Summer vacation is almost gone everybody is getting that feeling of oh no! school is about to start :( Registration process is imminent and back to school is just around the corner. When this summer break started the kids wrote a list of things they wanted to do and one of them was star gazing. Well, one item on my 45 by 45 list was to learn about the constellations and I thought why not do it together? One item off my list ;) To be honest I am not much of a star person. I mean I took astronomy in college, I aced the class but that's what long term memory is for right??
I did a bit or research, just ask Google and you will get an answer. So, with the help of this page tonightssky.com I was able to plan our observing session it was a super easy way to find out "what was going on in the sky." I did have to find out Hemet's latitude and longitude on this page. Earthsky was also a very helpful. Our session was on Friday July 24th, we had smores, hot dogs and pickles the whole shebang you know or shall I say the whole enchilada? It was just captivating seeing little bright lights appearing in the dusking sky.
While researching I learned that when when the moon is more than half lighted but less than half full it's called a waxing gibbous moon. So we had to spot the moon in between two star like points. The star spica to the right or west and Saturn to the left or east. Piece of cake visible to the naked eye. We were to also look for the Northern Cross or Cygnus the Swan. Sophia was the one who saw it first. I also showed Javier and the kids this page I came across 26 pictures that will make you re-evaluate your entire existence. It was an engaging and intriguing evening undeniable. All sorts of topics came out such as life in other planets, aliens, black holes, the sun dying out on us, the extinctions of dinosaurs and the funny jokes obviously came out "What if a black hole leads to Uranus and is that a constellation or a constipation?" oh boy...
I also realized out how difficult it is to take pictures at night so I gave up pretty quickly...only a few to show you the rest should be pinterest fail
I should also mention that Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Friday was a good one. Oh and that moment when you find a 20 that you washed and put away in a skirt last summer happened on Friday as well! Amen.
Happy anniversary Claudia! Star gazing sounds like a fun family activity. I love that you guys grilled and had s'mores for the event. They kids will surely remember that night forever! My new camera has a few night features but since I'm not really up past dark often I haven't tried them yet!
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