csilag buli!

(that's "star party!" for those of you who don't understand the half a dozen hungarian words i know well :P)

eric and i used to do this all the time our first year here, and then last year fell down on the job.

part of the problem is that there's so much light polution around here (on account of philly, NYC, etc.), and the other problem is that since we're in the "urban corridor" between the two cities, it's really hard to find an open space without bright lights shining on it (other than parks where cops come and yell at you for being in the park after dark). having had the latter situation often enough, and having had the regular field we used for most of our first year get built up into a bunch of brightly lit buildings, we lost enthusiasm for a bit.

until tonight.

tonight, with the weather being gorgeous (it's nearly 1am and it's still in the 60s outside, and perfectly clear), i suggested the star party plot to eric, and he was game... instead of the usual parks where we get yelled at though, i suggested we drive northwest a little and find some open space where the cities are more spread out... we drove about half an hour and found a nice hilly street completely without streetlights, and camped out in someone's front yard... we were in jersey, but could clearly see the milky way! that was fantastic! we kept at it for an hour and a half... my telescope has the feature that if you align it and tell it the day and time, it will give you a tour of "tonight's best"... so we saw nebulas, star clusters, famous stars... the moon was down, but we were out late enough that mars rose and i got to see it in a telescope for the first time. it was a good night. :)

all this is to say...

astronomy is cool. :)

(as if that's a big surprise from me.

the end :P