Mark Wagner
I was watching Venus Friday night. I didn't realize the huge dive toward the horizon it had taken in the past week. I recall coming home around 8 pm a few times during the week, the past several months, and seeing Venus high and bright. Friday night at Houge Park we were looking for it in early twilight. I was looking high, but Paul Mancuso said its getting very low. I was totally surprised at how low it was, and how much dimmer it had gotten. Speaking of naked-eye astronomy, at that star party Friday night (Houge Park), I blew it and forgot the mount for my Dob. I was pretty unhappy at myself, but Mancuso suggested I just mooch photons, and enjoy myself. Resigned to it, I soon found I was having a great time with the public, just talking about the constellations, deep sky objects in them, their mythology. Borrowing a laser pointer made it pretty easy. After I got home, I realized I hadn't done anything like that in eons. Made me think of ancients doing naked eye astronomy - like at Stonehenge, but without Druids. Coincidentally, Friday was the Vernal Equinox... and all things being equal, naked eye astronomy was absolutely lots of fun.
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