Hi Cindy,
On , you wrote me:

 ML>> well, since i was writing that when the moon wasn't up yet, it is
 ML>> possible that you were looking at a star... Spica, i believe but i'll

 CH>  Only the siting was a planet. This was from an Observatory.

mmmumm...

 ML>> have to check to be sure... if it was Spica, then you'd have to
 ML>> look further "up" to see jupiter... however things are a bit 
 ML>> different now since things aren't like they were when i 
 ML>> wrote my reply ;)

 CH> The observation was about 10 PM with a full moon. There's an
 CH> observatory an acquaintance worked at; this in UPstate NYS years ago..
 CH> when we lived up there. She said, if you see something fairly close
 CH> off to the upper left of the full moon, it's Jupiter. Don't ask me how
 CH> I remember this but I think it was in October.

well, one thing you have to take into account is that a year is not the
same on all planets... in other words, if you see jupiter near the moon
this year, it won't be in the same place next year and it'll be even more
different the year after... that's why i always use an astronomy program to
determine what it is that i'm seeing as well as getting the compass heading
and altitude ;)

winstars is pretty nice... i have both, the old version and the newer
one... the newer one requires more resources and a much higher quality
video card than the older version... the specs you gave on your new card
should be fine for running either one... but i still tend to run the older
version because it loads faster on this PII-450 with 265Meg of RAM...

  http://www.winstars.net/english/

the default is v2 but there's a link in the menu on the left to v1... in
both cases, you'll need to set up your actual location so that the sky will
be proper for you... it defaults to the author's location over in france
which is about 4 hours ahead of us at this time ;)  if your location isn't
in the list and you are like i am and want to be pretty accurate, then we
can pinpoint it for you and get pretty close to the exact longitude and
latitude of your location... i've got mine down to 6 decimal places but but
most software only handles 4 decimal places... i also do satellite tracking
so being very accurate with my location is a huge help so that i can look
in the proper direction at the proper time and be sure that i'm seeing the
satellite that i'm looking for... with well over 8000 of them up there, it
can be rather busy over head at times ;)

 ML>> right, i understand... just for clarification, 180 degrees on the
 ML>> compass is south, 90 is east, etc... also, 10 degrees in elevation is
 ML>> about one fist width when held at arms length... make a fist like you

 CH> Okay.  I'll remember that. But what if your fist is bigger than mine.

at arms length, it doesn't matter... nature has already taken care of all
that ;) and besides, what's 5 or 10 minutes matter when you're estimating
the time and the altitude? if you need more accuracy, you'll have more
accurate instruments than your fingers and fists ;)

 CH>> In Texas you had huge skyscape but would need to get away from
 CH>> the city lights to see anything but the full moon and venus and 
 CH>> of course, by dawn, the sun >

 ML>> yup... i've been there... spent many nights hiking the highway
 ML>> or across country when i was out there... four days from orlando 
 ML>> to houston (!) ;)

 CH>  That long walk of yours you mentioned in another message? That's
 CH>  something. How about some adventures? We can pretend we've got a
 CH>  campfire here. I'll get the toasting sticks and marshmallows. Unless
 CH>  you'd rather have some beer and tortilla chips. Pretend the moon is
 CH>  is full, the night is long... it's cool, the wind calmed down...
 CH>  and somewhere a Coyote howls... ...............

hahaha... yeah, that "long walk"... more of an escape, self
preservation, get away, maturing, etc...

 CH>> It was in Texas I first saw the moon at the same time the Sun was up
 CH>> (past 7 am in the summer).. that was awesome. I can't say how many
 CH>> degrees above the horizon it was oh let's see... facing south and the
 CH>> moon to the west I'd say it was about half way between the horizon
 CH>> and straight up.

 ML>> it is actually pretty common... now, seeing venus in the daytime is a
 ML>> real feat! yeah, it can and has been done but you gotta know just
 ML>> where to look and have some way of blocking the sun from your view :)

 CH> I've seen Venus too in the early morning. Thing is Mark before we
 CH> moved to Texas I never got up before dawn to take a walk ... :) That's
 CH> why I had never noticed, and it was so wide open there as you know, no
 CH> tree/hills in the way.

i hear ya! heck, it is about noon, right now, and the Moon is up and
visible in the east... with Saturn and Mars just to the "left"
(north) of it... Saturn is 25 degrees up, the Moon is 26 degrees up and
Mars is 27 degrees up... Venus and Mercury are both up with the Sun...
Mercury, further west, will be setting about 6:30PM... the Sun, about
8:20PM... and Venus at about 9:00PM... at the same time that Venus is
setting, Jupiter is rising in the east and is about 3 degrees up whereas
the Moon, Saturn and Mars are all much further along in the sky, almost due
west... but remember, it was only a couple of weeks ago when Jupiter was
near the Moon, right? now Saturn and Mars are on each side of it...

grab a copy of winstars and i'll help you get it set up for your location
and everything so that you can see things in real time, how they will be in
the future, or how they were in the past ;)

Bye bye!
  mark

 * SeM. 2.26  * Yellow Snow Studied To Test Nutrition.