Thursday, April 30, 2009

Mercury III--Curse Ye, American Idol!

Have I seen Mercury yet?

No!!

Last night the sun went down right in the middle of American Idol, with Adam Lambert in the hot seat! OK. I confess. I've become a fan of American Idol, mostly because there are people in that competition who are just plain likeable. Admittedly Adam Lambert isn't one of them. He feels and looks like a Ken doll to me--all plastic perfection and an empty head. So I was hoping--beyond hope, as it turned out--that Adam would be voted off.

The moment I found out Adam was preserved (*sigh*) I dashed out the door with my binnoculars and headed for the park where we have an amazing view of the horizon. But no Mercury. We watched for awhile, hoping it would emerge from behind the one cloud in the sky (sound familiar?) that hovered just above the skyline. But, no. So we stayed and watched the stars wink on, found the Big Dipper, Arcturus, the Twins, Polaris, and SATURN!!




Now THAT was pretty cool. Saturn lies in the southwestern quadrant of the sky right now and is the first star-like body to show itself in the darkening evening sky. Last night the atmosphere (contrary to meteorologists' predictions--surprise, surprise) was brilliantly clear, and with my binnoculars I could actually see color as Saturn winked at me. It was awesome. I really need to get me a telescope.

1 comment:

Annie said...

Hi Suzanne,

I hope you get to see Mercury soon. My family and I go through rabid phases of astronomy. It's always exciting to see a planet, a globular cluster, galaxies, the surface of the moon... I definitely recommend getting a telescope; it's a lifelong investment!