Tuesday 12th June 2018 Midnight.
Friday, June 15, 2018 at 1:40PM Midnight - My first night observing the sky here in Spain since I arrived two weeks ago. As always the Pole star seems very low in the sky at this latitude of 37 degrees in Andalusia in comparison with my usual 53 degrees in Lancashire. The great bear is standing on its head with its tail in the air and the pointers show me the position of Polaris just over my northern courtyard wall, allowing me to roughly polar align the CGEM mount with the polarscope. The chart below shows the situation. (Courtesy of Software Bisque)
My single story villa lies to the south of the courtyard and I can see the Scorpion rising with the bright red Antares visible just over the roof. Higher of course is the brilliant planet Jupiter and one by one I begin to recognise the constellations. Overhead the brilliant star Arcturus immediately catches the eye. Lyra is there with its bright star Vega and Cygnus is off to the east with the axis of the swan lying parallel to the hills that lie in that direction. The three readily recognised stars of Aquila help me to identify the bright star Altair. The latter 3 stars of course form the Summer Triangle which will become much more evident in the night sky in a month or so. The bowl shaped Corona Borealis is visible overhead. The chart below shows the view to the south. (Courtesy of Software Bisque)
