The reason for the colors I chose tonight is that I saw Mars, Saturn, and Venus the brighest of the three in western Virgo forming a tight right triangle with Venus down to the right, Mars to the left, in the direction of Spica which is about 10 deg. east, and Saturn, the dimest of all above.
Because of this event I bouught one of the new slim cameras that are on the market, and after the discount to join the processing club at Ritz, I paid about $80 for the whole outfit including 8 GB in memory cards and a case on the promise that I will spend about $20 a month in processing there. One project that comes to mind is one requested by Bobbi to transcribe some slides taken early in our mariage to DVD; another is to copy VHS to DVD, in particular to find family movies on VHS tapes and copy it to DVD. The camera is good enough, in fact I was able to photograph the conjunction mentioned above, the quality isn't great, but it was enough to show that the most sensitive mode could shoot the planets under our light-poluted skies, and with no tripod. I had doubts that I would see the event at all due to the fog, and I could not make out more than Venus with my cataract obscured eye, but I was able to capture the grouping with the camera. I havn't downloaded it to the computer and even though I also made an image from a planetarium program to confirm what is on the camera. Here is the simulation image:
It is worth noting that this appause is part of a series in which planets and bright stars come close. I had noted earlier conjunctions of both Mars and Venus with Regulus; the one with Mars about a month ago was quite attractive. Later in this month the series with end with Mars and Spica with Venus nearby.
Bobbi called last friday to ask if I would go see this current film with her. The movie is about a family run by a lesbian couple who had two children by a sperm doner, One of the "moms'" was played by an aging Anette Benning, She is a domineering obstricition who plays out the typical enneatype of eight. The movie was quite sensitive and drew one in right away. Afterward I commented to Bobbi that a sign of a good movie that you empathize with the characters, are drawn into the story, in fact, into the screen, and the illusion that you are in the room with the people in the movie is not lost. Often times either that illusion is not established or it is broken by some mistep in the action. I kept thinking that the movie was so timely as the Federal Appleals Court had just ruled against Proposition 8 from the 2008 election with was a anti-gay-marriage iniative largely financed by the Mormon Church. The movie portrayed the lesbian couple as having much the same issues as a hetero couple, validating their right to be. I was very well done and acted.