Last two nights (1/18 and 1/30) were nights for exploration and magic at the Buehler Observatory at Broward College. We observed the Moon, Jupiter, Venus, M42, and several double stars over the last two nights. The weather held for most of the two nights; the clouds did make a quick appearance at one point each night.
The clouds come rolling in at the end our night.
Here is a picture of Venus taken from a Meade LX-200 12 inch with a FujiFilm Finepix J20. It was beautiful image and showed the gibbous phase. This observation was made on 1/18/2012.
Venus from the LX-200.
We observed Jupiter with the LX-200 12 inch with the same camera. One view is of the planet itself and the other view is of the moons around the planet. You can see the rings in the planet and the Red Spot had just transitioned behind the limb of the planet. These observations were made on the 1/30/2012.
Jupiter and Moons the LX-200
Jupiter from the LX-200
Finally, here an observation of the first quarter Moon through a Mead Newtonian 8 inch with the same camera. If you zoom in on the picture, you might spot the quarter Moon X along the terminator. We made this observations on 1/31/2012.
First Quarter Moon the Meade 8 inch.
We had fun and there was much conversation. Look for more material from the next two nights coming up.
Professor Howard Astronomy Musings 