Here's a good article about the moon illusion from NASA's Science@NASA series
"On Saturday night, June 30th, step outside at sunset and look
around. You'll see a giant moon rising in the east. It looks like
Earth's moon with the usual craters and seas, but something's wrong.
This full moon is strangely inflated. It's huge!
You've just experienced the Moon Illusion"...Read the whole article here
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/27jun_moonillusion.htm
--
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
Mojo and I have often set up our sidewalk telescopes at local
bookstores when a popular book such as one of the Harry Potter
series is released. It's especially nice when there is a midnight
(or evening) book release which coincides with a first quarter moon.
Wizards and muggles alike set aside their differences and stand
peacefully in line for a look at the moon.
July's first quarter moon Friday night happens to coincide with the
release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Donna Smith of the
LA Sidewalk Astronomers is wondering if one or two telescope
operators could help her out at the Barnes and Noble in Burbank on
Friday the 20th. The event starts at 6 p.m. and the book goes on
sale at midnight. They set up the telescopes up on the roof.
If you have telescope and will travel :-) let Donna know. She's
interested in having kids there - kids with telescopes, that is.
Contact Donna directly. Her email is dsmith1055(a)earthlink.net, if you
are interested in bringing a telescope to this event.
If Burbank is not convenient for you, why not ask your own favorite
bookstore if they'd like to have your telescope out on that night.
The moon and Jupiter will make great targets! Mojo and I will try to
set up our telescopes near the Colorado Blvd Barnes and Noble,
parking permitting. Our two telescopes are plenty for that busy
sidewalk.
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
Normally we don't send this many emails to our list, but it's a really
great weekend for astronomy.
First of all, we have great weather, warm with clear skies, and fairly
good seeing.
Second, we have a great array of planets. Venus and Saturn are setting
quickly in the west, and this will be our last month for Saturn.
Jupiter is rising low in the south east, and the moon this weekend is
high with lots of detail. Something for every telescope we should have
out on Saturday night!
Third, we have a great pass of the International Space Station. It will
enter the sky from the northwest, cross between the Big Dipper and the
north star, then pass all the way across the sky to the east, just above
the rising summer triangle. It'll be first visible at 8:50, reach its
highest altitude of 58 degrees at 8:53, then disappear at 8:55.
So join us in Old Town Monrovia Saturday night. Sunset is late, but we
can see the moon before the sun sets. We should be at Myrtle & Lime
from about 7:30 'til 10 p.m.
And just to follow up on the landing of the space shuttle, I did indeed
step out my front door in Monrovia to hear a nice "boom boom" pair of
sonic booms from the shuttle on approach. Five minutes later it was on
the ground. That was a first for me!
Finally, pictures from the Grand Canyon and Bryce are here:
<http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-06-grand-canyon/>
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
A bunch of us walked outside the Space Flight Operations Facility
here at JPL http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/iged/sfof.html a few
minutes ago to watch and listen for the STS117 as it passed the LA
area on it's way to landing at Edwards Air Force base.
A couple people from the Cassini Team were there, since we work in
this historic building, and several folks had their laptops in their
arms with the NASA commentary and imagery running. We could see the
shuttle on the screen, but could not see ourselves. But we did hear
the subtle and very low double sonic booms, and minutes later, the
shuttle had successfully landed.
In case you were wondering.....why does the space shuttle have a
double sonic boom?
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/874604921.Eg.r.html
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
I have no idea if we'll be able to see or hear anything, but space
shuttle Atlantis will be landing at Edwards AFB at 12:49 today. I
expect it to pass north of the city, on the other side of the San
Gabriel mountains.
There could be a couple of good sonic booms from the shuttle!
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Here's a friendly reminder that this is the weekend for our moon and
planet sidewalk astronomy!
But first, there was a good (but low to the horizon) ISS/Shuttle
pass last night. at about 9:30 p.m.
The brighter Space Station led the way, followed several seconds
(and about 15 degrees away) by the fainter shuttle.
Anyway, look up the shuttle and ISS passes for tonight and the future
on this website http://www.heavens-above.com/ . Sorry I forgot to
mention it, but I figure those who enjoy these satellite passes are
already checking this website, especially when there is both a ISS
and a shuttle to see.
Tonight there is a good ISS pass at 9:44 p.m. (that's for Monrovia
and environs) - the space station will reach a maximum elevation of
69 degrees at 9:47 p.m. It's good to check the website shortly before
the viewing to see if anything changed. maybe the shuttle info will
have been updated (it still shows planned reentry of this morning,
which has changed).
Back to Earth - Friday night we'll be in Pasadena someplace on
Colorado Blvd between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues from 7:30 to 10
p.m. Saturday, we'll be at Myrtle and Lime Streets in Monrovia about
the same times. We expect large crowds because of the warm weather.
Mojo and I attended both the Grand Canyon Star Party and the Bryce
Canyon Astronomy Festival last week, and conducted our own small star
party in the Kaibab National Forest in-between the two bigger events.
Here's our pictures for those who like vacation pictures.
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-06-grand-canyon/
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program
JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205
Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435
jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
June marks the beginning of our annual tour of some of the great
national parks of the US. Our motto beccomes "Have Telescope, Will Travel!"
During the warm summer months we take telescopes, and occasionally other
sidewalk astronomers away from the city and into the national parks for
a couple of the annual star parties.
In June, we'll be in Northern Arizona and Utah for the annual Grand
Canyon Star Party and the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival. During these
events, the dark skies of the national park become rich tapestry for
amateur astronomer volunteers who introduce thousands of park visitors
to the dark splendor of the summer Milky Way. Closer to home, the
Joshua Tree Mational Park has a similar ongoing astronomy program, in
conjunction with the Yucca Valley based Andromeda Society.
http://www.andromedasociety.org/
Our OTASTRO website http://www.otastro.org/ has all the summer star
party dates, but I'll recap June here:
We'll be at the Kaibab Lodge June 11 - talks at sunset, and later,
telescopes out on the Lodge grounds. http://kaibablodge.com/events.htm
Sidewalk barry Peckham from hawaii and John Dobson from San Francisco
will be with us.
We'll be at the Grand Canyon - North Rim June 12-13. The star party
takes place at both the North Rim Lodge and the South rim Yavapai Point
parking lot June 9-16. http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/gcsp.html the
public is welcome to hear the talks at sunset and look through the
telescopes. All the telescope volunteers have registered with the
national park as volunteers (aka lots of paperwork) and gone through a
brief park training and orientation. If you're interested for next
year, you can get information via the website above.
Then we'll head north to Bryce Canyon National Park on June 14 - 16.
Again all the volunteers have registered and even documented what types
of telescopes they are bringing - as there is only room for 45
telescopes at the star party site. this event goes on for 3 days, and
there are activites both day and night. It's all free, but some events
require tickets due to space limitations. Read all about it here:
http://www.nps.gov/brca/planyourvisit/astronomyprograms.htm
June 22 and 23 will be our monthly sidewalk Astronomy nights in Pasadena
and Monrovia.
Finally, my monthly video, "What's Up" for June is up on the JPL
website. Have a listen! It's only 2 minutes long and is packed with
great amateur images of planets and more. There's lots to see this
month!. :-)
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
