Comet ISON: #missedubro

There was a lot of talk about ISON burning up as it made its way around the sun.  The gif below suggests there might be some of it still floating around...


Source

I'm so happy I updated my Star Walk app because the pop-up notifications and the links to the VITO Technology blog kept me pretty tuned in to ISON's journey through our solar system.  I was looking at purchasing a telescope right before I got my notification that ISON was visible to the naked eye (via Start Walk) but nothing really caught my eye...and I would've had a tough time seeing it because of all the light pollution and...well...the sun is kind of a LARGE obstacle.  My old man and I had talked about going to the mountains for a nighttime viewing of the stars (and possibly ISON during sunrise or something) but November was just TOO BUSY!!!  I didn't even get to put in "FADE OUT" on the script I was working on during NaNoWriMo.  UGH!  I'm not upset, though, because November was a blast!  I just wish I could've been able to contribute to the Flickr pool.  Oh well.  You can check out the photos here!

I think the reason why this was kind of important to me was because I remember being able to see the comet Hale-Bop in the 90's.  It was kind of a huge deal for me, my friend, and her neighbors.  They bought a fancy camera with a long, fancy lens and had a Comet Party.  It was pretty magical and I guess that's what I was kind of expecting for ISON since it was kind of a biggish deal.  But I guess not since it wasn't really all over the news or anything.  Either way, I'm glad I was still able to track it with Star Walk and their blog - which made it a different kind of magical.

So now that ISON has burned through our Sun, what's up with the Black Knight satellite???

Stargazing

Since I blogged about my middle-of-the-night stargazing adventures on Nate Day, I've been itching to stargaze some more!  Enter StarDate.org!  They have great tips and tricks for the beginner stargazer - like me - all the way up to the most experienced!  They also have a list of places holding Star Parties.  That's where I found a link to the Atlanta Astronomy Club!  Score!



Granted, I've been sick the past few days and that has put a real damper on my hankering to get out and watch the stars but it's about to ramp up in late-November / early-December when comet ISON passes by the Sun.  Why is that such a big deal?  If ISON doesn't get obliterated by the Sun's heat, it will be the most visible object in the night sky!  Imagine!  It'll be like all my sci-fi movie visual dreams coming true!

Even though I live OTP (that's Outside The [285] Perimeter to you non-Georgia folks), I don't live far enough OTP that it's fairly easy to get someplace rural for some stargazing.  Sure, the Enota Mountain Retreat was nice but it was also 2 hours away!  Maybe it wouldn't hurt to secure a campsite in a non-wooded area for mid-December for some ISON-watching?  What a fun weekend excursion!  All I need is to check off some items on StarDate's helpful checklist and I'll be ready!

Err...maybe.

I still need to check which areas around me (preferably on a mountain top) would be ideal for stargazing - and that they AREN'T affected by the Government Shutdown...I guess I don't really need to limit it to Georgia, if I don't have to.  I could venture out to Tennessee, North Carolina, or even Kentucky!  They're all a reasonable drive away - except, maybe, Kentucky.  We could stay on the Appalachian Trail and pretend we're living the way of the pioneers using only the night sky to guide us.
A bit much, huh?

Maybe I should just stick to possibly joining the Atlanta Astronomy Club and see if there's going to be an ISON-watching star party in the near future, perhaps?