OTEvents August 2018

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Sidewalk Astronomy tonight, and a few upcoming events

by Jane Houston Jones

Sidewalk Astronomy tonight will get underway at about 7:30 p.m. same place -- Myrtle and Lime Street corner, Monrovia early birds should get a view of Venus, followed by great views of Jupiter, Saturn and probably Mars by 9 p.m. We'll probably shut down at 9:30 p.m. Coming up after that will be probably Sidewalk Astronomy on September 15th and/or 22nd, our annual star party at Descanso Gardens on August 29th, and our annual star party at Huntington Library on October 20th. You'll find out about those events if you are members of those gardens. I don't think they are open to the non-member public, but you could always check. I haven't heard yet if our October 6th Mojave Star Party date has been approved, or of flooding damage from rains a month ago will cancel or postpone that event. That's all for this week! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones @jhjones @otastro Jane's What's Up video episode #134: August 2018 - Perseids! https://go.nasa.gov/2IjBkNh New! FB Watch What’s Up video page https://www.facebook.com/NASAWhatsUp/

6 years, 4 months

8:26 pm - another ISS pass tonight, Perseids are peaking too!

by Jane Houston Jones

There was a great ISS pass Tuesday night -- we watched it from the Hollywood Bowl at intermission of Star Wars: A New Hope, in concert with LA Phil orchestration, and the film on the big screen. Folks at the "bowl" tonight will see the same show, including A New Pass! Time: Fri Aug 10 8:26 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 82°, Appears: 36° above NW, Disappears: 13° above SE. To get your own email or text alerts of passes over your location just sign up here https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ Now about the Perseids. The rates have been increasing day by day, just as predicted. You can see the last few years Perseids rates in my August what's Up video. https://www.facebook.com/NASAWhatsUp/ or at the other usual places. The Perseids, in a nutshell are visible at rates over 20 per hour for a couple weeks. The "peak" where the rates go up to 50-60 per hour (fewer seen from areas with light pollution, smoke, or clouds) and more -- up to maybe 70 per hour -- from the very darkest locations. Sunday night is the "peak" bur Friday, Saturday and Monday nights should also be well above the 20 visible per hour last night. This great chart shows the work of "citizen scientists" who go out and rigorously count meteors around the world. Bookmark and check back if this interests you. http://www.imo.net/members/imo_live_shower?shower=PER&yea=2018 The citizen scientists use a standard set of tools: Eyes, comfy chair, pencil, clipboard, tape recorder sometimes, timepiece that doesn't emit light to keep track of timed observing intervals, some star charts to measure your own visual acuity and sky darkness -- to see how many stars you can see in a triangle of fairly bright stars -- you might only see the three bright anchor stars from the city, you may see 5 to 30 from a dark site. With all these tools, even an observation from light polluted LA county (my driveway) matters, and the fact that I may only see a few per hour, in miserable light pollution, is calculated and part of the data. If this interests you, I'll be happy to drag some of you out to Amboy crater or another dark location of my choosing to count meteors and submit your data. It's geeky science fun! Here are a few additional sites with Perseid info. NASA's ScienceCasts video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=3sIEVwF5O8g Solar System Exploration's Ten Things: How to Photograph a Meteor Shower: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/510/10-things-how-to-photograph-a-meteor-… Jane's "Perseids from Amboy Crater" (sort of a tutorial to Citizen Science) http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2010/10/26/the-perseids-from-amboy-crater/ Oh, Sidewalk Astronomy Monrovia August 18th, weather and schedules permitting. -- Jane Houston Jones @jhjones @otastro Jane's What's Up video episode #133: August 2018 - Perseids! https://go.nasa.gov/2IjBkNh New! FB Watch What’s Up video page https://www.facebook.com/NASAWhatsUp/ -- From Jane, sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

6 years, 4 months

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OTEvents August 2018