The prolonged silence has come to an end, though I make no promises as to frequency of posts going forward. In addition to moving to a new state and starting a new job, my son was born earlier this month about six weeks ahead of schedule. So it's taken me a little while to get back on the astro wagon.
But, this evening as I was taking out the trash I noticed a big bright planet in the southern sky, so I set up the telescope with lightning speed and got a look at it from the balcony outside my bedroom (which, fortunately, provides a great southern view, which in Denver isn't all that topographically but makes for good skywatching).
Anyway, the planet was Jupiter, as I guessed, and one of its moons was visible as well. The atmospheric turbulence around here isn't as bad as it is in the Bay Area but it still made it hard to focus on the planet. Still, it felt good to observe again after such a prolonged hiatus, and I'm looking forward to exploring the views provided by the thin air and slightly lower amount of light pollution.
Awesome! :) good to see you back.