Christmas Night Sky

After our holiday festivities, as I walked to the car, I looked up into the dark and enchanting sky. I'd have to say that the constellation Orion was the clearest I've ever seen it, so much that you could see the range of star colors (indicating the range of temperatures), with the red Betelgeuse and blue Rigel. I also pointed out Cassiopeia to my family, but it wasn’t very bright and it was hard to see the end star, Segin. There were a lot of bright stars in the western sky and I could easily see the Summer Triangle but it was too cold to stay out long, so I didn’t get the chance to point out much more than that. Being out on Christmas night looking at a beautiful night sky made me happy -as it always does- and was a great way to end the day’s celebration.
I hope you all had an amazing holiday with your loved ones. 🎄
         ♡ North Star Gazer

Constellation Trinket Tray

Inspired by We're Going to Make It's Astrological Sign Trinket Dish, I created one of my own with the constellation Cassiopeia, my favorite constellation. I really love the way it turned out. The instant I saw this project on their blog, I knew I had to make it.

Materials:

• clay (oven-bake)
• cup or bowl
• plastic knife
• pencil (or other object with a point)
• acrylic paints
• paint brushes

I started with just the green clay, then realized that I'd need more, so I added orange. I'd suggest using a lighter colored clay so you don't need to use as many coats of paint for full coverage.

I rolled out the clay and cut it into a circle by tracing around a mug. Once I had my clay into  the shape I wanted for my dish (I crimped the edges with my fingers), I took a pencil to poke holes where the stars of the constellation would be and then dragged the pencil to draw faint lines connecting the stars.

I kept fiddling around with the shape, trying to perfect it, but I eventually said enough is enough and put it into the oven according to the directions. My dish probably could have baked a few minutes longer because it is still a little bendable.

After letting the dish cool, I started painting it. I used a light blue for the top and for the bottom, I mixed a few colors to get somewhere between a forest green and turquoise color.

For the last step, I went in with gold acrylic paint to fill in the constellation and also made a gold edge around the tray.

I'm really happy with the way my trinket tray turned out! It would be a great holiday gift for someone who loves the stars; you could do either one of the Dippers or their astrological sign, as was done by We're Going to Make It ~ thank you for the inspiration.

to see how I made the Galaxy Bracelet in the image above, click here

azimuth & altitude project

This was just a little project we had in Space Ex to practice the skills in measuring azimuth and altitude of celestial objects. 

azimuth = the angle of an object along the horizon from due north, measured with a compass 

altitude = the angle of an object above the horizon, measured with quadrant/astrolabe 

For the objects that I did repeat, I think it's cool to see how they changed position in the night sky. The morning I saw Orion was amazing because it was the first time I'd seen it in a while, and (of course) I was excited about Cassiopeia as well. I've also come to be able to recognize Altair, Polaris, Vega, and Dubhe. 

I've learned so much from these observations and it just makes me feel so happy and good inside!!! 
                   keep learning
                                never stop star gazing
                                                   never stop dreaming
                                                                                          🌟