Observatory

We got a last minute call from our friends that they were going to the Griffith Park Observatory in the late afternoon.  We had made no plans, as we had such a busy week and weren’t thinking that far ahead.  We had two baseball practices today, but never mind that part.  What I didn’t realize is that once a month, independent sky-viewers bring their telescopes out on the lawn in front of the observatory and allow the rest of us hoi polloi to look through the viewfinders at the heavens.  The moon was at quarter full, so it was not bright enough to interfere with the light of the stars.  And looking at the moon itself was spectacular.  Also we got to look at the Orion nebula.  The big telescope in the observatory itself was trained on Venus, and I learned today that, like the moon, the planets inside our orbit around the sun also go through phases, which makes perfect sense, when you think about it.  What a swell evening.  Thank you Scott and Chelsea for inviting us along.