11 November 2005

I was debating going down to Central Park to observe tonight but my local observations indicated that conditions might not be as good as predicted. Then I get a message from Peter saying that he had been out fighting the clouds for three hours while observing the Sun and Venus. He didn't plan to go back out so I packed it in also.

There has been a lot of clouds around today but it is cool and the sky looks really clear between them.

When I got home the Moon was looking nice so I walked up the block a little to see if I could spot Venus and it was there in clear air also. I went upstairs and grabbed a DVD that needed to go back to the library and headed downstairs with it and by then the Moon was playing hide and seek in the cllouds but Venus was below them. Making it to the end of the block where there is a slight dog leg in the street I could see Mars hanging there looking big and yellow at about 10°. The library had closed early today so I turned right around and retraced my steps stopping by the mailboox up the block from my building to take a quick look at both the Moon and Venus. I went upstairs and got my binoculars and took the stairs down rather than waiting for the elevetor. Both the Moon and Venus were obscured by clouds by then. I stood around and got occasional glimpses of parts of the Moon when the cloud cover thinned in front of it but never saw Venus again.