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January 2015

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Sidewalk astronomy tonight in Monrovia
by Morris Jones 24 Jan '15

24 Jan '15

It's a clear and slightly chilly night expected in Monrovia. The crescent moon will be out early, and later Jupiter might clear the trees to the east. While tonight's sky is expected to be very transparent (dark), the other atmospheric feature that affects astronomy is scintillation, a measure of how turbulent the air is. Astronomers have a technical term for this: "seeing." The seeing tonight is not expected to be very good, because of different layers of air temperature and upper level winds. That's what gives the slightly watery effect you notice when you view the moon or planets through a telescope, and it gives stars more of a twinkle when you look up at the night sky. Notice the brightest star Sirius tonight due south, and see how it flashes and changes color as its light passes through the turbulent air. It's a little like looking up at the sky from the bottom of a deep swimming pool. But "seeing" is highly variable! If you look for a while, you will have moments when you're looking through air that isn't turbulent, and you can see fine detail: mountain peaks and lava tubes on the moon, cloud belts and swirls on Jupiter. Come take a look if you can. Jane and I have a family engagement tonight so we won't be there, but Todd and Dave and maybe some others are planning to set up from about 6:00 'til 8:00. Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://whiteoaks.com

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Comet visible in your binoculars (just as we get clouds for the weekend)
by Jane Houston Jones 08 Jan '15

08 Jan '15

Mojo and I were talking last night while observing a fairly bright comet, which is visible near the familiar constellation Orion. So we thought we should take telescopes out Saturday night. But this morning we looked at the weather forecast, and sadly we are expecting clouds and even a chance of rain this weekend. If that changes, we'll let you know, with short notice, probably on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, if it's clear where you live, definitely step outside with your binoculars and you too can aim your binos at C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy. Its color is unmistakeable. It will appear as a ghostly faint fuzzy blue-green patch much bigger than a star in your binoculars. If you can Identify Orion, the comet is moving North, from parallel to Orion's knee, Rigel. It's now close to the Belt stars, and in a week will be near the Pleiades. I've seen it every night from my front door using 7 x 50 binoculars Here is where to look all month long (for both northern and southern hemispheres) http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=1945 In two weeks, three of Jupiter's moons will scoot across the visible disk of Jupiter, preceded by their shadows - a triple shadow transit! It's a telescopic viewing opportunity (maybe you'll spot one of the shadows through good binoculars) and our Monrovia Corner isn't well suited for this event since it goes on until 11 p.m. on Friday the 23rd of January. Jupiter won't rise above the buildings until 9 p.m. or so. Jupiter is the sole topic of my January What's Up video, you can enjoy it here, and marvel at the images of moons, shadows, eclipse and occultations, all contributed by amateur astronomers around the world, and this month, from one of our local sidewalk astronomers, Jon Philpott! His images appear at 45 seconds into the video and one features a backyard telescope view of Jupiter and the other showing the 4 galilean moons, two right next to each other, with an overexposed Jupiter to see the moons better. Here's the YouTube ink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWlYTppifhI, and more video formats are here. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm There are lots of other naked eye planets to view this month. That's Venus shining brightly in the west at sunset, with faint Mercury nearby, and Mars above. Jupiter is king this month, visible all month long. You can see Saturn at dawn, too! Thanks all for this month from Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini & InSight Missions @jhjones @CassiniSaturn @NASAInsight What's Up For January? Jupiter http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm or http://youtu.be/YWlYTppifhI

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