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.