Saturday, August 30, 2008
Joshua Tree Forecast iffy
The clear sky forecast for Joshua Tree tonight is iffy. It *may* clear okay as the sun goes down, or it may not. I'm not willing to make a long drive for astronomy if the skies are going to be overcast, so I personally will not be heading to Joshua Tree today. But if you go, other astronomers will be there, and the park should be an interesting day trip, anyway.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Venus, Due West
Shortly after the sun goes down, even before the sky has gone completely dark, take a look directly due west. If you see a bright "star," slowly setting in the west, that will be Venus.
Venus is the second planet from the sun. Right now, it's just coming around the sun and is relatively far away from earth. Over the next few months it will appear a little higher in the sky each night. By November or so, it should be hanging about half way up the sky at sunset,and be a brilliant evening sky through out the fall.
Venus appears as bright as it is because it is covered by a thick layer of clouds. After the sun and the moon, Venus is often the next brightest object.
Meanwhile, a little east of due south, you can still see Jupiter. Each night, it will appear a little further to the west. In another four months or so, it will be lost in the glare behind the sun.
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August 30 is the Joshua Tree public star party, starting at 7:30pm at the Hidden Valley picnic area. The next local Old Town Astronomers sidewalk astronomy events will be Saturday, September 6 in Monrovia (corner of Myrtle and Lime), and Friday, September 12 in Pasadena (Old Town Pasadena, Colorado Blvd, near Delacey). Visit www.otastro.org for updates and more information.
Venus is the second planet from the sun. Right now, it's just coming around the sun and is relatively far away from earth. Over the next few months it will appear a little higher in the sky each night. By November or so, it should be hanging about half way up the sky at sunset,and be a brilliant evening sky through out the fall.
Venus appears as bright as it is because it is covered by a thick layer of clouds. After the sun and the moon, Venus is often the next brightest object.
Meanwhile, a little east of due south, you can still see Jupiter. Each night, it will appear a little further to the west. In another four months or so, it will be lost in the glare behind the sun.
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August 30 is the Joshua Tree public star party, starting at 7:30pm at the Hidden Valley picnic area. The next local Old Town Astronomers sidewalk astronomy events will be Saturday, September 6 in Monrovia (corner of Myrtle and Lime), and Friday, September 12 in Pasadena (Old Town Pasadena, Colorado Blvd, near Delacey). Visit www.otastro.org for updates and more information.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Rosemead Park, August 22
The last summer concert in the park is this Friday, so this may also be the last Rosemead Sidewalk Astronomy event for a while. I've got a short post about the actual concert on the Save Our Community website, at http://www.saveourcommunity.us/
Jupiter will be bright and visible in the southwest as darkness falls. This will be our main attraction for Friday (well, I mean, unless you're mainly coming for the music!), although I may try for a few other objects. Venus might also be visible early in the evening, although it will be low and not very interesting to look at.
Rosemead Park is located north of Mission, west of Encinitas and south of Lower Azusa. From the south, you'd go north on Rosemead Blvd and turn right at Mission. From the north, if you're early or late you can turn left on Lower Azusa and right on Encinitas and use the small lot off of Encinitas, or park on Encinitas or one of the sidestreets. Otherwise, you'll likely have to park off of Mission, and possibly even across Mission.
Jupiter will be bright and visible in the southwest as darkness falls. This will be our main attraction for Friday (well, I mean, unless you're mainly coming for the music!), although I may try for a few other objects. Venus might also be visible early in the evening, although it will be low and not very interesting to look at.
Rosemead Park is located north of Mission, west of Encinitas and south of Lower Azusa. From the south, you'd go north on Rosemead Blvd and turn right at Mission. From the north, if you're early or late you can turn left on Lower Azusa and right on Encinitas and use the small lot off of Encinitas, or park on Encinitas or one of the sidestreets. Otherwise, you'll likely have to park off of Mission, and possibly even across Mission.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
"What's Up?"
This month’s "What’s Up?" from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada (yeah, they *say* Pasadena, but they’re actually in La Canada!) is about Jupiter.
The "What's Up?" videos come out almost every month, and are narrated by Jane Houston Jones, who's also an Old Town Astronomer.
The "What's Up?" videos come out almost every month, and are narrated by Jane Houston Jones, who's also an Old Town Astronomer.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Perseid Meteor Shower
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks early on the morning of Tuesday, August 12. That’s late tonight.
If you can get someplace dark you can expect an average of one meteor an hour. The darker your skies, the more you'll see. From town, you’ll see far fewer. From a high dark mountain, you might see one a minute (on average).
The best time to view is going to be between 2 and 5 in the morning. The closest semi-dark location is up the Angeles Crest Highway. Mount Pinos would be better, because it's higher and darker (but also way farther away).
If you can’t make it on Tuesday, the shower will continue to give you a few extra meteors through the end of the week.
Meteor are little chunks of rock or dust. Most will burn up far up in the atmosphere. The larger ones will make it lower (and burn brighter).
If you can get someplace dark you can expect an average of one meteor an hour. The darker your skies, the more you'll see. From town, you’ll see far fewer. From a high dark mountain, you might see one a minute (on average).
The best time to view is going to be between 2 and 5 in the morning. The closest semi-dark location is up the Angeles Crest Highway. Mount Pinos would be better, because it's higher and darker (but also way farther away).
If you can’t make it on Tuesday, the shower will continue to give you a few extra meteors through the end of the week.
Meteor are little chunks of rock or dust. Most will burn up far up in the atmosphere. The larger ones will make it lower (and burn brighter).
Friday, August 8, 2008
Report on August 8 Sidewalk Astronomy
Somewhat trouble-plagued concert. 80-Degrees did a good job, with lots of familiar music. Unfortunately, the sound system cut out a couple of times. This wasn’t something that happened at the last two concerts, so I’m not sure why we had so much trouble tonight.
We also had a pretty light turnout for the concert. That’s probably because of counter-programming: A lot of folks stayed home to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics. That always strikes me as kinda boring but it is one of those events that people want to share with the world, so there you go.
Despite the smaller number of concert goers, the number of people stopping by to look through our telescopes was way up. I suspect we had about 150-200 visits, although many of those were repeats who stopped by several times throughout the evening. That probably means about 80 unique visits. At times, people were lined up, four-deep, on both telescopes.
Caroline and I had two telescope set up tonight. We had both on the moon early. Then, once it got dark enough to find Jupiter, I pointed the larger one to track the gas giant.
For some reason, my smaller, older mount wasn’t tracking. It started acting goofy on Tuesday, when I had it set up on the moon at the National Night Out event in Zapopan Park. I was hoping it was just a weak battery, but the problems continued tonight, with a fully-charged battery. So, once again, I kept it at low power and manually pushed it along to follow the moon.
We both had a lot of fun sharing the sky with everyone who stopped by.
Tomorrow (Saturday, August 9), from around 7:30pm - 10:00pm, we’ll be joining our friends with Old Town Astronomers in Monrovia. A special treat: There’s a very bright flyby of the International Space Station scheduled for around 8:10pm. The sky will still be pretty bright, but the ISS should be bright enough to see.
We also had a pretty light turnout for the concert. That’s probably because of counter-programming: A lot of folks stayed home to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics. That always strikes me as kinda boring but it is one of those events that people want to share with the world, so there you go.
Despite the smaller number of concert goers, the number of people stopping by to look through our telescopes was way up. I suspect we had about 150-200 visits, although many of those were repeats who stopped by several times throughout the evening. That probably means about 80 unique visits. At times, people were lined up, four-deep, on both telescopes.
Caroline and I had two telescope set up tonight. We had both on the moon early. Then, once it got dark enough to find Jupiter, I pointed the larger one to track the gas giant.
For some reason, my smaller, older mount wasn’t tracking. It started acting goofy on Tuesday, when I had it set up on the moon at the National Night Out event in Zapopan Park. I was hoping it was just a weak battery, but the problems continued tonight, with a fully-charged battery. So, once again, I kept it at low power and manually pushed it along to follow the moon.
We both had a lot of fun sharing the sky with everyone who stopped by.
Tomorrow (Saturday, August 9), from around 7:30pm - 10:00pm, we’ll be joining our friends with Old Town Astronomers in Monrovia. A special treat: There’s a very bright flyby of the International Space Station scheduled for around 8:10pm. The sky will still be pretty bright, but the ISS should be bright enough to see.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Rosemead Park, Friday, August 8, 2008
Greetings Fellow Stargazers!
Our third excursion into sidewalk astronomy in Rosemead will be this Friday, August 8, from around 7pm - 9:30pm, in Rosemead Park. We’ll set up just west of Encinitas, across the street from where Rose St. intersects with Encinitas. It’ll be a little south of the point noted on the google map link, here.
I have previously announced this event on the Save Our Community website, but I thought I’d also start a purely astronomical, non-political blog for our Sidewalk Astronomy events, especially the ones we have in Rosemead. But, for additional information on the concert, and a link to the band's (80 Degrees) website, take a look at my SOC post, here.
My wife and I have been doing sidewalk astronomy for the past three years or so. About once a month, we’ve been joining the Old Town Astronomers in Monrovia’s Library Park. We’ll continue doing that, of course. In fact, on Saturday, August 9, from around 8pm - 10pm, that’s where we’ll be.
But on those occasions when there’s a good excuse to set up in Rosemead, we’ll do that, too.
That’s what we love about this Summer Concert Series. Four times this year, we get a nice regional band to provide free entertainment for the whole family. Many people come specifically to hear the music and see the band. But many others come to enjoy the rest of the park; the music just provides a different backdrop. Some come to picnic, some to swim, some to play basketball, some to walk or job. It’s a nice mix of people from all over Rosemead and surrounding communities.
We bring our telescopes to add another dimensions to the entertainment. Most people aren’t going to bother stopping by for a look through our telescopes. But if you’re curious, there we are. It’s entirely free. There’s no charge to look through the telescopes, and we won’t try to sell anything. We just want to share a view of a little part of the universe we live in with our neighbors.
Both this Friday (in Rosemead) and this Saturday (in Monrovia), we’ll have a beautiful first-quarter moon and a pretty view of Jupiter. Jupiter is near opposition at the moment, which means it’s about as close to Earth as it will get for the next year or so. That means it rises near sunset and appears as large as it will appear all year. In our amateur telescopes, you should be able to see several cloud belts, as well as the four Galilean satellites.
Our third excursion into sidewalk astronomy in Rosemead will be this Friday, August 8, from around 7pm - 9:30pm, in Rosemead Park. We’ll set up just west of Encinitas, across the street from where Rose St. intersects with Encinitas. It’ll be a little south of the point noted on the google map link, here.
I have previously announced this event on the Save Our Community website, but I thought I’d also start a purely astronomical, non-political blog for our Sidewalk Astronomy events, especially the ones we have in Rosemead. But, for additional information on the concert, and a link to the band's (80 Degrees) website, take a look at my SOC post, here.
My wife and I have been doing sidewalk astronomy for the past three years or so. About once a month, we’ve been joining the Old Town Astronomers in Monrovia’s Library Park. We’ll continue doing that, of course. In fact, on Saturday, August 9, from around 8pm - 10pm, that’s where we’ll be.
But on those occasions when there’s a good excuse to set up in Rosemead, we’ll do that, too.
That’s what we love about this Summer Concert Series. Four times this year, we get a nice regional band to provide free entertainment for the whole family. Many people come specifically to hear the music and see the band. But many others come to enjoy the rest of the park; the music just provides a different backdrop. Some come to picnic, some to swim, some to play basketball, some to walk or job. It’s a nice mix of people from all over Rosemead and surrounding communities.
We bring our telescopes to add another dimensions to the entertainment. Most people aren’t going to bother stopping by for a look through our telescopes. But if you’re curious, there we are. It’s entirely free. There’s no charge to look through the telescopes, and we won’t try to sell anything. We just want to share a view of a little part of the universe we live in with our neighbors.
Both this Friday (in Rosemead) and this Saturday (in Monrovia), we’ll have a beautiful first-quarter moon and a pretty view of Jupiter. Jupiter is near opposition at the moment, which means it’s about as close to Earth as it will get for the next year or so. That means it rises near sunset and appears as large as it will appear all year. In our amateur telescopes, you should be able to see several cloud belts, as well as the four Galilean satellites.
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