Twinkle, Twinkle, LOTS of Stars: out searching for inspiration

Despite the December chill and my general malaise about life, I pushed myself out the door and drove to the observatory at the local community college where they have free public stargazing on Friday evenings. And I'm so glad I did! Bundled in coats, gloves, hats and scarves, a number of brave souls stared up into the night sky.

I found the constellation Cassiopeia (see above) all by myself, and then the lead stargazer pointed out that the bright object to the south of the observatory was the planet Jupiter. Then we each got to see it a bit closer through the telescope (enlarged to about the size of a pencil eraser, and you could just make out the planet's cloudy bands!).

Next we saw a double star; one shone a hot blue and the other a cooler yellow. The colors were very distinct. 

We viewed a variety of star clusters. Some were easy to make out while others were farther away and a bit fuzzy. But just knowing that one of those fuzzy clusters contained more than 1 million stars and was thousands of light years away blew my mind. I mean, I know all this stuff is out there, but to actually see it and try to wrap you head around it is a trip.

Then I realized my ears were going numb! But I did catch 2 planetary nebulae, with one called the Ring Nebula.

Then I headed back to my truck and fired up the heat! But it was worth the chill to fill my day with a little wonder, which has been sorely lacking. And to think I'd never visited the observatory before. Well, that needs to change.

And so I headed home--after a quick pit stop for some yummy hot chocolate.