Hi everyone! We saw a few shooting stars from the desert on Saturday night.
It was in the 40's at midnight, but the sky was absolutely gorgeous! Mojo
and I are working on a story or two combining his gorgeous images from that
night. You'll see those in a few days. :-) But tonight is Leonid night!
The Leonids are my favorite meteor shower, partly because I've been
participating in meteor counting research as an amateur astronomer for a
dozen years. But mostly because this shower is well documented in art,
culture and history going back to the 900's.
It looks like we'll have decent weather tonight for those who want to see a
few shooting stars. If you want to see some of this historic meteor shower,
the best time for us here in the US is from 12:30 am to 2:30 am. (that's
Pacific time) Tuesday morning - aka in less than 12 hours from right now.
The time usually recommended for meteor shower watching is the "hours before
dawn" timeframe. But this time, because Earth will be plowing through a
"denser clump" of meteor dust at that time, the rates will go up a little.
Not like the storm years of 1998-2002, when thousands of meteors rained down
on the Earth, but a nice reminder that our solar system is an amazing place
Still, it won't be raining meteors tonight. Expect maybe 10-20 before
midnight and maybe up to 30 per hour during the 12:30 - 2:30 am timeframe.
An article recalling the 1999 and the 1899 Leonids is here:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2289
Let me know if you see any! I'll pass on your report if you'd like to the
Leonid ground-based team, observing from Kathmandu, Nepal. They are counting
meteors (and there will be an outburst of maybe 300) right now where it's
meteor time in Asia! http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/
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
NEW! 2009 What's Up For November-The Crab Nebula
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
Hi everyone, we are really looking forward to our weekend dark sky
getaway on the 14th. Weather permitting, we'll be sure to see Taurids
and Leonids and more, oh my! Mojo mentioned it to you all a few weeks
ago. To repeat part of his invite:
"We travel about 160 miles from home in Monrovia out I-10 to a spot on
BLM land south of Joshua Tree. Most of us make a night of it, catching a
couple hours sleep as we can, and enjoy breakfast the next morning at
Chiriaco Summit. Some will leave around midnight to make the trek back."
With the time change it gets dark early now, so that means you'd need to
arrive before 5:30 p.m., It is dark in the desert, and you travel on a 2
mile dirt road, and you need light to park on soft sand with many pokey
bushes and cacti. This site is unfortunately not suitable for large
trucks or RV's.
Let us know if you'd like to join us, and we'll send the map. Plan to
bring plenty of water, a comfortable chair and layers of clothing for
(possibly chilly) meteor observing after midnight to dawn. I'm toying
with a Leonid morning trek (that would be Monday night the 16th until
dawn on Tuesday the 17th) depending on the weather. Maybe Warner
Springs, maybe all the way to our observing site. I get all sentimental
about the Leonids as Mojo and I have been observing them as part of the
NASA Airborne Meteor missions for many years. The bonus view will be
Saturn in Leo - been a while since we've had a good look at the real
Lord of the Rings. :-)
Now, on to business!
My What's Up November podcast is all about the Crab Nebula in Taurus and
the Leonids get a brief mention at the end.
Youtube http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u/0/DSRP2XoLgxk -
It is also on the JPL front page and lots of other places I mention
every month.
Blogging about the Leonids: I've been taking a trip down memory lane
this week. You can read my story about flying through the 1999 Leonid
Storm, and also an interesting (at least to me) article about the first
airborne mission one hundred years earlier. It is the story of a woman
astronomer (Dorothea Klumpke) observing the Leonids in a balloon!
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Here's looking up! Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Websites: http:www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My NASA JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Tonight should be great in Old Town Monrovia, we'll be there from about
7:00 'til 9:30 or so, showing a large gibbous moon and Jupiter.
A lot of people are curious about our dark sky observing nights. We do
often get together and trek out from under the Los Angeles light dome to
see the real night sky and look at galaxies and nebulae that are
impossible to see from within 100 miles of Los Angeles.
For a taste of what it's like, Jane and I both wrote observing reports
from our last outing:
Mojo's story with some astrophotos:
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/19/finally-autoguiding/
Jane's report:
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/24/another-perfect-stargazing-night/
A little photo album of the setup:
http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2009-10-17-chuckwalla/index.html
Admittedly our dark sky excursions are mostly for our own benefit. It's
a great joy to enjoy the seclusion of the deserts around Southern
California. We prefer our out-of-the-way location to the more crowded
locations like Mt. Pinos. Besides that, our sky is darker. :)
We travel about 160 miles from home in Monrovia out I-10 to a spot on
BLM land south of Joshua Tree. Most of us make a night of it, catching a
couple hours sleep as we can, and enjoy breakfast the next morning at
Chiriaco Summit. Some will leave around midnight to make the trek back.
Even though we are certainly getting away from crowds, we don't mind
having you join us for one of our excursions. It's amazing to discover
what a modest telescope can do when you get away from the bright skies
of Los Angeles. It's a treat to watch the Milky Way overhead, see
satellites and meteors, and really see the constellations you didn't
know were there.
We're often limited by the weather, and we'll cancel if it's cloudy, too
windy, too hot, or otherwise inclement. The desert ground at our
location is soft, and a couple of visitors have had bad luck getting
stuck in the dirt. It's admittedly not a good place to get stuck. There
are no facilities of any kind; Jane and I bring along a portable
environmental toilet. And if you come you need to be prepared with
layers of clothes, plenty of water, and preferably dim red flashlights
to help you navigate.
With all that in mind, you should consider it. We're a friendly social
group, and love sharing views through the telescopes. Our trips to the
desert will not be announced here. We generally pick the Saturday night
closest to new moon. That's a homework assignment. :)
If you'd like to join us and try out that telescope in your closet on a
real dark sky, send me a note that week and find out if we're going.
It's a three-hour trip from Monrovia, and we generally try to arrive
about an hour before sunset.
Think about it ...
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers http://otastro.orghttp://twitter.com/mojo_la
Nothing will stop your intrepid Sidewalk Astronomers from delivering
telescopic eye candy. Not even Halloween!
Tonight, Friday the 30th we'll be at One Colorado in Pasadena. Now we always
set up our telescopes "someplace" between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues,
but tonight we're going to be as close to or in the courtyard of One
Colorado to support the Spitzer Science Center's exhibit. They are part of
the 3-week Pasadena Arts and Ideas Festival. So stop by and join us, and
check out the Spitzer Ask A scientist station, images and videos too!
Saturday night, we "hope" to be on our Myrtle and Lime corner in Monrovia
with just a couple telescopes. Most of our gang will be doing sidewalk
astronomy in their own neighborhoods, so it might just be the two of us. But
no matter how many telescopes the view will be BOO-tiful!
Finally, before the links, here is my annual spooky astronomical observing
list. Hope it's not too scary!
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/10/30/spooky-halloween-observing/
Pasadena Arts and Ideas Oct 23-Nov 9th
http://artideasfestival.org/index.html
Spitzer Science Center and One Colorado presents Fri and Saturday night
(next weekend too):
All day long: Images from NASA in the courtyard
Dusk to 10pm with short videos, demonstrations, "Ask an Astronomer"
Dusk to 9:30 Friday night, probably not on Halloween night.Astronomers on
Colorado Blvd entrance to One Colorado
http://artideasfestival.org/nasa_center.html
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
2009 What's Up podcast archives
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
This month I talk about the history of the Andromeda Galaxy in my What's Up podcast. It's online here in lots of different formats for you to choose:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=224
itunes: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/whatsup_index.html
All JPL podcastsincluding What's Up here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u
Here's an article on the Universe Today website about my sketching project: I have been observing and sketching the Galilean objects through a small
refractor similar to Galileo's ,all year long. It's my way to honor International Year of Astronomy and the 400 years since Galileo first aimed a telescope to the sky and saw wonderful things.
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/14/amateur-astronomer-is-chasing-galil…
I was recently in Canada giving a talk, and met a First Nation Science
Educator who was talking about astronomy legends and seeing the Cree Nation sky. I wrote a blog post about some of the star legends - it's here: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
This experience made me want to devote my next year to storytelling. I'd like to include one seasonal star legend in each of my monthly What's Up podcasts. If you have a favorite myth or star legend. I'm not looking for things you can just google - I can do that myself. I'm looking for stories you learned or heard or love about constellations, the moon, the sun, stars, etc. I really look forward to hearing from you!
Mojo and I are heading out to Warner Springs Ranch next weekend to conduct a star party there. It's a great weekend destination, not too far, but far enough, with hot springs, bicycles, horses, horseshoes, tennis hiking on the Anza Trail, and beautiful dark skies too! They offer free stargazing to their guests at least once a month - this will be our second star party there. :-)http://www.warnersprings.com/
Halloween weekend will find is at our usual haunts (get it, "haunts" as in haunted house) Old Town Pasadena Friday the 30th, Old Town Monrovia Saturday the 31st. Listed on our www.otastro.org website, weather permitting, of course.
Thats all for this time, Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Website: www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
What's Up October? Andromeda Galaxy! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Today the moon phase is "first quarter" which means you'll see a half
moon in tonight's sky.
That doesn't make sense does it? Shouldn't it be a quarter moon?
Actually the term "first quarter" refers to the fact that the moon is
one-fourth of the way through its 29.5 day orbit around the earth.
In one week the moon will be half-way through its orbit, but we don't
refer to its phase then as "half moon," instead we call it "full moon,"
which it is! (Homework: What then is "third quarter?")
Tonight it should be comfortable and clear in Old Town Pasadena, and
we'll be featuring the first-quarter moon and Jupiter. We try for
Colorado Blvd. somewhere between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave., near
Delacey, depending on parking, from 7:30 'til 9:30 or so.
Look for Jupiter to the left of the moon tonight -- it will be the
brightest object in the sky besides the moon, with a steady
cream-colored glow. In the telescope we'll easily see the four giant
moons of Jupiter discovered 400 years ago by Galileo.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) looks to be a carbon copy of tonight. Many of
our astronomers will be set up at the Huntington Library for a special
astronomy program, and will give out views through a great variety of
telescopes.
We'll also have at least a couple at our traditional spot in Monrovia at
the corner of Myrtle & Lime, at Library Park, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
A few of us had a good time under a true dark sky in the Colorado Desert
last weekend. I did a little astrophotography and wrote up a little trip
report: http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2009/09/21/a-perfect-night-in-the-desert/
First quarter moon brings out lots of telescopes to give out views.
Other LA astronomers and clubs will be setting up all over the place,
including the big monthly first-quarter star party at Griffith Observatory.
I hope you get out and catch some photons!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://mojo.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
A couple of our brave sidewalk astronomers are planning to try setting
up in Monrovia this evening, on the corner of Myrtle & Lime. It will
likely be a small contingent, and I'm encouraging them to pack up early
if the air quality gets worse.
Don't make a special trip to visit, but we should have some decent views
of the moon and later Jupiter.
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
The smoke from the Station fire in La Canada isn't likely to obscure the
moon and Jupiter tonight, but it's not looking like a good night to
spend two or three hours breathing the fire smoke in the heat. We're
going to take a pass on Old Town Pasadena tonight.
I'll send an update tomorrow about Monrovia when we've had a chance to
check the conditions better.
Just as every year now since 2003 (when it was partly true), we've had a
big spike in web traffic as the "Mars in August Spectacular" email virus
makes its rounds again. Hopefully if you had friends or family who
forwarded this now-bogus email to you, you've had a chance to set them
straight. :)
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la
Hi everyone! This is the week of the Perseid meteor shower and the
month of the "Mars Spectacular" email hoax and I have something to say
about both of them!
The Perseids are the topic of my August What's Up Podcast from JPL.
Here it is in a couple easy formats;
* YouTube is a fast download for a lot of people - my parents like
this format to get their JPL podcasts . :-) http://is.gd/2bg2K
* Here is the main archive: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
The Mars email hoax is out there again this year, even though Mars is
not big or bright right now - I know some of you have received it
because you've asked us about it! I was asked to write a blog for JPL
about both the hoax and how you CAN see Mars this month!
http://blogs.jpl.nasa.gov/?p=51. I also have updated a Mars Hoax
website since 2005, which is full of facts, images and more:
http://www.otastro.org/Mars2005/
Finally, welcome to all of our new followers! We've had more people join
us after last weeks sidewalk astronomy than usual! Our next sidewalk
dates are Pasadena Friday August 28 and Monrovia Saturday August 29th.
If you are interested in seeing the Milky Way this summer/fall, our
small group usually goes someplace dark on the new moon weekends. Where
we go is almost always at least a 150 mile one way drive to a dark site.
We'll be happy to tell you how to join us, or to suggest other public
friendly (and sometime closer) dark sky star parties.
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
Website: www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
My NASA JPL What's Up podcast: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup.cfm
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjoneshttp://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn
Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/
Hi everyone, there is a lot of coverage about the 40th anniversary of the
Apollo 11 landing (July 20th) in the press, TV and online.
The JFK Presidential Library has a remarkable site that is streaming
realtime coverage of Apollo 11 plus 40 years. They have a great website
(supposedly idealized for Firefox but I¹ve got it up on Safari and IE) that
has a graphic showing what the spacecraft are doing and the audio of
air-to-ground including the commentary. There is a background audio track
(sort of rumbling) but that can be turned off. It does require an up to date
flash player - I had to download it myself.
It's pretty cool and it¹s going to be running for the next week (until Neil,
Buzz and Mike splash down). http://wechoosethemoon.com/
The most frequent question we get out on the sidewalk when aiming at the
moon is "Can I see the Apollo 11 landing site area" or "can I see the flag"
and "can I see the footprints" (Answers: yes, no, no)
You can take a look at the moon and see the general area where Apollo 11
landed. Even with the unaided eye, you can make out the Sea of Tranquility,
and through binoculars, see the edge of the sea.
The landing site is on the south-western edge of Mare Tranquillitatis, the
Sea of Tranquility. Best seen at or after first quarter (which is July 28th)
until the week after full moon. On the 27th this area is right on the
terminator! Here is a map:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Moon_Landings.jpg
Our sidewalk astronomy dates this month are July 31 Pasadena and August 1
Monrovia. We'll be sure to point this area out to you, and I'll even bring
some lunar landing site moon maps to hand out both nights- while supplies
last, that is!
Keep looking up! 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
What's Up for July: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
