Intramural Star-gazing

There's a pretty big astronomical event going on the next two weeks. The Taurid meteor shower peaks on Saturday. The Leonid meteor shower is peaking next week (17th). So if you want to see a good show, take a blanket and some warm clothes to the darkest place you can find. Snuggle up with someone special (If you are interested in being "someone special", please drop off an application at 0-134A Rickman Library, Lower Level) and take in the wonder of a heavenly event. I'm cool with most any evening. I would like to get a group together this weekend and next weekend, so drop me a line for that as well. Looy and I went to the Intramural field Monday night and saw ten meteors on about an hour. It was pretty awesome. Going along with celestial happenings, two other things to be sure to see. Venus is really bright right now. Any evening not long after sunset, look to the west and the brightest thing you see just above all the pretty colors is Venus. It shines really bright and later in the evening it passes near the moon (about 8 pm or so). Look to the opposite side of the sky from Venus in the early evening (east) and you will see a distincly red/orange "star". It's no star, it's Mars. Two nights ago, Mars was the brightest that it will be in another 13 years, so make sure you check it out before it dims away. Check out Your Sky and Skymaps.