Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

It DID snow most of yesterday.

Unfortunately, that snow was carried horizontally by super strong winds from the south (the south!). With any hope, the snow ended up in Little Book Cliffs, Piceance-East Douglas and/or Sand Wash Basin, all pretty much nearly north of us.

Fortunately, we did get some amount of moisture, as evidenced by the mud at the end of the day. 🙂

Shortly after I took the above pic, from Chrome’s Point looking eastish, the snow waves renewed, and visibility was nearly nil to pretty much nil. No ponies visible. Hopefully they were smarter than the human and were finding shelter in low places.

*****

As I was battening the hatches for the coming, clearing, very cold night, I happened to spot something in the – did I say clearing? – western sky above the horizon of the near western ridge that stopped me in my muddy tracks:

See the white spot? I thought it was a plane until it didn’t move.

Google says this:

On the evening of February 18, 2026, a thin, setting crescent moon appears in the west near the planet

Mercury. A “planetary parade” in the western sky after sunset also features Saturn (slightly above the pair), Venus (very low on the horizon), and potentially Neptune (requiring a telescope). 

• Mercury: Located very close to the crescent moon, making it easy to spot in the evening twilight.
• Saturn: Positioned higher than the moon and Mercury, forming a prominent western grouping.
• Venus: Low on the western horizon, appearing very bright.
• Neptune: Situated near Saturn, best viewed with binoculars or a telescope. 

The best time for viewing is shortly after sunset on February 18, 2026, when these celestial bodies are visible together, note the IFLScience and The Planetary Society. 

Cool, right? So the bright dot must be Mercury? Do you see the very faint little white dot nearly straight above the bright dot but about halfway across from the moon (directly across from the right-side point of the crescent)? It’s not “higher than the moon” … is that Saturn? I think I was too low to see Venus (the moon and planet weren’t high above my “horizon” when I saw them, but my horizon is from down in a draw, and the far horizon also is a ridge, so I’m never sure whether “the horizon” is every-ol’-body’s horizon or particular to people with flat horizons).

This was very nearly before the moon and friends dropped below my nearby horizon (and before it was covered by tatters of clearing clouds). But it might be easier in this pic to see the tiny white dot above the brighter white dot.

What a cool sighting! It almost makes up for not seeing any mesteños in the blowing snow earlier in the day. (A night-sky photographer, I most definitely am not!)