Today is March 1, St. David’s Day (patron saint of Wales).

It is also New Moon, and the start of a new lunation for the lunar observers out there. The crescent Moon won’t be placed well in the sky until at least Sunday night, and we may have to wait for the weather to clear before we actually observe the young Moon in Nova Scotia.

It was clear in Nova Scotia last night, but I did not fancy the drive to Saint Croix Observatory, so I observed from my light-polluted backyard with my 12" Skywatcher "Go To" telescope.

The seeing was OK, but there were moments of clarity, which I used to observe Jupiter. The Galilean satellites were all on display, far from the primary, so there were no "phenomena" to view. The not-so-Great not-so-Red Spot was due to transit at 1:09 a.m. local time, so I stayed up for that. It is very pale, more of a hole in the SEB than a thing in itself.

Has anyone else been viewing or photographing Eros during its current close approach? I found it in Leo the other night using 7x50 binoculars in less-than-perfect skies. Over three hours, I could definitely detect motion against the stars. I could see mag 4.5 stars unaided and mag 9 stars in the binos, so the mag 8.5 asteroid was just visible.

Note to software users: make sure you update the orbital elements if making your own finder charts!

Choosing my top astronomical experience for 2011 is easy for me, as my wife and I spent 5 weeks in New Zealand, travelling all over, often staying in places away from large cities. The view we had of the far-southern skies almost defies description.