sort out a complicated intersection and head up a different way. After passing a car pulled off to the side and realising the people in it might be trying to look for the comet too, I pulled over myself and, remembering a bug bite that had produced a strangely large swelling on my arm, aimed my binoculars up through the windshield.
Having been pointed to the Stellarium online planetarium, I knew to “look down from the Big Dipper,” which seems about as simple as overhead directions can get. The familiar stars of the asterism emerged from the sky, faint enough at first, and I swept down with my binoculars, happening almost at once on something that seemed a little fuzzy. It almost seemed too simple now. As I kept peering into the darkness (and saw a steady light I was ready to suppose was a satellite travel by that fuzzy object), though, I was more and more ready to accept I’d found the comet. I even got out of my car for a better look, and overheard the people back down the road discussing how to take pictures. For my part, I was just trying to fix the sight in my mind, recalling being driven out into the countryside early one morning when young to guess one fuzzy spot in the sky was Comet Halley, managing to spot Comet Hyakutake in university and on the university grounds themselves, and sighting Comet Hale-Bopp while at home. Adding another comet to that small list was positive enough.
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Date: 2020-07-26 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 01:18 am (UTC)