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Posted by Toe on 01:08:51 05/07/08
I decided to take advantage of tonight's clear, dry skies to do some astonomy from my backyard. Around 11:00, I was looking for IC972, a faint planetary nebula in Virgo. I had been hearing Screech Owls for a few minutes in the surrounding trees, but this time I heard one very close. I poked my head out from behind the telescope and looked at the dead, snaggly tree in front of me, and 12 ft. away is a Screech Owl doing its call. My eyes were dark-adapted enough that I could see its detail in the faint skyglow. After calling a few times, it moved to another tree in the yard to call from there. A very unexpected but awesome experience. The whole dead tree thing and the stars in the back gave it a somewhat eerie feel. Really cool.
IC972 proved more difficult to see than the Screech Owl, with only a slight glimse with much averted vision (or averted imagination, depending on how you look at it).
Birds and astronomy, with a Dogfish Head India Brown Ale to top it off. Life can't get any gooder!
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