Halley's Comet Pictures

Don't know if anyone reads this blog, but if you do, and you're interested, I posted a few shots I took of Halley's Comet on my hiking blog. It's here.

Possible Monrovia Sidewalk Astronomy on December 18

A couple of the regular Monrovia group has said they plan to be at Myrtle and Lime on Saturday, December 18. The weather forecast for that night is not looking very good, however, so I would definitely monitor the skies before heading out there.

Revised December Sidewalk

No telescopes in Pasadena this month.

Monrovia, only. December 11. Still coordinating on the times, but probably from around 6pm - 8pm.

December Sidewalk Dates

Old Town Astronomers hasn't posted their sidewalk dates, but judging by the calendar, you should expect them to be in Pasadena (Colorado, near Delacey) on Friday, December 10, and in Monrovia (Myrtle and Lime) on Saturday, December 11. Expect telescopes from around 5pm until 8pm on both nights (longer if we're busy).

Jupiter is marching quickly across the night sky. It's now more or less due south by shortly after dark and setting towards the west by late evening.

If you get up before twilight, the amazingly bright "star" you see to the southeast is Venus.

First Quarter Moon Weekend!

Yep, it's sidewalk astronomy weekend! Today, Friday, November 12, in Pasadena (Colorado Blvd near Delacey) and tomorrow, Saturday, November 13 in Monrovia, at the corner of Myrtle and Lime. Figure a bit after 6pm - 8:30pm, at least, both nights.

Huntington Library Event

I had a lot of fun at the Huntington Library event on Saturday. Events like this are a little bit different, because the sky is reasonably dark for a suburban location. There aren't dozens of street and store lights there like you have in Old Town Monrovia. That lets you try for objects beyond just the moon and planets. So, while we definitely did a lot of moon and planet watching, we had other things to see.

The moon was visible before dark, so that's the objects telescopes went to first. Once the sun went, I could see Venus, low to the west-southwest.

The thing about the Huntington is that there are a lot of trees and large buildings. Venus was quickly dropping behind one such building. I moved my telescope (carefully) a few times to give us an extra 10 or 15 minutes with the Evening Star. It's a narrow crescent, now.

Once I lost Venus behind the building, I returned to the moon. Jupiter was already up, but it was behind a large tree. From my location, Jupiter wouldn't become visible until almost 10pm.

One of the people who was enjoying our telescope asked about seeing other objects. She said she was hoping for some constellation viewing. So I grabbed my green laser pointer and spent a short five minutes pointing out the easiest constellations and asterisms of the fall sky: The Big Dipper, low and only barely visible above Dibner Hall. I did the old "Arc to Arcturus," then showed the Pointers, which we followed to Polaris. Not quite all of the stars of the Little Dipper were visible.

I then swung above, to point out the Summer Triangle, then the stars that contribute to the Triangle: Deneb and Cygnus, Vega and Lyra, and Altair and Aquila. For Cygnus, I then moved on up to the head of the Swan, Albireo. Then we got a little telescopic view of Albireo. Then a telescopic view of Vega. Then I scootched over to M57, the Ring Nebula.

Later, we moved on to M13, the Great Hercules Cluster.

As the evening wound down and I had another break in the visitors, I took a quick peek at Jupiter, then used my finderscope to pick out candidates for Uranus. By that I mean that I knew that Uranus was in the same finderscope field as Jupiter, and I knew Uranus should be about as bright as Jupiter's Galilean moons. So I moved the telescope to each star that appeared to be 5th-6th magnitude, increased the magnification, then checked to see if it appeared disc-like or stellar. I eventually did find the right one. That was pretty cool, although only a few folks actually got to see it.

Sidewalk Astronomy in September

Friday, September 17--The folks supporting PATS will have telescopes set up around Paseo Colorado on Friday. The Old Town Astronomers will probably also be set up along Colorado, separate from PATS. Visit http://www.otastro.org for more information.

Saturday, September 18--In Old Town Monrovia.

Possibly a glimpse of Venus as it is quickly diving towards the sun. Jupiter, a little later in the evening. Moon viewing during the whole evening.

Some Old Town Astronomers will also be set up September 18 for an event at the Huntington Library and Gardens.

By the Way, September 18 is also "International View the Moon Night." No, I don't know how they think of these things.

Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show

Third annual PATS show is returning to Pasadena on Septembers 18 and 19. Great chance to see a whole lot of vendors and telescope options. They'll also have telescopes set up for free viewing on Friday September 17 and Saturday September 18, probably around Paseo Colorado.

Some Pictures from Pamela Park

Successful night. Not as many people as last month (I think the movie was less popular), but we were still kept pretty busy all night.

Three pictures of people looking through telescopes and one I took through an eyepiece looking at the moon. Pretty lousy shot, but at least you get some idea of what you can see through a telescope.

Pamela Park

Back in Pamela Park on Friday, August 20. Probably around 7:30pm - 9pm. Saturn, Mars and Venus will all be setting pretty early (and we may need to do some dodging to get around those trees). Jupiter is probably still rising too late for us to see. The moon will probably be our main attraction for later in the evening.

Mt Pinos

Mt Pinos is probably the closest decent dark sky observing site for most southern Californians. So, on new moon weekends, the place can get pretty full.

To get here, you take I-5 north, just past Gorman. As you reach the bottom of a long downgrade, look for the Frazier Park exit. Get off the freeway there, and turn left, under the freeway. Just on the other side, on the right, you'll see a gas station with a Subway franchise inside, a Jack in the Box, and a hotel. On the left is a Flying J Truck stop.

Gasoline there is often a little cheaper than in town. Today, it was $2.99 9/10ths for regular unleaded, which is eight cents less per gallon than what I filled up with in town yesterday.

From there, you continue on the road you were on, and just stay on that road until it deadends near the top of Mt. Pinos. I think it's supposed to be about 12 miles from the freeway, total.

I intended to take a hike to the Mt. Pinos summit, and possibly on to Mt. Abel. That didn't work, however. I had looked at a map previously and saw that the main trail continued in the same direction as the road that entered the parking lot, so I assumed the trail would begin at the far end of the lot. Indeed, there *is* a trail that leaves that way. But, apparently, it is a trail for cross country skiers and not the trail to the summit of Mt. Pinos. Also, it looks to be a trail to a walk-in campground.

On the plus, side, I did get to see a nice field of iris.

Then I wandered aimlessly, and wound up wandering in a large circle. I'm sure I covered at least one mile, and possibly two, most of it cross-country. I finally found my way back to the road, then back to the parking lot.

By then, I had run across another walker and asked her about the trail to Mt. Pinos. She told me the trail left from the left side of the nordic hut, not the right side. Also, when I got back, I saw the huge sign pointing the way to this trail.

It's kind of funny, though. Although I've been to Mt. Pinos for astronomy at least a half-dozen times, I always get there in the afternoon or evening and stay until midnight or later. I'd never left the parking lot in daylight, and never noticed the large sign pointing the way to the trail to the summit!

Edit: In case you're actually interested in hiking the Mt. Pinos and Mt. Abel trails, I have a write-up of that hike on my hiking blog, My Own 100 Hikes.

Sidewalk Astronomy in July

I'm committed to two dates this month:

Friday, July 16, in Pamela Park, in Duarte/Irwindale, 8-10pm.

Saturday, July 17, at our regular location at the corner of Myrtle and Lime in Old Town Monrovia. Dusk until ?

On both nights, Venus will be visible early, and Saturn will be a target for the rest of the night. The moon will also be visible.

Mount Wilson

While channel surfing earlier tonight, I stumbled across Huell Howser's visit to Mount Wilson observatory. Kind of entertaining, and definitely worth a watch.

One thing the show doesn't make clear is that you can't just drive up there and look through the 60" telescope. You need to make a reservation and pay a fee. One of these days, I'm going to do have to do that.

Comet McNaught

There's another Comet McNaught swinging through our vicinity this month. Here's the Sky and Telescope write-up.

I got a pretty good view on Sunday morning from a dark-sky observing location in the Mojave Desert. I couldn't make it out with the naked eye, but it was easy in my small, rich-field reflector. It's also been report in binoculars.

In the low-magnification view, the comet looks pretty small but definitely has a tail. In my larger telescopes, both the dust and ion tails are easily visible.

It's nothing like the spectacular 2007 Comet McNaught, but it's been over a year, I think, since the last binocular-visible comet has been around.

June 2010 Sidewalk Dates

Old Town Astronomers sidewalk dates for June 2010:
Friday, June 18 in Pasadena.
Saturday, June 19 in Monrovia.

As usual, I intend to participate in the Monrovia event.

Also, there's a chance of some summer sidewalk astronomy nights in a park in Duarte. I'll post more if firm dates are set.

May 2010 Sidewalk Dates

Pasadena on Friday, May 21
Monrovia on Saturday, May 22

Weather permitting, targets will be Venus, moon, Saturn, and Mars, although Mars is pretty distant and small, so we may end up skipping Mars.

Venus sets earlish. It, like Mars, is also relatively far away and not showing too much of a phase.

More info at www.otastro.org

April Sidewalk Dates

Pasadena--Friday, April 23
Monrovia--Saturday, April 24

Weather-permitting. Pasadena viewing is on Colorado, near DeLacey. Monrovia viewing is at the southeast corner of Library Park (northwest corner of Myrtle and Lime).

Venus *may* be visible from these sidewalk locations shortly after dark. It depends on the placement of trees and buildings. Mars is a bit west of overhead by dark, and rapidly fading in brightness and shrinking in size. Saturn is well up to the east, with rings still near edge-on but easily visible even in the smallest of telescopes. The moon will also be up in the southeast after dark.

Old Town Astronomers, www.otastro.org has more information. I only set up at their Pasadena location last month. Not sure if I'll try again.

The weather forecast for this week is somewhat iffy, at least until Saturday. Check their website or sign up for their e-mail list for updates.

See Mercury!

Over the past few days (and for the next few days), take a look to the west, shortly after sunset. The bright "star" you see (the one that isn't an airplane!) is Venus. At the moment, it's not very interesting in a telescope because it's on the other side of the sun. But each night for the next few months, it'll get a little closer. In a few months, it'll be higher, brighter, and more interesting in a telescope.

If it's gotten darker (say, around 7:45 or 8:00pm), look down and to the right of Venus. That star will be Mercury. You can confirm its identity by noticing that it moves substantially from night to night. If you have a telescope, take a look at it. You can also confirm it's a planet by noting that it appears as a disc, not as a mere point of light.

These next few days place Mercury best for evening viewing all year. Don't miss it!

Busy weekend!

I did two events this weekend--the Monrovia event, mentioned below, and Pasadena, on Friday.

This was my first excursion to Pasadena. I met my friends there, who were set up a block west of Delacey, on the north side of Colorado Blvd. It's really busy there compared to Monrovia, but sidewalk space is at a premium. Still, no problem with three telescopes there.

Because I knew I would have a longer distance to haul my stuff, I brought my Celestron Firstscope 80mm eq refractor. I toss the wooden tripod and mount (with counterweight removed) over my shoulder and stuff the OTA, counterweight bar and weight, eyepieces and diagonal into my guitar case. That makes all the necessities transportable in one trip.

I showed Saturn, which, in my little 80eq, is pretty tiny. But it's still recognizable as Saturn, which surprises a lot of people, particularly when you consider that a telescope like the 80eq can be had for about $150.

Mojo counted off 240 viewers during their time in Pasadena. The line was almost continuous.

Yesterday, I brought my 8-inch SCT to Monrovia. I showed a high magnification view of the moon for a while (about 220x), then shifted to Saturn. In this telescope, Saturn is a lot bigger and the rings are obviously more distinct.

The rings are still nearly edge-on, being inclined about 3 degrees to our line of sight. That makes Saturn look a little bit like a meatball with a toothpick through it.

Between 80 and 120 people stopped to view in Monrovia. The official count was lower, but I think Mojo must have missed some viewers because, again, the line was almost continuous between 7:45pm and 9:00pm.

Twice a week is a little exhausting, but I did want to see what Pasadena was like as a sidewalk astronomy location.

Saturday, March 27 update

This is still "on," weather permitting. However, my original post was before the shift to daylight saving. Now, the sun doesn't even set until about 7:15pm. So I'd expect we'll try to set up sometime around 7:30-7:45pm, and stick around until about 9:30pm or so.

If I do set up early, we might get a BRIEF peak at Venus before it sets. Mars will be overhead, although it is rapidly shrinking. Saturn will rise shortly before sunset, but probably won't clear the buildings around Myrtle and Lime until at least 8:30pm or 9pm. A gibbous moon will be visible during the entire sidewalk event.

Sidewalk Astronomy in Monrovia, Saturday, March 27

Note this is a change from a previous post: Old Town Astronomers are aiming for Saturday, March 27, not the 20th as I previously expected.

We've been having lousy luck with the weather the past three months. Last month's event was clouded out. Hopefully, we'll have better luck this month.

Same location, corner of Myrtle and Lime, from around 6pm - 9pm.

Mars and the moon will be the main targets, with possibly a peek at Saturn late in the evening.

The Globe at Night

Interesting project here.

The goal is to get observations from all over the globe to try to get a better idea of the extent of light pollution. Join in the fun!

Sidewalk Astronomy in Monrovia, Saturday, Feb 20

As usual, this is weather permitting. We'll probably set up around 6pm and close up around 9pm. Mars and moon viewing will be on the top of the agenda. If we have time, we may try for a few other objects, but the lighting situation at our corner (Myrtle and Lime) is such that we're pretty much limited to lunar and planetary objects.

As of today, the forecast for next Saturday is a little iffy. But it's a long way off, so that may very well change (for better or worse).