Getting ready for the trip, trying to wrap up a bunch of projects at work, and my nose has been buried in code almost non-stop for the past few weeks. Vacation is going to be like that feeling you get when switching from hiking boots to sneakers. Lighter, buoyant.

Speaking of hiking Zeke and I have been walking to work more often. Spring arrived and it hasn't let us down. Temps near fifty every day, tons of sunshine, and the snow is on the retreat. On the walk home yesterday we walked by a farm and I snapped photos of guinea hens while Zeke got reacquainted with the two dogs.

With beautiful days come equally fantastic nights. The moon is just about full and in the eastern sky around nightfall. I set up the telescope and took a bunch of moon photos. Also tried a couple shots of the nebula in Orion but my technique still needs work.

Fired up Starry Night to see what else was out and a couple of bright satellites showed up between the Moon and Orion. The International Space Station and Progress-M 52. Ran upstairs, out onto the deck, and sure enough a really bright spot moving across the sky. Swung the telescope around to just below the star Procyon and tried to grab a quick photo as the ISS went by. Nothing.

I looked back up at the sky and they were gone. Disappeared. I had to think about it for a while and then I realized that they must have passed into the shadow of the earth.

You can see this yourself. Download the demo version of Starry Night and run it. Turn off the auto-tracker (hit the stop/square button in the middle), change the date to March 22nd, time to 7:41:00pm, and the location to 43° 37'N, 72° 14'W, and orient the view to due south. You should see the Moon on the left, Orion towards the bottom right, and Saturn towards the middle. Procyon is just below and to the left of Saturn. Now click the seconds field in Starry Night and use the up arrow key to advance seconds. You should see the satellite pair come out of the upper right corner, pass over the Milky Way, and then grow noticeably dimmer after they pass below Procyon.