Favorie Christmas’ – Comet

It was in the ’70′s, I know that. It was a really cold Christmas morning. We lived on Seven Oaks Lane, about four miles outside of Canby. I’m not sure of the year, but I do remember that they were building more houses and extending the street. I was probably in 5th or 6th grade since I was really interested in astronomy by then.

I’m think I might have got a telescope that Christmas. What I do remember most was the neat time I spent with Dad.

There was a comet that was supposed to be visible in the west. I don’t remember the name, but if you hang on a second, I’ll Google it. Hang on…

I can’t find it. I remember it started with a K. It was some long Russian word, I think. Hang on. I’m gonna Google some more…

I found it! Comet Kohoutek. Visible Christmas of 1973. That would make this story the second year we lived on Seven Oaks Lane. (That puts me in 5th grade) Glad we got that settled! What did we do before the Internets?!

So, Dad and I went outside Christmas morning before the Sun came up to see if we can see this comet. (we never did) We were on the west side of what would later be Edna’s house. We were on the west side to see if we could spot the comet, plus there was a bitter east wind blowing! It was cold :-)

But the best thing about the whole thing? Was spending the time with Dad. I don’t remember what we were talking about. Astronomy maybe. I just remember hanging out with him on the west side of a house under construction on a cold Christmas morning. It was the best! Thanx Dad!

What up Holmes?

Comet Holmes! That’s what’s up! I finally decided to take a look. Especially after I read it had grown bigger than the Sun! Amazing! I guess a week or two ago, it was visible with the naked eye, even from the city. However, I couldn’t make it out just by looking. But with my cheap binoculars, there it was! It looks like a ghost almost. Just a cotton ball, but much much less dense. Almost a mist of a snowball. Weird, but cool! There’s still plenty of time to check it out! Here’s a great article at Astronomy.com that will help you know where to look. Not only that, but I found an AWESOME and FREE program for your computer that will help you navigate the night time sky. It’s called Stellarium. It’s an Open Source Planetarium program for PCs! I downloaded it this afternoon and it’s unbelievably cool. You can search the entire evening sky from where you live or check out how the sky looks from anywhere on the planet. You can view constellations, even superimpose constellation art to see them even clearer.  Find planets, nebulae, etc. etc. etc. I’m amazed at how versatile it is and even how fast the program runs!

OK, so, Holmes isn’t the only show in the sky tonight. It’s also the peak of the Leonid Meteor Shower.  Called that because they seem to emanate from Leo.  Leo is just rising now (almost midnight here now). I know that because of my new Planetarium program :-) Anyway, I just went out to see what I could see. The Leonid’s are expected to be moderate this year. About 15 “shooting stars” per hour at their peak tonight. I made a short drive up the road to the Linda Vista Trail Trailhead. It’s where I do most of my hiking. You aren’t supposed to park there after 9:00, but since I was staying next to the car in my lawn chair I thought it would probably be fine.

It was a bit darker there than here at the apartment. I could see Holmes a little sharper. So cool! I waited quite awhile and only saw two “shooting stars.” While I was hanging out, I heard some coyotes yapping in the distance. Probably closer than a mile and it sounded like they were moving closer, but then they quieted down, so who knows. Orion was hanging over Pusch Peak which was illuminated by a First Quarter Moon that hadn’t yet set. Very pretty indeed! Mars was right in front of me as I faced east. It was just pretty out there! I spent some time talking to God about how beautiful His creation is, and some other things that are on my mind :-) I finally got tired of sitting around. So, I took out my binoculars again and looked at Homes, Mars, some of the stars in Orion, the Pleades, and others, and then came back here to go to bed :-)

Good Night!