July 9th, 2017, 12:15 a.m. local time
This moon was full – very full. And it was very bright. The sky and everything were lit like alternative dawn imagined on an alien world, not by our Sun but from an unknown foreign star. The Moon hiding behind a patch of clouds helped to illustrate this effect.
In the photo, you can also see Saturn off to the right. The summer weather has stopped me from getting my telescope out more to both look at and image the planet, but I hope to get a least a few good sessions in through the month of July.
On a side note, my stargazing has been jagged for the past two weeks. I packed it all in during the July 4th weekend while all the bombs were going off, for fear of a stray firework hitting either me or my telescope. But I have also been studying the sky, to understand which constellations and stars are out this time of year. My favorite, Scorpius, looms over the South horizon. I have mapped out Bootes, which falls into the category of constellations not obvious to find unless you star hop and have a moderately dark sky. Hercules and Ophiuchus are this type as well found in the Northern Hemisphere during the Summer.
What I am really looking forward to is the “return” of the Andromeda Galaxy. We are nearly at that time of year again where I will be able to see it peeking over my East treeline if I stay out well past midnight. According to my log I started viewing it last year mid-to-late July.
