A cloudy night under the stars

As I type this, it is completely overcast up here in Lake Stevens,
Washington and I have just gotten up from resting side by side with my dog
.. . .both of us lying on the carpeted floor. My wife is watching a show on
PBS called "NOW," and I have my computer running Cartes du Ciel with the
auto refresh option in place. From time to time over the past hour or so,
I have glanced up at the computer monitor and watched the stars rise higher
and higher in the east (my CDC is defaulted to a 90 degree eastern
horizon). Bootes is well up in the sky now and Hercules has cleared the
horizon. Virgo majestically dominates the southeast. Funny, I am just
tired and sleepy enough that this wonderful gift from Patrick Chevalley is
providing me with a naked eye star fix almost as satisfying and convincing
as the real thing. Tonight the clouds aren't in my way.



--
Martin R. Howell
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com