Alaska Sunset

With the recent Moon/Mercury/Venus conjunction, some people might wonder where my photos are. Well, I am in Fairbanks, Alaska and that conjunction was pretty much invisible from here as they all set about the same time as the Sun that night! Besides, sunset now is very late at night and the sky never gets dark before the Sun starts coming up again...Fairbanks is not north of the Arctic Circle so there is never a 24 hour day here, but it still never gets dark.

I wanted to see a sunset while I was up here and wanted to wait until a clear night. I was told by the locals that Murphy Dome was the place to go (about a 30 minute drive from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks campus where I am staying). I needed to get somewhere that had a decent horizon to see the Sun and that seemed to be the closest place.

I got a late start and left about midnight. According to the charts, sunset in Fairbanks was at 12:38am so I thought I was cutting it closer than I like. Of course sunset times assume a flat horizon and you are not standing on a hill...so sunset actually didn't happen until about 1:10am. Amazing what a difference terrain can make!

First, here is Murphy Dome. Yes, there is a dome.

Mosquitos are plentiful this time of year and they bite. Fortunately, clothes are a sufficient deterrent to them here (unlike Everglades mosquitos which bit through denim!) and I only got some bites on my face as the rest of me was covered up pretty well.

Here is a wide shot of where I was. 

I zoomed in as the Sun got closer to the cloud tops. There was some distortion at the top limb, but couldn't quite pull off a full green flash up there. You can see some nice distortion of the Sun near the horizon.

Although I didn't get a full mock mirage green flash, the clouds provided a nice backdrop to see a cloud-top green flash. This was visible naked eye as well as photographically.

Every now and then I get a new one that I haven't seen before that makes me think. You might notice there are some small gaps in the clouds. Well, I know you can get a cloud-top green flash, but it seems you can also get them through little holes in the clouds as well. I don't think this is due to scattering since scattering should take out the greens before the reds.

Finally, a post-sunset shot.

I am very happy I got to see a sunset from here. It is very different. The Sun skims the horizon as it sets and is very prolonged compared to the more southerly latitudes I am used to. Unfortunately, with my schedule up here, I don't think I will be able to get out for another really late night to do it again as I am dragging pretty bad today!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

"Alderman Greg Helding"

See more 'Commun Acator' videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/racinecommunicator?feature=watch

Open Blog - Thursday

Whatever.

"Racine Police Department launches 'Quick ID' program"

From RacineUncovered.org:

"The Racine Police are turning to social media and the internet in helping track down wanted suspects and criminals. Beginning this morning they are launching a new website called 'QuickID'
.
"The Racine Police Department is excited to announce a new website. The website was launched today in an effort to maximize the use of technology available to law enforcement. The website, http://www.cityofracine.org/quickid/ will allow investigators to post photos and video links of persons they need assistance identifying or locating.

"To visit the page please click Racine Police Website-Quick ID "

Read more: http://racineuncovered.org/2013/06/rpd-launches-quick-id-program/


I dislike the use of the internet to stalk or spy on people.  At the same time, I'm hopeful that the internet can be used as a tool for fighting crime.

Uh-oh, SER!

Cannibals!

Drew's Birthday Vacation!

We both enjoyed Drew's five days of vacation very much. Yes he did a lot of birding on his vacation too.

Friday we went out birding to Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Kenosha. It was really nice there and we seen a very rare bird while we were there.

Saturday Drew went out birding in the morning then we had a great time with some really great friends. We couldn't ask for better friends than them because they are family to both of us too!

Sunday Drew went out birding then he came home and cooked on his new grill I gave to him for his Birthday and Father's Day. I was a very relaxing day for me.

Monday we went to Harrington Beach State Park to see Drew's parents. They came down to see Drew for his Birthday. We had a lot of fun spending time with them. His mom and my daughter kept making sounds for a Catbird and they had me laughing to were it looked like I was crying. I couldn't ask for a better day for Drew than that one. We sat by the picnic table and you just seen saw many birds land and sit in the trees right by you. Then you go down by the beach and you are by Lake Michigan. We want to go back there to camp ourselves because we just love it there.

Sunday we just stayed home so Drew could relax for work today. I went to Dairy Queen and bought an Ice Cream cake for Drew. He loves ice cream for than cakes. I made him breakfast and dinner yesterday. My daughter also gave him a card, Eagle statue, bird decoration, candy, cookies and a notebook it was in a bird gift bag.

I would say Drew had a good vacation and birthday put together!

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my party animals!   How are you?  If you didn’t survive the get together, raise your hand.  I had a wonderful time chatting with you.  It was scintillating.  In reading your comments on the party, I see that only some of you remember my visit.  Apparently, my radiance was so bright that day that it blotted out all memory of my presence for some of you.  I keep forgetting that I have to dial it down when meeting friends.  I so want to impress.  Thank you, Ms. Beejay and Mr. Biggie D, for hosting the event.  Perhaps some day we can meet at the House of Zoltar.

We’re still on the cool side of things.  It’s hard to believe that we’re already into June and it gets chilly outside.  I prefer the cooler temperatures, but I know that many people expect a lot of sun and heat in their summer.  We can never please all of the people all of the time. 

To the right is a picture of two time loser and faux psychic, Mistress Zelda.  I think she’s been arrested in every major city in North America.    She is your reminder to always look for the Professional Psychic Seal of Approval.  Grifters and cons like Mistress Zelda give psychics a bad name.  So, go to school, kids, and study real hard, or you may end up like Mistress Zelda.

Yay!  School is out for summer.  Have fun, kids, but keep it safe, too.  Drivers, watch out for the children.  The children don’t always make the proper choice, but neither do the drivers.  Have respect for each other, and have a good summer.

To the left is a screenshot from Tuesday’s JournalTimes.com.  Am I the only one who thinks that hyperlink, with its soap opera treatment of a child sexual assault case, is out of line?  You shouldn’t pimp these stories to boost circulation, or otherwise.  Some experts are calling on the media to tone down their reporting of criminal acts in hopes of avoiding copycat crimes.  I really don’t care about the “highlights” of a child sexual assault trial.  I resent that they are even referred to as such. 

Thank you for stopping by to check out my blog this week.  I’ve often said that the best day of the week for me is Wednesday, when I read your comments.

Please report fake psychics here: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Enjoy the weather. It could change at any second.  I believe we are ahead of the game if it’s not snowing.  Here’s hoping for some hazy, lazy, crazy days soon.  Unasinous! 

Open Blog - Wednesday

Keep it in mind, too.

Open Blog - Tuesday

May this be another Summer of Love.

Romance

A wife, being the romantic sort, sent her husband a text:

"If you are sleeping, send me your dreams. If you are laughing, send me your smile. If you are eating, send me a bite. If you are drinking send me a sip. If you are crying, send me your tears. I love you!

The husband replied... "I am on the john. Please advise."

"Mind Over Mechanics"

I predict that future generations will make much use of this.

Open Blog - Monday

Betty sure is patriotic.

"How To Get A Bunch of Strangers Laughing At Nothing"

Is just the one guy an actor, or are there a few of them?

Til we meet again

Tomorrow takes us back to Florida. I enjoyed seeing you all. Look for us next summer. Perhaps later in June. A mite warmer would be nice. Remember the JTIs have a southern location in Florida.

From the Party!

When I went through my pictures I found this from last night and I don't remember taking this picture. Who is the one that past out on us first last night? I also love the drawing on the person for passing out and I think I know who this one is!

This is The Last Thing I Remembered at Beejay's Party......

Open Blog - Weekend

Party at Beejay's!

My Favorite Commercial

This is my favorite commercial.  I giggle my ass off every time it see.  Just love the way the baby Jap Slaps mommy right in the forehead....

Four for Fridays

Hello my fellow Irregulars! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Four for Fridays! Sorry for a late start, I just started my vacation. So what is a better way to start a vacation than sleeping in? Anyways, your questions...

1) What do you do when you can not sleep?

2) When it comes to money are you conservative or liberal?

3) Did you have an imaginary friend as a child?

4) What piece of technology do wish you understood better?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday

Friday is freedom.

"The JET Bicycle - The most dangerours unsafe bike EVER"

Now I want one.

performance-enhancing drugs

For the Olympics I believe it would be wrong for athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs.

When it comes to personal life and being a professional athlete, aren’t you suppose to “be all you can be”?

You go to school/college to enrich your brain to get a better job, what is wrong with using a drug to make your body stronger?

Open Blog - Thursday

Flower power!

"We Are Racine Advocacy Community Center Opens Its Doors!"

From RacineUncovered.org:

"Except for hanging a few pictures and doing some computer testing the We Are Racine Advocacy Community Center is up and running. Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers and supporters who have made this possible. We are located at 2432 Jacato #9. We will be doing the summer lunch program for school aged children, employment help, educational classes, health information classes after school drop in hours. This is all made possible by the people of Racine.

"We will start operating at full capacity early next week and will hold an open house at a later date. For more information on 'We Are Racine' and to find out how you can help visit We Are Racine "

Read more and see photos: http://racineuncovered.org/2013/06/we-are-racine-advocacy-community-center-opens-its-doors/


Congratulations to everyone involved.  It's amazing what can be accomplished when people pull together.  You have brought hope to a once hopeless neighborhood.  Thank you.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my friends and lovers!  How are you?  It’s so nice to see you again.  I don’t know where the Sheriff got that gibberish about the Caribbean and a cabin boy.  Is that “creative” reporting?  I was sick as a dog.  The closest I came to the Caribbean was to puke in that direction.  My “cabin boy” was Junior fetching my meds and bringing me food and drink.  Oh my.

The spring plant growth this year is particularly lush because of the rain.  The soil can be too wet to work with.  If we can maintain this kind of moisture, we might have a bumper crop of everything.  More likely, though, is that we’ll have an “average” year.  Just ask a farmer.

The moisture has been accompanied by cool temperatures.  Some of Racine’s premier outdoor party events have been hampered by the chill.  I was talking to a friend and she said that she remembers a 4th of July where everyone wore jackets to the parade.  That kind of cold can stunt plant growth.  We don’t have to worry about that, yet.

Ms. Mary, and everyone else in Oklahoma, you have my condolences and sympathy.  I’ve often heard of your “tornado alley,” but the recent storms were the first I’ve seen of such intensity.  Oh my, oh my.

I’m so looking forward to the JTI party at Beejay’s house.  I will appear this time.  Really.  I mean it.  No, really.

From the videos out there on the net, it looks like Racine’s Common Council is more or less at war with itself.  It’s nasty to cut off someone’s microphone as they speak at a council meeting.  It takes quite a degree of chutzpa to ignore the rules and push through a personal agenda.  No one trusts anyone else and the electorate is left holding the bag.  If we’re going to worry about how Racine appears to the rest of the world, clean up local government first.  No one is going to believe PR about Racine when they can visit YouTube and watch our “representatives” in action.  Oh my, oh my, oh my.

Finally, I want to say Happy Birthday to the JT Irregulars.  I started channeling Mr. OrbsCorbs unintentionally.  He had been banned from the Journal Times site once again. I was the only way he could get through.  I’m glad now with the way things turned out. 
 

I’m also glad that you stopped by my blog today.  I especially missed you after a two week absence.  It’s great to see old, and new, friends.

What really happened in the “Caribbean?" madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com 

The forecast calls for more cool and more rain.  Remember hot and dry?  Be careful what you pray for.  Have a wonderful week.  It might not be perfect outside, but at least it isn’t below zero.  Laconicum!

"Let's Talk About #2"

Charlie resents the name, "One Wipe Charlie."

Open Blog - Wednesday

That's what blogs are for.

Robert Johnson - "Crossroad"

I think that's his most famous composition. You can listen to all of his recordings here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HleLTn60BxE

They said he often played with his back to the audience so that no one could steal his licks.

The Senior Citizen Cheer

Open Blog - Tuesday

Yum-yum.

Open Blog - Monday

The start of another work week.

Useless Information

Did you know:

 

In the United States alone, there are more then 5 billion dollars’ worth of women’s bras sold every year.

I’m bitch’in or Complaining would be a better word.

I was reading an article in one of Madison’s newspapers, The Cap Times, about a group of Senators who are calling themselves the “Gang of Eight”.

An anti-human trafficking provision in the immigration bill would prevent foreign labor contractors from charging fees to the workers they bring in, and another provision would institute a new $500 fee per worker to help pay for stepped-up security on the Mexican border

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/pat_schneider/wisconsin-dells-resort-operators-say-immigration-bill-would-hit-them/article_1d541878-ca45-11e2-9647-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz2V7ZmasdO

There are groups, business and non-profit businesses who do all the required paperwork for the students to get into the United States at the tune of $1,500.00 a kid, NOW this Gang of Eight, wants to add another $500.00 to the tab!  Why for, stepped-up security on the Mexican border.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  We have thousands of military personal we could bring back from across the pond and have them protect the border; we are already paying and feeding them, let them work here in the US.

There aren’t enough people to fill all the summer jobs in the Dells and driving from Madison is too costly for them at the wages they are paid, $8.50 to $9.00/hr.

The way I see it Dell’s business would have to operator at a reduced employee staff which is almost a bet the quality of service would go down the toilet.

To pay student more money to make it worthwhile to drive, for instants, from Madison to the Dells, you know that cost would be passed onto the visitors/vacationers.

With reduced services and higher costs of everything I do believe the quantity of visitors/vacationers will decline thus hurting businesses and the possibility of forcing them to close.

This “Gang of Eight”, they need to get a real job and a life!

Hotels in WI and MN

Biggie and I are up here roaming about. Went over to Winona, MN. Here is. Picture of a little added amenity

"Moonwalk"

I saw this Three Stooges' short yesterday and thought, "Curly invented the moonwalk." It looks like someone else had the same idea.

Open Blog - Weekend

It should always start here.  Happy June, Irregulars!

Prancercise®

"Prancercise® is defined as: A springy, rhythmic way of moving forward,similar to a horse’s gait and ideally induced by elation. 'This form of movement, along with dietary and spiritual principles can create the most satisfying, holistic and successful fitness program one could hope to experience. I encourage anyone who is ready for a huge change in their lives, from the way they see the world, to the way they see themselves to explore the principles inherent in this program, especially as outlined in my book : Prancercise®:The Art of Physical and Spiritual Excellence.” 

"Joanna Rohrback, B.H.S. Owner/MGR.M of Prancercise LLC"

http://prancercise.com/


She knows we're laughing at her.  She loves the attention.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays! Man. this week sure flew! Must be the extra day off. Anyways, some questions for you....

1) Have you ever forgotten what day of the week it is?

2) What movie can you watch over and over again?

3) What book have you attempted the read several times, but never been able to finish?

4) Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday

Me too.  It's the best.

The Planets Line Up, Comet PANSTARRS and a Globular Cluster

I was doing a telescope training session for students last night, but of course I took along my camera. I got several photos of the planets and stayed after they left photographing a few other objects.

First, I have been posting a lot about the ongoing planet conjunction. All the planets are now starting to spread out more each night and I thought it might be a nice time to look at where all the planets are in our solar system so I created a little view of the planets (out to Jupiter) in their orbits using Stellarium. Click if you want a bigger version.

First find Earth (it's labeled). Mercury is the innermost planet and I couldn't get it to print the label, but you can see its orbit and find Mercury to the slightly to the right of the Sun. Now find Venus and Jupiter. You might notice you can almost draw a straight line through all four of these objects (not quite, but very close!) This line shows that if you are standing on Earth and look in that direction,you will see Mercury, Venus and Jupiter very close together in the sky which is exactly what has been going on the last couple of weeks. You also will notice this line passes pretty close to the Sun...therefore, we see them close to the Sun in the sky, in this case, after sunset (if they appeared on the other side of the Sun, we would see them in the morning...Mars is about to move into the morning sky).

Now think about the motions. From this perspective, the planets will orbit counterclockwise around the Sun.Planets closer to the Sun move faster and planets farther from the Sun move slower. Therefore, Mercury and Venus are catching up to Earth. As they orbit, the line you have to draw from Earth to Mercury or Venus will get farther away from the Sun so they will appear higher in the sky...until they really start catching up to Earth as they prepare to pass between the Earth and the Sun...then they will appear lower in the sky. This will happen pretty quick for Mercury. On June 13th, it will be as far away from the Sun as it gets this time and turn around and start getting lower in the sky each night (and pass Venus again on the way down as Venus keeps going up!)

Remember Earth moves around the Sun faster than Jupiter so in the not too distant future, Jupiter will appear directly behind the Sun from Earth's perspective. Therefore, Jupiter is getting lower in the sky each evening and will soon disappear behind the Sun. After that, Jupiter will reappear in the morning sky.

So now that you know a little bit about why the planets have been doing this dance, let's get to the latest pics from last night. They planets appeared almost in a straight line. Mercury is at the top,Venus is in the middle and Jupiter at the bottom.

By the time the students left, it was totally dark so I went for Comet PANSTARRS again. I have the tracking mount and decided to push the exposure further this time. I got a little trailing (not a perfect alignment) but was still pretty pleased with the pics I got showing its nice long anti-tail. I honestly have no idea whey more people aren't trying to photograph this...I know there are more skilled people out there with better equipment than I have...if I can do something this nice, they should be cranking out some jaw dropping stuff. 

Finally, I turned my sights toward something a little different. There is a globular cluster (M4) very close to the bright star Antares. A globular cluster is a gravitationally bound collection of 100,000 stars or so. M4 is one of the closer globular clusters at about 7,200 light years away. Globs (as the are affectionately known) consist of very old stars and this cluster is over 12 billion years old. Since it is so closer to Antares and close to Earth, I thought it might make a good target to photograph.

Antrares is the bright orange-ish star near the center with the cluster to the upper right of Antares. Not bad for a first try. Antrares is one of the brightest stars in the sky and is a red giant, hence the color. You also see a lot of background stars. Antares is in Scorpius, one constellation over from the center of our galaxy in Saggitarius so you get a higher density of background stars the closer you get to the plane of our galaxy. 

I only have two more nights to get potential photos here before I head up to Alaska for a couple of weeks where it will never get dark!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Useless Information

French engineer Louis Reard created the first modern bikini, promoting it as "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit," according to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal newspaper.
 
Originally banned in Italy and Spain as it was considered indecent, the bikini didn’t become a popular fashion trend till 1956 after French actress Brigitte Bardot was seen wearing one, reports AmericanHeritage.com.

Saint Peter

Saint Peter is sitting at the Pearly Gates when two guys wearing dark hoodies, and sagging pants, arrive. St. Peter looked out through the Gates and said, "Wait here. I’ll be right back." 

St. Peter goes over to God's chambers and tells him who is waiting for entrance. God says to Peter: "How many times do I have to tell you? You can't be judgmental here. This is heaven. All are loved. All are brothers. Go back and let them in!"

St. Peter goes back to the Gates, looks around, and lets out a heavy sigh. He returns to God's chambers and says, “Well, they're gone."

“The guys wearing hoodies?" asked God.

"No. The Pearly Gates."

'Jean' - Rod McKuen

Remember that guy? He was to poetry what rap is to music - commercially successful, but 'purists' scoffed at him.


"Rod McKuen is an American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks, and classical music. He earned two Oscar nominations and one Pulitzer nomination for his serious music compositions. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence in the English-speaking world. His poetry dealt with themes of love, the natural world, and spirituality, and his thirty books of poetry sold millions of copies.[1]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_McKuen

Open Blog - Thursday

Do you Scrabble?

Rationale For High Capacity Mags

 

A man walked into his crowded local bar, waved a revolver around and yelled, "Who in here has been screwing my wife?"

 

A voice from the back of the bar yelled back, "You're gonna need more ammo!"

Dear Madame Zoltar

Unfortunately, Madame Zoltar is still not feeling "up to snuff."  She hopes that another week in the Carri bean with a cabin boy will cure her ills.

We look forward to reading her blog next week.  Maybe.

Open Blog - Wednesday

Have a sparkly and effervescent day.

baby&me

Open Blog - Tuesday

But it has that Monday feel...

RIP Oscar Mayer Smokie Links

Bump! Today SER gave me Smokie Links. Where did you find them?

Originally published on May 7, 2013, 7:14 PM:
 

Yesterday, I had a craving for Smokie Links.  They're loaded with fat and cholesterol and salt and nitrates and nitrites and God knows what.  I don't eat them often, but I usually prefer them over regular wieners.

So I went to Piggly Wiggly to get some Smokie Links.  They didn't have any.  Hmm. I went to Pick 'n Save. They didn't have them either.

As it turns out, Oscar Mayer stopped making Smokie Links in 2008, because of poor sales.   That shows how often I eat them.

Unfortunately, there's nothing like them out there.  A website said that Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage comes close, but not quite.

Farewell, Smokie Links.  I wish I had known about your demise.  I would have stocked up. 

"Alderman McCarthy Dupes Alderman Shields"

"Published on May 23, 2013

"Alderman McCarthy in Racine WI. Committee of the Whole meeting purposely shuts off mike so black Alderman do not get to speak"

PANSTARRS Continues to Put on a Show

Earlier this year, Comet PANSTARRS put on a pleasing show in the western sky after sunset in March becoming a naked eye object for a while. For most people, it has faded from view

However, it is surprisingly still visible. I read a nice article on Universe Today about Comet PANSTARRS having a nice anti-tail. Comets tails usually point away from the Sun but they can form anti-tails which point toward the Sun. Right now, Comet PANSTARRS has an anti-tail that has been reported to be up to six degrees long. Based on its current brightness estimates I thought, hey, I bet I can photograph that.

Another nice feature is that right now Earth is passing through the orbital plane of Comet PANSTARRS. We are now viewing the tail edge on which makes it very thin and brighter than it would otherwise be.

Now I have gotten a new toy recently which I knew would play an important role in this attempt. I wanted to zoom in to get a better view, but when you zoom in your exposure time is limited to a few seconds before you get star trailing (with the 250mm lens I wanted to use, trailing shows up in about 3-4 seconds). This means you need something to let your camera track stars so you can take longer exposures without trailing. Fortunately, I just got an iOptron Sky Tracker. I had practices putting it together during the day, but last night was my frist try under the stars.

When I got to one of my usual places at the Douglas Spring Trailhead at Saguaro National Park East, I was greeted by a news truck that was getting ready to do a live feed for the Fox 11 news at 9 on vandalism of saguaros. They had some lights on I had to dodge but the reporter and techie were nice enough. So I set up my camera, did a crude polar alignement (I am sure I will get better with practice, but I got it good enough for what I was doing last night) and started shooting. I was pleased to quickly find the comet near Polaris and quickly got pics where it was showing up with a nice long anti-tail as advertised.

The nucleus is slightly above and right of the center with the long tail not quite vertical in this image (going from roughly 1 o'clock to 7 o'clock). This is a 30 second exposure on a Canon 60D with a Canon 55-250mm zoom lens at 250mm and f/5.6.

I was just able to see the comet in 8x42 binoculars, although the tail didn't show up that well. If it's clear tonight, I might bring out the big guns (20x80 binoculars) and see what it looks like.

And of course I am happy to see that the Sky Tracker handled my camera fine and was relatively easy to set up and get a reasonable alignment.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

The Triple Planet Conjunction of May 2013

I have been posting some pics on facebook, twitter and google+ the last week of the current triple planet conjunction in the evening sky. Last night the three planets made their closes approach to each other. Mercury, Venus and Jupiter were all easily visible to the naked eye and this is a great time to be watching them. You can clearly see the movement from night to night as their relative positions change.  Here are some pics from Tucson last night.

First a close up of the trio.

Next some wide shots of the three. There were low clouds on the western horizon so I got to watch the three play hide and seek amongst the clouds.

Although the night of closest approach is past, they will still be visible together after sunset and worth looking at for several more days as they continue to move away from each other. Jupiter will be lower each night while Mercury speeds higher and above Venus each night. Eventually Mercury will turn around and pass Venus as Mercury dives back toward the Sun and Venus continues to get higher in the sky (by this time, Jupiter will probably be too low to see easily).

Enjoy this one...we only get these triple conjunctions every few years.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Open Blog - Memorial Day

Thank you to all who have served.

Those vitamins are working I even feel younger.