Saturday, April 4, 2015

Astronomy Woes

Astronomy and I? We haven't been getting along. 

First, we were supposed to have an astronomy night last night, a chance for students to be able to see what they had learned about in class. We had to make a cancellation decision by the end of the school day, at which point it was mostly cloudy. Predictions were for gradual clearing but not by the time we needed... But it seemed to be happening faster than they were saying... I said this: if we cancel, it will be clear as a bell at 8 pm. If we don't, it will be cloudy. 

I think controlling the weather would be a pretty awesome superpower to have, though a lot of complications... But this was not the type of control I wanted! 

Long story short, using the best days we had, we cancelled. At 8 pm, the sky was cloudless and stars/planets were visible. Of course. (I guess my real issue here is with the weather, not astronomy. Whatever.)

Upside: I have superpowers!

So then, I wanted to see the lunar eclipse this morning. I read the best views would be just before 6:30 (though we wouldn't see it 100% in this area). When I awoke at like 5 am, I thought I saw the moon, eerily orange, out my window. However, I wasn't wearing contact lenses, so that really could have been anything. Chris holding a poster up, alien space ship, streetlight... But I think it was the partly eclipsed moon. Anyhow, knowing the best views were supposed to be over an hour later, I went back to sleep, woke up at 6 am, and.... Moon has set! Can't see it at all! Curses!

Oh well. Jump start on Saturday.

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