Star-Gazing on Top of Mount Washington

2017-06-15 18:11:16.000 – Jillian Reynolds, Summit Intern

Going out and staring at the night sky has always been one of my favorite summer activities. Although, I usually only stargazed on the surface by a lake. Knowing that there were going to be clear skies last night, it gave me a chance to check out the sky from 6288 feet. This made me feel as though I were that much closer to the stars.

My fellow interns and I went out to check the sky out on the observation deck. Since we had to be up by 6 AM, we could not stay out too late. We went to watch the stars at around 9:30 PM when the sun was set and the stars were starting to show themselves. Sadly, the only camera I had with me was my phone. The picture quality is not that great, because all that can be seen is darkness. However, the other interns and I were able to point out a planet (we think it was Saturn) and the big dipper. We then decided to head inside and go to sleep for the night.

I have seen better quality pictures of stars and other night phenomena provided by the Observatory. One of the pictures I have seen shows many stars in the background of some of our weather instruments on the parapet. Just look at all of those stars! If I were there for this, I would have felt like I was in space.

 

After seeing Mount Washington’s night sky, I went and purchased a field guide to the night sky. Hopefully I will be able to see more stars and other night phenomena sometime during my stay here during the summer. Maybe then I would be able to identify more constellations and planets!

Jillian Reynolds, Summit Intern