Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Moons of Jupiter, charms of goldfinch, soft summer breeze

Last night we got out the super-duty binoculars and found Jupiter in the night sky. Three of its 79 moons are visible right now, and it’s pretty amazing to see them from the back deck and ponder science and science fiction and the magical, mystical world we live in.

I often wonder how it would be if the Earth had more than one moon and what our night sky would look like if it did. But 79? Can you even imagine?

While looking for the moons of Jupiter my husband downloaded a very cool app on his iPhone - it’s called Sky View Lite and the Lite version is free. You simply point your phone (or ipad) to the sky and it names what you’re seeing. I think we could have played with it all night!

This morning a different galaxy revealed itself as I was sitting on the front porch while the Mystical-kit meow ate his breakfast. A charm of goldfinches emerged from the seed heads of the first-blooming echinacea and dashed up into the sweetgum tree. What a sight to behold. Every summer I wait for it and it never fails to make me smile.

Yesterday and today we’ve had a constant soft summer breeze blowing. It’s not a cool breeze but it makes the most beautiful whoosh sound and is very welcome as the heat of early summer returns to November Hill.

4 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

The iphone app sounds very interesting. You sound like you're experiencing some wonderful summertime experiences.

billie said...

I’m enjoying the saeson even with the heat and bug bites. :)

Matthew said...

79 moons!

I had no idea.

:)

billie said...

My mind whirls thinking about what that would mean for tides if there were oceans.