Near around 11:50 PM, I had a kadak doodh patti with my friends. It was so kadak that it just smoked away all my sleepliness. I went to bed at 12:49. But after so much time just turning around my sides in bed, I couldn’t fall asleep. So I at 2:19 AM, decided to make a round or two from the street.
As soon as the Night Chowkidaar saw me standing at my doorstep wearing a banyaan and a trouser, he started whistling to alert all other Chowkidars. He kept buzzing around me just to check whether I was doing some suspicious activity.
From the street, I had a look of Jupiter in the East.
After a few minutes I got back inside. But this time instead of going to bed, I went upstairs at terrace to check out the sky.
My sister was scared to see me walking on the terrace at 2:30 AM and asked me what the hell I was doing there at that time. I told her that I am not feeling sleepy and kindly give me my binoculars. So she let me pick it up and do stargazing.
My binoculars were already focused so I just pointed it out at Jupiter. I don’t know why but I couldn’t see any of Jupiter’s moons. I just had a look at Jupiter. It was bright yellow shining object in binoculars.
Due to wind and my unstable hands, it was difficult to concentrate to find the moons so I just left it until next time.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet of the Solar system. 63 satellites of Jupiter have been discovered so far. It has a mass equal to 318 Earths.
Its so massive that if a person with a weight of 529.2 Newtons (its my weight) was on Jupiter, his weight at Jupiter would be 1338.66 Newtons. Isn’t it amazing?
After spending a little time with Jupiter, I turned my binoculars towards Epsilon Lyrae or the Double Double. With the help of Vega, I immediately found Double Double. It was so high that I couldn’t look at it more than 10 seconds. But I was easily able to resolve a double star out there.
I remember from my CATI Astronomy Night that I had observed Double Double with binoculars and with Obsession 18″ Telescope. I could easily see 4 stars with Obsession 18″.
Double Double is a quadruple star system in the Constellation of Lyra (The Harp) and is about 162 light years away from the Earth. When one looks at DD with naked eye, it appears as one, or under excellent sky conditions appears as two. But when it is observed through a telescope, it can be resolved into two double stars. That is why it is called Double Double.
At 2:45 AM, I thought its time to put the binoculars back. My goodluck that sister asked me to take laptop. I got the chance to write the report and do some surfing. Its 3:37 AM, all family is sleeping, my cat is playing with her kitten, night chowkidar is still whistling. And I am about to hit the “Publish” button.
All credit of this observing goes to the person who prepared such a strong doodh patti that made my sleep run away.
Good Night Folks.
