1567m 2016/02/04–05

1567m 2016/02/04–05 03:45–04:00 EST Foxmead SE window 3 ne


We're sleeping in David's room because the bed is more comfortable for my aching back. I woke to see out the SE window that the sky had cleared. I could see a bright object but couldn't figure out what it was. When I got up and went to the window, I could see Corvus riding in the southern sky, with Spica to its left, but something brighter further left in Libra. I thought it might be Saturn, but on checking Starry Night found that it was Mars, now much brighter than the last time I'd seen it about a month ago. It's now magnitude +0.5, but still with a tiny 7 arc second disk, so it looked very much like a star.

When I looked again a few minutes later, the sky was overcast again.

It's always a pleasure to see the "Spring" constellations in the "Winter" sky, a sign that winter will soon be over and the nights will soon be warmer.