Haze

Not clear, but less cloudy. Last night and tomorrow morning it’s fog, pea soup off the coast. But for now, you can see the brighter stars and Jupiter through it.

The house looks nice, the (a couple days past) full moon is rising, and way up at the top right you can see Orion. (You’ll probably have to click on the image to blow it up to full-sized.) But with this exposure, with the iPhone exposing for the bright moon and Christmas lights, you can only see the brightest stars in Orion.

If you take the Christmas lights out of the picture (again, click on it to see it full-sized) you can see a lot more of Orion. In the “sword” you can see the Orion Nebula (the middle “star”) and you can see even the dimmer stars in the “neck” of Orion. You can clearly see the red tint to Betelgeuse (left shoulder) and the blue hue to Rigel (right foot). But between the haze, the city’s light pollution, and the bright moonlight being scattered around, that’s about it.

It beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! But I still want to see what shows up on a clear, dark night.

Another goal for 2024.