８月１日（水曜日）２０１８
昨日の夜、彦根の滋賀大学（経済学部）で一圓屋敷の プロジェクト会議があり、終了後９時半ごろ駐車場に向かっていると 夜空に強く光る物体発見。飛行機が飛んでいるのかと 同行の人に聞くと「金星ですよ」と教えてくださいました。（但し専門家ではありません。私は信じましたが真実かどうか確認はとれていません。） 「宵の明星」でしょうか。金星は太陽、月の次に明るく見える星ですが、この夏は特に金星が地球に接近して明るく見えるそうです。また、昨日（7/31）は火星も地球に大接近するとネットに書いてありました。強く光る金星から少し 離れたところにやはり強く輝く星がありましたから、あれが火星だったのでしょう。Kさんの車で多賀に帰る途中、ほぼ正面に低く電燈かと 思うほど大きい月が建物や木々の間から見え隠れしていました。 夏の夜空。暑さを忘れる嬉しい発見でした。Last night we had a project meeting of Ichien yashiki (old Japanese village headman's house) at Shiga University in Hikone. After the meeting at around 9:30 pm when we were walking to the parking lot, I found a thing in the sky which was shining brightly. I thought it was a light of an airplane, so I asked one of the other members if it was true. He told me it was Venus. (He is not an astronomer, though. I haven't comfirmed whether it was truth or not.) Venus, evening star Hesper. Venus is the third brightest planet, due to its proximity to the sun and the moon. According to net info, it comes closer than usual to the earth this year. Apparently Mars also comes very close this summer. I saw another shining star a little distance away from Venus. I think that one must be Mars. When we were heading to Taga by Mr. K's car, the moon often came into our sight between buildings and trees which I thought first was a street light or something similar because it looked very big and reddish. In the night sky it was amazing to view Venus, Mars and moon, which helped me forget this terrible summer heat.
