Blog Vol.II, # 9. When No Light is the Best Light
This is the time of year to be
outside, whether in your backyard or out camping. And this weekend, on the 9th of
July, there will be what is called a New Moon, when the sun and the moon are
aligned. That means there will be a dark
sky, the garish light of the moon will not disturb stargazing.
The gift of sight is really
evident when you get out in nature, with the dark sky a lot can be seen at
night, especially when camping away from the light pollution that we usually experience
in Southern Ontario. Take along a
telescope for even more excitement.,
Just what will you see this
time of year? You will see, of course, the
Milky Way, the galaxy that we reside in.
You should be able to get really good views of constellations like
Sagittarius, Hercules and Draco. If you have a more powerful telescope you can
get a good view of Mars and Venus in our locale. Also you can obtain apps like Star Tracker
that not only locate celestial bodies in the night sky but also accompany them
with Sci-Fi music. There are a number of
really interesting websites to help in your space exploration, such as www.space.com
or www.earthsky.org
and of course there is always www.nasa.org. And, with the current high pressure system
upon us, we should have reduced cloud cover and clear views.
I will be getting my telescope
out this weekend. Enjoy.
Til next week,
the good doctor, Dr. Mark Germain, Burlington Optometrist
