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Re: (meteorobs) NEAR Spacecraft Viewing
Howdy, Dave... From other reports of how faint the sunglint was (like
Rocky's; thanks, Rocky!), it sounds like you might have been looking in the
right area of sky and STILL missed it. Also, if you're used to observing
from a back yard, a really dark sky can be darn disorienting! It still
takes me a while to find my bearings when I get out under a sky that's
inkier than I'm used to. So long and short of it - don't feel too bad!
Especially if you get regular access to those dark, dark Texas skies! ;>
Anyway, you're disappointment at not being sure where to look is probably
about equal to mine at getting clouded out! I was out doing deep sky (and
watching the Shuttle launch) last night... Temps hovered around 13oF to
18oF (-11oC to -8oC), but I stuck it out at the eyepiece so long as the
cirrus and haze remained at bay. Then at about local midnight, the lower
level cloudbanks began to sweep in: by 1am, I couldn't even see Perseus...
Urf! At least I got to see those tiny twin flames from the shuttle again -
what a sight!
Besides, NASA's launching so many of these little deep-space doodads these
days, maybe I'll get another chance next Millennium. :) Clear skies all!
Lew