Observation #8

Times: 1930-2030; 2200-2230

Temp: 62f

Astronomer: mellow and a little tired

Skies: mostly clear, but scattered clouds; evolved into high-level cirrostratus type clouds, making this observation a little less of a thrill ride than the last. Mild to moderate light pollution variable with cloud cover. Heavier air traffic than usual. 

Observations:

The moon is absent from tonight's sky, which is fine as it should lead to darker conditions overall. However, the clouds are making stargazing a little harder than I'd like tonight.

Telescope is polar-oriented and ready to go. First observation of the evening focuses on Altinak, also called Zeta Orionis, one of the stars in Orion's belt. This star is bright and is, so I am told, part of a binary star system - something I will need to learn more about. It is also destined to eventually go nova, but not in my lifetime. (Christoforou, 2017). 

The stars have a way of putting human existence into perspective. The light I enjoy tonight from Alnitak left the star in the year 760, right around the beginning of the age of the Vikings in northern Europe. My ancestors were somewhere out there eking out some sort of existence, but I have no clue what they would have been up to; my entire existence would be incomprehensible to them. You are sitting in a building in a landmass I have never heard of using technology that we cannot imagine to blather into the void about stars? Preposterous.

Alnitak is more than 7 million years old. I am 36 years old. I will likely survive another 36-50 years, and my entire existence - everything I know and love, everything I experience - will be gone. Alnitak will know nothing of this and hum along for another 20 million or so years before it, too, faces oblivion and goes nova. Wild shit.

Moving along, the clouds have begun to encroach a little more. I sight Mars, and a cloud obscures it. I move to Rigel, another bright star in Orion, but the clouds have moved over more. In the distance, I hear the sounds of gunfire and what sounds like a loudspeaker; in this part of central Florida it could be anything.

Not the best night for observing, all in all. Tomorrow is likely to be overcast, but maybe it will clear up enough in the evening to make it worthwhile to go out and observe. 

Sources:

Christoforou, P. (12 July 2017). Star Facts: Alnitak. Astronomy Trek. Retrieved December 6, 2020 from Star Facts: Alnitak - (astronomytrek.com)