We're getting blessed with some nice clear skies lately. Last night I decided to set up the refractor and do some imaging. I wasn't totally successful - got a bit of data but also experienced some tracking frustrations as I tried to guide on dim stars. Seems like a separate guide scope would be a good thing when that's happening...
Anyway my intention was to get to bed around 2, after my first target (the Veil East) had passed the meridian. But since I was having troubles I kept at it and before I knew it, twilight was sneaking up on me. I glanced over to see the eastern sky about 4:15 and was suddenly shocked into an awakened state by a brilliant ball of fire rising up in the Northeast! It looked as if someone had launched a rocket from nearby, but I'm guessing it was probably a launch from far away, maybe even New Mexico. The trail of fire reached up to about 30 degrees, and the odd thing was that it stayed lit up for a good half an hour afterward. Even stranger was that about 10 minutes after the first trail, a ball of light began to rapidly grow high up in the sky, as if an explosion had occurred. It actually took on the appearance of a growing mushroom cloud. i ran in and grabbed the digital camera and took a few pictures, but unfortunately trees blocked much of my view so I couldn't use the tripod. The picture above was the best I could come up with. The bright dot of light near the top is Venus.
Needless to say this was an exciting way to round out a night under the stars (and full moon).
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