My friend Joe inspired me to take advantage of the clear night sky, and look for the celestial body I have always been fond of, the one I can readily find - Ursa Major, or in most part of the US, simply known as the Big Dipper. Although living in even a small town there is enough light pollution to make finding this difficult, and on trips to places to L.A . (and i am not referring to lower Alabama either) it seems all the lights in the sky are moving.
I sit on my patio, gazing heavenly to see the stars, and ponder the lights on the horizon- I wonder, is that Venus? Mars? What amazing alignment, I had no idea the planets were aligned like that tonight..."Honey, come look at the planets all aligned, quick, get the telescope" Yes, I have a telescope, I think we ordered it from the Discovery store or something, and rarely use it.
After some struggle, I get the thing aligned and steady on the tripod, and fix my eyes on the first of the planets I see, "Oh look honey, its all red, it has to be Mars" My significant isn't buying this, looks on and sighs "but I didn't hear about any big alignment and the news is always babbling about this stuff?" Quickly running in the house and looking up a sky chart on the computer, I run back outside and try to orient the chart to the night sky...where was Mars? It has moved? No, I must have been mistaken, but then what planet is that, and how did I miss it? "Look honey, three planets!" I giggle. Honey, bored, goes back in the house. I retreive a stool from the kitchen , and park myself scanning the stars. I install the optional thingy that allows me to attach my camera to the telescope; I am going to record this moment in digital photos!
Carefully using the binoculars, I find my target, and now steadily align the scope. I can see it!!! Its reddish glow, I know its Mars!! I notice another brighter light to the west, and slowly focus on it...Whats that I wonder? To the naked eye, its a ball of yellowish light, but now in my telescope, its more whitish, slowly it comes into view...what the ??? Change eyepieces, and OH NO...Its a big happy Eskimo! What? I have been gazing at the lit tail of an airliner?? I zoom out a little and see the blob I have been tracking now has headlights, oh lord, and then I realize I have been tracking Alaska Air, coming in. Shifting to the horizon (how appropriate) is Horizon Air, probably several miles behind. Is that reddish glow there? is it Mars? Sadly, no its Southwest airlines (which are kind of reddish orange planes). The "planets" were actually three airliners, coming in to the airport several miles away...I slowly bagged up the telescope, and went back to looking up, at Ursa major...with my eyes only...
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