Observation #2

Thursday, October 18
Time: 8:45pm to 9:20pm
Location: Midnight Pass Road

Light Pollution: A few street lights lightened a portion of the western horizon.
Cloud Coverage: A few scattered clouds here and there.
Instruments: Naked eye and binoculars.

Moon: The moon is currently in its First Quarter Phase, about 47% of a Full Moon. It was located in the Southwestern part of the sky.

Planets: The moon has clearly distanced itself from Jupiter within the last couple of days. Jupiter is one of the brighter celestial objects in the sky.

Stars: The bright star in Aquila, Altair was easily seen with the naked eye as well as the other two first magnitude stars that comprise the Summer Triangle. The North Pole Star, Polaris was visible in the North.

Constellations: The Little Dipper in the constellation of Ursa Minor (Little Bear) was barely visible with the light pollution coming from the streets. The three constellations that make up the Summer Triangle- Aquila, Lyra, and Cygnus, were all in the visible in the nighttime sky. Some other constellations consist of Pegasus, Delphinus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Hercules.