ASTRONOMY 101 - FALL 2002 - OBSERVING RESULTS - five shooting stars - three airplanes - A band of dust dividing the North and South sky that we determined to be the spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy - Many stars with varying brightness - Many stars of varying colors with reddish and bluish hues - The constellation Cassiopeia - There are fewer stars in the West sky compared to the North, South and East skies - The shimmering of the stars caused by the gases in the Earth's atmosphere ************ Northern Observations: *clusters of stars along with empty spaces *Milky Way is visible, appears to run from north to south, looks like stream of thin clouds *the stars appear to have varying degrees of light intensity *we can clearly identify the North Star *we think we may have seen a satellite; we saw a moving object that had the same appearance as a star, it was moving to slow to be a falling star Western Observations: *Stars appear to be more spread out, there are less clusters *Stars still have different degrees of brightness *less identifiable constellations *near the horizon seems to be much brighter, probably due to lights from town Southern Observation: *Milky Way appears more prominent, thicker clouding of stars *Stars seem much brighter *stars look more clumped *one person believes they have identified the Centaur constellation *later during the observation (about 9:50) one member witnesses a falling star Eastern Observations: *Appears to have the brightest stars *towards the northeast seems brighter *Some stars appear to have color to them (like red) Other Observations: *when looking straight up the stars seem to have more depth, ************ 2 shooting stars 1 satellite Milky Way ... I noticed that I could see a lot more stars in the south than in any other direction It looked like the Milky Way actually curved a little bit I noticed that I could see more stars directly above me than in other directions - probably because to the side I am looking through more atmosphere ************ We all felt that this was the first time we had really, truly observed the skies with the intent to look and find interesting objects in space. Looking straight up at the sky we saw the Milky Way‹a white band with a bunch of stars NorthŠ Clearly see what we thought was the Big Dipper.---Handle looked brighter to us than the actual dipper part There looked also to be two satellites moving At first we thought planes were moving stars, but we realized they were not AboveŠ Bright blue star and kept moving, or we kept movingŠnot really sure, but very bright and distinct in the sky Shooting star was seen at about 9:36, very exciting EastŠ Saw a star rising up over the horizonŠblue Viewed a cluster of stars Chris thought he saw a definite triangle‹three stars making up an equal sided triangle WestŠ Lacking stars compared to the rest of the sky Saw one star blinking fast, yellowish tint Saw a faint blue tinted star SouthŠ Four stars that looked like trapezoid low in the sky slightly above the treetops The night opened up out eyes to seeing what is out there and it was cool to see the Andromeda Galaxy with Joeıs help. Yeah Astronomy. ************  -4 Œshooting starsı -the big dipper -the little dipper -Polaris -Cassiopeia -Cepheus -the summer triangle (Vega, Altair, Deneb) -Draco -Perseus We also saw almost directly above us the lighter, grayish arm of the Milky Way.  Using the handout you gave us of the September night sky and a pair of binoculars, we think we found the Andromeda Galaxy as well.  It was a fuzzy oval-shaped gray spot.  We didnıt see any planets, and from looking at the handouts you gave us, most of them are only visible at dusk or before dawn.   The only planet that the sheet said was out at the time we observed was Uranus, and we couldnıt find it.  We speculated that we couldnıt because that planet is so far away that it would be faint and hard to distinguish from any number of other faint stars. ************ Once acquainting ourselves with the four cardinal directions, we settled in and looked around, our eyes adjusted quite soon. The first constellation we could recognize was the big dipper, not surprisingly. Along with this, we could discern more stars, though not necessarily more constellations in the north. It was difficult for us even with the star chart to find different constellations in the sky, we had some difficulty figuring out how to use the chart, and once we got it set and arranged, we still couldnıt pick out which stars were part of the constellations because there were so many that we could see. We noticed two extremely bright stars, one in the west, one in the north. We could see many clusters of stars, I'm not sure if that would be one of the "clusters" by definition in astronomy, or just a group of stars since we were observing from the surface of a planet. ************ After observing for 20 minutes, getting acquainted with the polar direction and major constellations: (The conversations were written in abbreviated sentences, and are therefore reconstructed for your reading pleasure.) K- I saw a shooting star! T- Oh, I missed it, but this summer I saw one that broke apart as it shot across the sky.  There were at least three visible illuminated pieces that split off. K- Shooting stars are meteors, right? T- Yeah, they are meteors that are burning in the atmosphere.  Could you imagine if you saw one descending and then pass the horizon, but then saw a glowing over the horizon as it exploded into earth.  Youıd better be running indoors.  I canıt remember the exact ratios, but a fairly small meteor hitting the earth can have energy similar to nuclear bombs.  Something the size of east hall, being that size when it hit, would probably wipe out from here to Clinton in crater and thrown debris. K- At that point running indoors wouldnıt have the same effect as you might expect. T- You would probably find yourself waking in munchkin land. K- God, youıd have to run like hell just to read that last little bit of your astronomy textbook. T- Ha Ha Ha. K- I really love how when you stare at a black spot in the sky, a little star always appears. T- Itıs too bad it is getting hazy over the horizon. K- I can still see the tail of the Big dipper through it though- thereıs another shooting star, I wonder if I am imagining them, they are so brief. T- Iıve always really liked the Milky Way. I canıt believe that if the sun is a basketball, the nearest star would be in Hawaii. K- It is as if we were microscopic organisms trying to go on vacation, haha- weıd never get to Hawaii trying to hitchhike that far. T-true that ************ We observed what we thought was Orion's belt, and the Big Dipper was certainly present in the northern sky.  It was remarkable how many more stars we could see as our eyes adjusted to the darkness.  After our eyes adjusted we could see the Milky Way very easily. One thing that was of interest was that the moon was not present at 1030pm on Sunday night...I hope we learn the phases of the moon in this course, because no one could offer an explanation. ************ there was no moon out that we saw and it was a perfectly clear night.  The temperature was very pleasant.  Jessica was coughing because she had just choked on a candy bar with sparked the how did the Milky Way gets it's name conversation.  we had no good answer.  Then we noticed a shooting star and were in awe of it.  We also thought we saw Venus in the south west sky about a quarter of the way into the sky.  we saw a lot of satellites.  Then thought it would be cool to see them run into each other because it would make in enormous flash but it didn't happen.  We saw two flashing lights to the south and wondered what they were and why they weren't moving.  Then mike pointed out that they were part of a radio tower which took some of the excitement out of it.  Then another shooting star passed over head but I was the only one to see it.  Then we sat in silence for a while trying to see if we could find any more planets but we did not.  There were big breaks in conversation were we just sat and looked up.  Jessica started singing the Beatles. After that we sat for a little while longer and just watched.  Then she started getting cold so we went in. ************ Initially we noticed that some stars were brighter than others. We also noticed a dust-like cloud stretching across the sky. The first and most obvious constellation recognizable to us was Pegasus above the northern horizon. Extending off of the Great Square of Pegasus we observed stars incorporated in the constellation Andromeda. Within thirty minutes or so we noticed an extremely bright celestial object off to the West. We determined that it must have been the star Arcturus of the constellation Bootes. As our observations ensued we noticed a cluster of  celestial objects that seemed to be the constellation Perseus. Apart from the constellations we observed a number of fast moving, blinking objects that appeared to be satellites. Towards the end of our observation session we began to notice that the stars were slowly moving East to West across the night sky. The most exciting  portion of our observation was when we spotted a shooting star or possibly meteor towards the South headed down towards the horizon. It looked like a bright streak of light and lasted for about a second. We were surprised that we couldn't spot the moon from our vantage point. In addition, the sky seemed to be uniformly lit.   ************ -big dipper/little dipper -north star, Polaris -Cassiopeia -Milky Way -Delphinus -shooting stars -red stars (rival of Mars) -Sagittarius - tea pot/teaspoon -Andromeda Galaxy -notice movement in the stars -notice orientation of stars - North, South, East, West ************ We assumed that toward Gate house was east and toward Frank dining hall was west.  Our first observation that we made was that the  Milky Way  made an aurora that stretched across the sky from the southern horizon to the zenith.  The aurora seemed to have a split or gap down the middle and then came together as you observed more toward the zenith  In general the northern part of the sky seemed to be more void of stars than the southern.  Also the area around the Milky Way aurora seemed to contain much more clusters of stars than the rest of the southern sky.  The three of us also observed shooting stars toward the north west of the sky.  We definitely saw the big dipper in the lower north part of the sky and we believed we observed the little dipper toward the west, but are not positive.  Also, we believed to have spotted Orion's belt to the lower south of the sky, but any three stars in a row seemed to resemble the belt. We asked ourselves to pick out one star that we thought to be the brightest and we all picked the same star.  It was located almost directly above, but was positioned a little to the west.  We were unable to the see the moon from our position on the field.  We were not sure if he were supposed to use the star wheel or not.  We decided not to so that is why our observations lack many constellation sightings. ************ 1.) A satellite flying through the sky was one of the first things our group observed. Though it looked just like any other bright star, the object was clearly moving at a very high rate and, with the help of Joe the TA, our group determined that it was definitely a satellite. None of us had ever witnessed a satellite before and were pleased with this discovery. 2.) As the night proved to be very clear, viewing the Milky Way was not difficult. It appeared as a long, cloud-like band of stars that spanned the length of the sky overhead. Lying with our feet pointing North (towards Andrews Hall), the Milky Way was almost straight above us, appearing to extend horizontally (i.e. from the Observatory out towards the open field). 3.) During the hour that we spent observing, our group spotted eight (8) shooting stars. They came from all different directions. Some were very short while others seemed to appear in the sky for a bit longer. 4.) The Big Dipper and The Little Dipper (or Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) were very clear. With the help of our StarWheels, we determined that the Big Deeper was directly ahead of us in the North sky. The Little Dipper was "behind" us to the south. In addition, after some debate, we discovered that the North Star was very visible, lying at the tip of the handle of Ursa Major. 5.) Among the other constellations that we observed were Pegasus (most clearly the Great Square of Pegasus), Orion (most clearly Orion's Belt), and Hercules. We debated whether the star Vega could be seen, but came to no definite conclusion as to whether it was, indeed, observable. 6.) From the reading, we learned that the Zenith appears directly above us in the sky. While we could see some especially bright stars directly above us, we were not certain which was the Zenith. In addition to observing various stars, constellations, and other objects, our group also noticed that during our hour on the golf course, the stars appeared to shift positions. Though it seemed that it was the stars that were moving, we now know that it is the Earth's rotation that is causing this phenomenon. We seemed to be moving in a "downhill" motion, causing the stars to seem to have shifted towards the south. For example, we agreed that Hercules, originally seen to be in the sky above Andrews Hall was now more towards President Chopp's house. The North Star also seemed to be higher from the treeline at 10:20 pm than it was at 9:40 pm. The Milky Way seemed to be more south-west than it had been a few minutes earlier. In general, there was definite evidence that the Earth rotated a very significant amount during our trip to the Old Golf Course. ************ We observed the sky from the old golf course at 10:00 on Sunday night.  It was a clear night, and we observed a large ³Milky² band across the sky, stretching from the northern horizon to the southern horizon.  As the hour progressed our night vision became better and we could see the stars twinkling.  We saw the big dipper, the only real constellation we could distinguish, but we did see many clusters of stars.  We also noticed that there were not many stars visible on the western horizon, compared to the eastern, probably because of the lights in the big city of Hamilton.  We could not see the moon. ************ We believe that what fist seemed like a star was in fact a space satellite. We saw a number of constellations, including Bootes, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper with the star wheel.   We also observed a shooting star and a second, very bright, satellite which faded away as it moved away.  It struck the group that very few stars are bright and stand-out, but rather that they appear in clusters which cause the sky to look white.  In addition we  observed two twinkling little stars, of which one appeared red as a result of distortion from the Earth's atmosphere.  And lastly we observed light pollution from Hamilton.  ************ In terms of constellations we were able to identify, with the help of our star wheel, the summer triangle, the big dipper, Cassiopeia, the little dipper, Draco, Bootes, Pegasus, and Aries. As the night progressed we also perceived that Arcturus was setting down the hill very close to the trees. If it was not Arcturus then it was another bright star that over the course of our hour came closer to the trees close to Stillman on the old golf course. Other phenomena that we observed were multiple shooting stars and 2 satellites. I can't say that I knew for sure that they were satellites, but they basically looked like stars that were moving through the night sky and an extremely fast speed. There was no moon during our time out on the ski hill. It was  unclear to us whether that was a product of a new moon or if it was simply too early in the night to observe the moon. The Milky Way was very bright, stretching diagonally across the golf course. It was truly a wonderful sight to see. ************ -we all noticed that the Milky Way was directly overhead-it seemed to have a lot of different clusters of stars, and was not one continuous line of them -the big dipper was in the northwest -a lot of the stars were tinted red- we couldn't decide if they were planets or if we were just seeing them incorrectly -a lot of the stars were also flickering quite a bit- one person said that she had heard that it was because there were two stars spinning around one another, giving them the flickering appearance, but I am not sure if that was the case -we observed 2 (and possibly 3, but she wasnıt sure) shooting stars -there were a lot of clusters of stars that resembled trapezoids, but we couldn't decide which constellations they were- there was a very bright one in the southwest -we also noticed an extremely bright star northwest of the center of the Milky Way ************ I noticed a couple satellites, the Big and Little Dipper, the North Star, Constellation Bootes, possibly a shooting star and a couple twinkling stars. ************ 8:10 am: In the North there are many stars but none of them are very bright. They all look like tiny little pinheads. The Sky isnıt fully dark yet. You must focus your eyes on the stars in order to see them because they donıt immediately stick out to the eye. ************ In the East there are very few visible stars. There arenıt any big, bright shiny ones and the few that are there arenıt immediately obvious. In there south there are 2-3 big stars that stick out from the rest because they are so bright. They look like larger pin- heads. They are clear looking and bluish, not red and warm looking. They also have many surrounding smaller stars which pale in comparison to the big ones. In the west the sky is still a bit light, but there is a big bright reddish star that is flickering. All the other stars in the sky seem to just sit there, but with this one the brightness changed very rapidly from a bit lighter to a bit darker. It kind of makes it look like it is moving back and forth. I have a feeling it could be a planet instead of a star. Directly over head there is a very very bright star which I assume is Polaris. Itıs brightness doesnıt change, itıs not flickering. There are also many surrounding stars. I donıt know my constellations well, but I think I can also see Cassiopeia. As it gets darker many more stars are coming out. A few shooting stars. One traveled the length of my finger as I lay on my back and held it directly above me. It just occurred to me that the stars are like freckles on a personıs face. One planeŠ 8:30: in the north there are many more very bright stars. In the east there are now tons of stars where before there were none. In the south the same 2-3 stars are still really standing out. In the west the flickering star/planet is brighter, w/ many more surrounding stars. There are 2/3 more really obvious ones, but not like the big flickering one. 8:40 ­ the Milky Way is pretty obvious now. ************ we noticed that we saw many more stars in the night's sky after several minutes of being in the dark...our eyes had to adjust to see the stars.  the first constellation that we noticed was Orion, in the eastern sky, which we recognized.  around it, there was a visible cluster of seven stars.  we then saw Cassiopeia in the eastern part of the sky, higher in the sky (more above our heads).  as we observed Cassiopeia we took out our star wheel, but were unable to identify more of the constellations.  we could, however, see bands of the Milky Way.  some parts were whiter and darker...we assumed that this was the combination of the dust and stars in the sky.  in both the west and the north-west skies we could not see stars.  we observed clouds rolling in from the west.  the lights from the chapel steeple also obscured our view of the dark sky.  we saw several shooting stars as we were discussing the possibilities of existence in other galaxies.  ************ We had optimal conditions as one member of the group brought a red cloth for our flashlight.  We were also far away from most light so the stars were amazing.  Everyone had a good time observing the stars on their own but when we reconvened it was even better as everyone had something to add.  We were able to identify a number of constellations, these were : Scorpio, Pegasus, Cassiopeia and Orion.  We also identified Betelgeuse, Sirius, Cepheus and the Milky Way. During our time there we were able to see about 5 falling meteorites (Claire saw here first shooting star ever) as well as a number of planes.  We argued over the identification of some other constellations  as well as if the North Star was visible.  There was a mixture of experienced star gazers and novices.  Words that were tossed around about the night sky were : vast, imposing, awe-inspiring, beautiful, belittling (as in reminding us of how small we really are) and amazing.  We all really enjoyed the experience and were talking about going to the golf course again sometime soon for a midnight picnic and stargazing! ************ North: A group of four stars stood out most prominently in this part of the sky, forming what we saw as the letter "A". We believe that this may have been the Cassiopeia constellation, but are not sure.  We also spotted the little dipper in the north sky, though we could barely make it out.  East: In the east part of the sky, there were three stars which outshone the rest significantly, which we believe formed the Summer Triangle. The apex of the triangle stood almost directly overhead, while the other two stars lay closer to the eastern horizon line.  Running through the middle of this triangle we saw a faint trail of what looked to be clouds or gas.  The East and the North contained the brightest stars and the most in number, at least from our vantage point on the old golf course, probably due to the lights from campus reaching us from the Southwest.  Thus the South and the West brought more of the same observations.  Stars of varying brightness and distance, hints of clouds, and lots of space, but without any easily discernible patterns to our untrained naked eyes.  Altogether a very enjoyable experience.  ************ We observed that the moon was not visible.  We also took note of the stars including the Big Dipper, the North Star, and Orion.  While observing, we noticed one one shooting star. ************ 8PM - A bright star appears in the west, bigger and whiter than the others.  Probably a planet (Venus).  Light from the sun is still visible, the west sky does not have that many stars visible (beside the bright planet).  Directly Above there is a bright star, second only to the planet in the west (which appears despite the waning light of the sun) 8:05PM - More stars are appearing in the eastern half of the sky,  more so in the southern section, with the light of the sun getting dimmer in the west.  Another bright star has appeared about 60 degrees above the horizon in the south, this star second in brightness only to the one directly over head. 8:10PM - The planet is disappearing, behind some trees.  Its movement is more rapid than the other stars. 8:15PM - A satellite is moving in a North-South direction in the eastern half of the sky.  Another bright yellowish/white star has appeared in the west about 60 degrees above the horizon.  Probably another planet.  I think it is Jupiter (I don't know why). 8:20PM - Stars in the east becoming more abundant, and the eastern half of the sky is also becoming darker.  Constellations are starting to appear.  The big dipper appears in the North West of the sky (I might be mistaken about the constellation because it is too big). 8:40PM - The Milky Way is becoming visible somewhat, starting in the SW going to the NE. 8:45PM - Over the past 45 minutes the stars appear to be moving counter- clock wise, but I cannot tell where the center of the spin is. 9PM - Stars are very abundant now, light from the sun is totally gone. ************ We saw: About a half dozen shooting stars (I'm sure that's not the correct technical term, please forgive us for that) One definite UFO  :) The streak of stars and gas known as the Milky Way A few satellites and planes The stars shifting (or more correctly, the stars appearing to shift as the Earth rotated on its axis) Venus (we think) The Big Dipper The Little Dipper (possibly) The North Star We did not see: The moon ************ during our observations of the sky on Thursday night we saw many beautiful stars.  we saw the big dipper, we saw a big bright star that we believe to be Altair, and the Milky Way.  along with these we saw two shooting stars.  we saw a bunch of planes as well.  it was a worthwhile experience and we all had fun. ************ The most noteworthy event of the evening was the appearance of Northern Lights.  They appeared as spikes and streaks of green, white, and red and expanded, moving south.  I thought they seemed to flow gradually from east to west across the northern sky.  In the north we located the Big Dipper, and believe we located the  North Star by using its pointer stars.    We located the bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair.  We located the Milky Way as a cloud stretching from the southwest to the east, and several of  southern constellations, although we found that locating some of the smaller constellations was more difficult than we had thought.  In the south I saw two meteors, one moving east to west along the horizon and visible for about one second.  The other was moving more from north to south and was visible for about the same amount of time.  We think we located Venus in the northwest sky, being the brightest object, although it was difficult with the lights from Hamilton present.  There was no visible moon out while we were observing. ************ Tried to observe individual constellations, but was not successful.  Did, however, get a chance to see the northern lights display.  The sky was noticeable brighter toward campus, which I thought was simply caused by the lights on campus.  What caught my eye was an occasional quick motion of light and color in that direction.  I originally thought that someone might have been shining a flashlight.  I kept my eyes in that direction, and recorded what I saw.  At one time, the lights even became red.  I left not quite sure what I had seen, until my observations were confirmed by your e-mail.  Also saw two shooting stars. ************ * The sky was fairly clear, and was only muddled a little bit by the lights from the Women's Soccer game to the West (my left).  Immediately, I saw a band of light to my North (straight ahead) - really, more a series of bands, that reminded me of the Milky Way, but were different in nature and location.  The band seemed to somewhat vibrate or reverberate.  I passed these off as lights coming from Van Doren field, but upon checking my e-mail when I came back inside, I realized that I had just seen the Northern Lights for the first time ever - which was really pretty cool. * Almost above my head, still to the North but more like straight- up, I saw one star that seemed to shine brighter than the stars around it - I assumed that this was Polaris, the North Star because of its clarity, brightness and unique location. * To the Northeast, I noticed 3 stars in a scalene-triangle formation, with a string of stars underneath it that reminded me of Scorpio (I think Scorpio is supposed to be in the Southern sky, though).  I know that there is probably a specific name for the triangle formation (that I donıt know), and if I remember correctly, I think that the top one is named Vega (from my days of watching Star Gazer on PBS as a little kid). * In the Northern sky, I also saw one or two bright, white, moving objects, which I assumed to be satellites or our space station. * In the West, it seems like the Big Dipper was the main thing going. I recognized its shape immediately, and there wasn't too many other recognizable stars around it. * Overall, it seemed that there were more stars, and brighter, clearer stars in the Northern and Southern skies, but less in the East and the West. * I also noticed that while some stars "twinkled" (I think the word is scintillate), others shone in a more constant manner.   ************ Facing North: Having not read your email yet, we weren't sure if the smoky bluish/reddish lights stretching up from the horizon were some sort of northern lights or just lights from the soccer game (although we figured lights from the game wouldnıt be that impressive). Also observed a bright, blinking star with a reddish tint situated lower in the sky and to the right of that a dipper (small I thought?) East: Cassiopeia? (bright W-shaped constellation). Lower in the sky there were three stars vertically aligned, with the middle one quite bright and blinking. Also, straight up in the sky we observed a number of faint, cloudy clusters of stars that I imagine would have been slightly brighter and more impressive had there been absolutely no light nearby. South: There seemed to be an especially numerous amount of bright, obvious stars low on the horizon in this direction. In the middle of the sky there is a small, but obvious square of stars belonging to some constellation unknown to us and to the right of that there was a vertical line of 3 bright stars with the center one especially bright with a blue tint (Orion's belt?). West: Again, lost of obvious stars low in the sky. Northwest there are two faint stars, side by side, and the right one blinks and has a reddish tint. ************ 1. Directly above us we observed the Milky Way. 2. We observed both the Big and Little Dippers and Cassiopeia. 3. We observed several shooting stars to the north, south, east, and west. 4. Possibly, we observed Mercury in the northwest sky. 5. And we possibly observed Venus in the southwest sky. 6. We observed the North Star. ************ There were a few clouds in the sky to the North. I saw two meteors while observing the North. One was brighter than the brightest stars and its tail was about one fist long. The second was not as bright and its tail was about 3 fists long. I saw a third meteor while observing the South. It was duller than the first two but lasted much longer and its tail was about 4-5 fists long. When I first began observing, I was able to see the entire sky and all of its visible stars. After I stared at it for a while, I noticed that even the brightest stars faded and eventually disappeared out of my site completely. Then when I focused my attention elsewhere I was able to see things again. In the South, I noticed two bands of light, which I mistook for clouds at first. After I noticed that they did not move like clouds, but they did move. At first they were shaped like a V with the vertex over the President's house and the legs pointed westward. Then it moved. The bands were brighter in the center then faded at the edges. In one band the light faded completely in the center and continued about a fist length away. I noticed several satellites which I mistook for stars at first. Many moved pretty slowly but one in the North moved faster than the rest. I was not sure if this was a satellite or an airplane but lights were not flashing as the light on an airplane would. I noticed several high flying airplanes. There were many, many stars and they different levels of brightness. Some were very bright and vivid while others were really dull. I noticed that the stars' brightness did not remain the same at all times. They seemed to flicker like a candle flame (twinkle). I noticed there was no moon out. Some stars were clustered closely together while others were spread further apart. There was one bright star straight above me that seemed to move westward by the end of my observing session. ************ My group went out Thursday night to observe the sky. We went to the old golf course around 10:30 and we saw the big dipper and the north star. I wasn't really able to find anything else because I really didn't know what to look for. ************ ) Milky Way 2) numerous shooting stars (about one per minute) 3) Big Dipper 4) Cassiopeia 5) What we deduced to be the north star (Polaris) 6) From that, the little dipper 7) Two very bright stars that caught our attention, a) one near to the horizon in the north east, that twinkled red and blue, b) another that was just really bright, just about straight above us.  --they may have been planets but i don't think the twinkley one was. ************ We stretched out a blanket and checked out the night sky. It was pretty awesome...anyway... Upon first observing the sky, my reaction was...damn, this is a lot better then the piece of crap sky that I was used to back in Suburbia. So many more stars shone than I have ever seen. I am also a master of the "Triangle" constellation (ya know, the one that is formed by forming an Isosceles triangle between three stars) so I noticed at least a dozen of those. To be honest with you, I didn't really notice much more than that. I did not see the Northern Lights, I did not see the moon. I can't tell the difference between planets and stars despite the ease that other people have at doing the same. I noticed lots and lots of stars. It is truly a beautiful sky, but that's probably not what you are looking for, so I tried my best and here's what i came up with. To the North (assuming that north is the direction you would look where west hall is on the left and East hall is on the right), I noticed that there we several stars out, increasing in number  up until the zenith of the sky. Presumably that is from atmospheric interference (light). Speaking of zenith, when I was looking overhead, I did notice a thin band that I took to be the Milky Way. Anyway To the South I noticed a lot more stars (you'll be hearing this from me a lot because A. I think they are beautiful, and B. They really are the only specific celestial form I can identify). I'm gonna make this e-mail short for you. I Noticed a lot more stars to the East and West. There was no moon present, as far as I can tell, there were no planets present (although, i can "tell" very little). And I didn't even notice any shooting stars (although EVERYONE in my group saw it except me b/c i was looking at a different part of the sky. go figure). Well, that about sums up my night of stargazing. ************ Preface: As astronomy novices, we decided to follow the general guidelines by dividing our time between the four cardinals. It should be noted that our location was ³old golf course,² and so our observations may have been hindered by the slope of the hill and the effect it has on the tree line. The two of us decided to observe the same direction over 12 minute intervals among each direction while reserving the last 12 minutes for open discussion. We began our search in the North in an effort to identify the north star, and we rotated clockwise in observance of the starıs movements. The following notes describe our more poignant observations: North (10:12-10:24): - found north star - saw a shooting star in north east - saw what appeared to be a satellite East (10:24-10:36): - potential ³Scorpio² sighting - saw a shooting star - possible sightings of 3 more satellites - it seems as if ³the Milky Way² is situated so that it extends vertically between due north and due west. South (10:36-10:48): - we saw a bluish object that could be either a star or planet. Either way, it caught our attention for a while. - we saw at least three more shooting stars - towards the southwest, we were pretty sure that we identified Orion West (10:48-11:00): - we saw ³the big dipper² - we saw ³the little dipper² - a couple more shooting stars passed by Conclusion: As the time passed between the first quarter and the last quarter, we were both amazed by how much more we could see through the adjustments of our eyes. However, we became distracted by the inevitable neck pains associated with looking upward for such a long period of time. We noted only the constellations that we were pretty confident in, but we tried to identify other constellations (and make up new ones) with our previous lines. We could not find the moon, which means that it was either not visible tonight, or that it was hidden beneath the tree line. ************ North The first thing that I noticed looking up in the sky is that there are literally millions of stars.  I never noticed how many there are being from a suburb of Los Angeles.  I will definitely look forward to the next observing exercises.  From where I was, I could make out one of the dippers, and from talking to Joseph I learned that it was the Big Dipper if I remember correctly.  There was also a very bright star right above my head.  After staring for a while, I noticed that the star seemed to be blue rather than white.  Just off to my left in the north west part of the sky there was a flickering yellow star. East I saw my first shooting star of the night looking in this direction.  I immediately noticed that there is a light streak running through the sky.  I also saw five bright stars in a snaking pattern. South The only thing I noticed to the south was a surprisingly reddish star. West I noticed two shooting stars as I looked to the west.  The most prominent object was a yellowish star that seemed to flicker.  ************ 1. To the south, we saw a line of three stars, the middle of which blinked rapidly and seemed to emit a red and white pattern of light waves. 2. To the west, we saw the Big Dipper. 3. To the west, we saw a flashing light, which we weren't if it originated from on campus, or was from somewhere else. 4. To the east, at around 8:40, we saw a shooting star. 5. Straight overheard, we saw what we thought was a planet; it was a very bright, white object that didn't blink at all. 6. Running SE to NW, we saw a band of sky that varied in thickness that was lighter than the rest of the sky. We thought that this was the Milky Way. It seemed as though there were many dimmer stars in this area, as though it contained many stars that were farther away than many of the others in the sky. 7. As we looked closer to the horizon in all directions, we noticed that there seemed to be fewer stars than there were if you looked straight up. ************ North: The big dipper was visible as was the little dipper. The stars that make up the big dipper are all pretty much the same size and brightness. West: There was a very bright star not too far above the horizon. The star seemed to have a reddish tint and it looked like it was kind of pulsing? Is it Arcturus? South: there were three separate small clusters of stars that were very low in the sky. There were about four or five stars in each cluster. Some of the stars were brighter and larger than others. East: The view was kind of bad because of lights from the school. There didn't seem to be many low lying stars anywhere near the horizon but i have a feeling that's because of the school lights. A formation that looked like Aries was visible as was Pegasus. During the rest of the exercise it seemed like more stars became visible from all points. The sky's directly overhead was absolutely amazing. The sky was full of stars varying in brightness and size. I didn't really notice any other changes than the number of stars that I was able to see. ************ We each looked in different directions at the sky and jotted down things of note.  We think that we found the big dipper and possible the little dipper.  Some of the stars flickered more than others and a few in particular flickered different colors.  There was one star (although we weren't sure what it really was) that appeared to have a reddish tint along with the white light and it was one of the larger brighter star  .Also, there were six shooting stars and two happened within sixty seconds of one another right around the same spot.  Not that much else seemed to happen but it was quite relaxing and it made us think a lot about the galaxy and universe because if there are that many stars out there, how could at least a few not have planets that had life. ************ I came late and joined [another] group. So I had a different experience then them. It was sort of strange joining a group who had already been stargazing for while. I saw many of the same things they wrote about: including the big dipper, a shooting star, the Milky Way, Cassiopeia, the little dipper, the north star, Pegasus, the moon and many other celestial objects in which they have written about. I am very sorry that this was not the most accurate observation in which I am sure you were expecting. I promise the next stargazing activity will be more thorough. ************ I went out to the old golf course at 1:30 this morning.  There was no moon and after the initial 20 min of directional gazing, i took down these notes: North:  Ursa Major is lying low on the horizon.  The sky is light as it looks towards town, and few stars are visible. East:  The east sky seems to have the highest star density.  There are several star groups and clusters and the individual stars seem to be brighter.  The Milky Way appears to descend into the east sky as well. South:  Two shooting stars were seen (SE,S).  The apparent randomness of the stars is slightly overwhelming. West:  The western sky shows off tons of dim stars and two bright ones.  The Milky Way "begins" here, but fewer clusters are apparent.   Second half:  The stars in the heavens don't appear to sparkle as much as those nearer to the horizon.  Another shooting star leaves a nice tail in the NW sky.  A satellite is seen moving east to west.  The Milky Way appears to be a simple blur of 'brightness' - not thousands of stars and galaxies as I know it to be.  This galaxy must be absolutely enormous.  Ursa Major has rotated a few degrees since I first came, and it appears that the southern stars have moved even more.  Finally, now that my eyes are adjusted and no lights are within my vision, it is hard to find a square inch of sky without a star in it.  This visit has definitely inspired some humility and wonder in me. ************