This coming weekend is our public astronomy weekend in Pasadena and
Monrovia. Mojo and I will be setting up telescopes on Colorado Blvd in
Pasadena, CA - some place between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Avenues from
5:30 until 9:30 p.m. Friday the 16th.
Saturday the 17th is our Monrovia night - corner of Myrtle and Lime
Streets in Monrovia, CA as usual, from 5:30 until 9:30. Saturday is
also the peak of the Leonid Meteor shower. I doubt anyone wants to hop
in a car and drive to a dark location but I am bringing it up, just in
case.
The Meteor fluxtimator http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html tells
us that the time to view is from 3:00 - 5:00 a.m. Sunday Morning and
the rates will be about 4 - 8 meteors per hour. That's not a lot, but
if you enjoy getting out of the city lights this would be a great
weekend to do it. We'll stay in town, show the moon, skip the Leonids,
unless from the back yard.
Here is the forecast for the Leonids: http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/
Here's the weather forecast (good for moon viewing):
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=LOX&llon=-118.968747&rlo…
Clear sky clock (the astronomers tool to determine the sky conditions)
http://cleardarksky.com/c/MnrviaCAkey.html
See you I hope! Jane and Mojo
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
When you look at Mars, have you ever wondered where the rovers are at
that moment? I do, and it adds to the fun of looking at Mars when I
know the rovers are facing Earth as I am looking up at that bright
ruddy planet. Wow is it ever getting bright!
Where and when to see the Rovers is part of the topic of my
November's What's Up. That and how to find a wonderful star, Mira,
which was captured in a fascinating image by the Galaxy Evolution
Explorer in August. Connecting stargazing to NASA missions adds some
complexity and extra enjoyment, at least it does to me. I hope you
enjoy this one!
Here is the What's Up:
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
Here is the GALEX image of Mira:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-090
Here is my favorite Mars Map showing the locations of the rovers:
http://www.damianpeach.com/images/mars/mars_2005dp_labeled.jpg
Next sidewalk astronomy is November 16 and 17th
http://www.otastro.org/ Have a look at Comet 17P/Holmes. If history
repeats, it will only stay bright for 20-30 days. That is what
happened in 1892 when it was discovered. And we're on day 16 now!
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 am not much of a morning person, but tomorrow
morning - that's Wednesday the 7th there is a
shuttle +ISS pass over the Pasadena area. The
two spacecraft will be visible in the same part
of the sky as the bright comet 17P/Holmes in
Perseus. That should make a very pretty picture.
(if it is foggy, well, then I am sure someone
will have a very pretty picture of this lineup)
A friend here at work drove up CA Route 2, just a
couple miles up got him above the fog this
morning, where he snapped a photo of the shuttle
and International Space Station. Then he emailed
it to one of the astronauts aboard the shuttle
today.
Here is the chart
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Session=kebgcaianecpbahhnoafgb…
Here are the details: Look to the North East at
5:00 a.m. (not P. M.) - this allows a few
minutes to get oriented. It's a short pass just
3 minutes from 5:07 to 5:10 a.m. The two
spacecraft travel from NW to NNE 33 degrees above
the horizon. Then you should take a look at the
planetary lineup. Strung along the ecliptic will
be (starting from the Eastern horizon: Mercury,
the moon, Venus, Saturn and Mars (almost
overhead). Now that's what I call a lineup!
Date: Wednesday, 07 November, 2007
Observer's Location: Pasadena ( 34.1480°N, 118.1440°W)
Local Time: Pacific Standard Time (GMT - 8:00)
Leaves shadow 05:07:38 33 degrees above horizon
Maximum altitude 05:07:44 33 degrees above horizon
Drops below 10° altitude 05:10:24
Sets 05:12:30
There is another pass at 5:30 a.m. on the 8th,
but it only is 12 degrees above the horizon.
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&Session=kebgcaian…
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 on the third quarter moon weekend, you don't find the Sidewalk
Astronomers setting up. There will be no moon in the early evening.
But the sky gave us a big surprise late in October.
Normally extremely faint, comet 17P/Holmes had an outburst that made it
a million times brighter -- bright enough that we can see it from
downtown Monrovia without a telescope!
Over the past couple of weeks, amateurs and professionals alike have
been watching the comet's coma, the glowing cloud of dust that surrounds
it, grow in apparent size.
It's a fun object to see in a telescope, and we invite you to join us
this Saturday evening in Old Town Monrovia to do exactly that. We'll be
in our usual spot, at the corner of Myrtle & Lime, from 7:30 'til 9:30 p.m.
Because the comet is fairly far to the north in the sky, whereas the
moon and planets are usually found to the south, we'll have to move a
little up the walk towards the Mark Twain statue to get a clear view
without a tree in the way.
Right now the weather forecast looks good for Saturday night. I'll send
a follow-up note if that changes.
More about the comet and links to other pictures can be found on JPL's
web site here: <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1514>
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers http://www.otastro.org
Do you need some eerie sounds to spook the little ghouls and goblins
tonight? Why not play the Eerie and Bizarre Sounds of the Saturnian
System. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/sounds/ ? Included
are sounds of Enceladus, echoes from Titan's surface, speeding
through Titan's haze, and sounds from the Lord of the rings, Saturn!
There are even more spooky sounds of our solar system on the JPL
webpage today http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm look on the New
Multimedia section.
And if you want to see a ghostly interloper in the sky tonight, take
out the binoculars and see a comet from your own front (or back)
yard! Here's where to look:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1514 To the unaided
eye, the comet looks like a fuzzy star, but in binoculars (or
telescopes) it looks like a ghostly snowball with a bright center,
much like the image shown on the link above. It was taken by Gary
Spiers, who is one of our sidewalk telescope gang in Monrovia.
Congrats on the picture!
"To see the comet, all you have to do is step outside and look to the
Northeast. You should be able to see the "W" that is the
constellation Cassiopeia - it's standing on its end. One and a half
"fists" away to the right is a bright star in the constellation
Perseus. You probably won't be able to see all the Perseus stars, but
the bright one - Mirfak - should be visible. It marks the top of a
triangle, which is about the size of your thumb held at arms length
away. The triangle's lower left corner is the comet!".
We may set up telescopes for a special comet viewing night Saturday
the 3rd. Stay tuned, we'll send an announcement if that plan firms
up.
October What's Up is about tricks and treats in the night sky. It
starts out with some of those spooky sounds from the solar system.
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.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
Mojo is giving a talk to the Riverside Astronomical Society Saturday
night at 7:00 p.m.
To set the scene, [from the web blurb] "Mojo's talk called "You Are
Here" includes a brief travelogue of some of the many places in the
western U.S. parks that Mojo and Jane have given this presentation, and
the talk he most recently presented at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Bryce
Canyon star parties. A nice writeup is on the RAS website
http://www.rivastro.org/ras_meeting.html
Location is La Sierra University, E. E. Cossentine Hall (Riverside,
CA.) http://www.rivastro.org/ras_meeting_campus_map.html
I highly recommend this talk :-)
Pre meeting is at 5:00 PM - Coco's Bakery Restaurant 10098 Magnolia
Riverside, CA 92503 (951) 687-3846 (call to join the dinner party)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=10098+Magnolia,+Riverside,+CA+92503…
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
On Monday, Cassini celebrates 10th years since launch.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=783<p>
Cassini rode into space October 15, 1997 atop a Titan 4B. Its
mission: to orbit and study the Saturnian system for four years.
Just this week we can read more exciting headline-grabbing results -
this time about Titan's land of lakes and Iapetus' mysterious dark
side. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm<p>
What better than a moon with a mysterious dark side for the October
(aka Halloween) edition of "What's Up"?<p>
This month both Titan and mysterious Iapetus can be seen near Saturn,
when looking through most any telescope. Rhea, Dione and Tethys are
always easily visible, and they are not shown on the maps, but
essily found in astronomy magazines, planetarium programs or you can
ask and we'll help you out. <p>
Iapetus has an 89 day orbit, which takes it far from Saturn and the
other moons usually easily visible though a telescope. But when the
small moon is north or south of the planet it is easy to spot.<p>
That's when I try to encourage folks to have a look at this small
(892 miles diameter) moon, which was discovered by Giovanni Cassini
in 1671. Don't despair if you don't see it this week. The next good
time to Iapetus to the South of Saturn is December 31. And to the
north of Saturn November 23. And you'll also spot Iapetus easily for
the week or so on both sides of these dates. Next year, when Saturn
rises earlier in the evening, it won't be such a trick to see it.
Here is where you'll find October What's Up, Cassini's Iapetus page,
some Educational activities related to the Saturn system, plus star
charts for viewing Jupiter, Mars, Venus and of course, Saturn, lord
of the rings!
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html <p>
Next observing: Pasadena October 19, Monrovia Oct 20,m weather
permitting. No Iapetus or Saturn, Jupiter may be too low to see
until next year. Mars will begin peeking above the Eastern rooftops
towards the end of our sidewalk nights. It'll be a moon night this
month.
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
Mojo and I attended the AANC - Astronomical Association of Northern
California's annual conference "Reach for the Stars" at College of
San Mateo yesterday. Mojo took pictures and I gave a Cassini
Mission talk. http://aancstars2007.org/events.shtml
Once it was dark, the CSM Observatory opened, after a great
Planetarium show about Black Holes. All day long there was a
planetarium show called The Sky at Night to whet the attendees
appetites for what would be visible that night. Jupiter, Uranus,
Neptune, the moon, and several galaxies clusters and nebula were
visible from the observatory through assorted telescopes owned by
both the university and by attending amateur astronomers - dozens of
telescopes in the afternoon and the evening.
In the daytime there were some great talks - two on astrophotography,
and the others on science, the hourly planetarium shows, family
activities, a solar system walk, solar observing and telescope making
demonstrations, and even a band called Dark Matter singing and
playing! Everyone hung around for the raffle - lots of wonderful
donated items - from telescopes to cameras to books to posters and
more.
Dr. Peter Jenniskens had the Aurigid Meteor Mission covered at the
SETI table. Complete with meteorites, his flight suit, a Mission
photo poster display, a flux measurement camera and meteor videotape
running all afternoon - the same camera I used to record the meteors
I saw and counted on the Aurigid and Perseid Mission flights last
month.
We arrived at about 10:00 a.m. and left about 11:00 p.m. - had a
great time seeing all our Northern California astro pals! Lots of
work to put these conferences on - College of San Mateo, the San
Mateo County Astronomical Society, the AANC and KCSM's Jazz Under the
Stars, dozens of volunteers and the vendors
http://aancstars2007.org/vendors.shtml for a great day and night!
Here are the pictures: http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2007-09-29-aanc/
There are several conferences like this here in southern California
too! We'll try to tell you about them all. Let us know if you are
interested. Last Night there was also the Starry Starry Nights
Festival in Yucca Valley which we missed because we couldn't be in
two places at the same time. Our next sidewalk astronomy nights are
October 19 and 20, and we may do something for Halloween too!
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
NOAA just changed its public forecast for the region from "partly
cloudy" to "mostly cloudy," and at 1:30 p.m. today it was still raining
in Monrovia. That means we'll have wet grass at the park, and foggy or
cloudy skies. That's my guess.
So no telescopes tonight!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Given the 70% chance of rain tonight, it's a safe bet to say we won't
have telescopes in Old Town Pasadena tonight.
We're scheduled for Monrovia tomorrow evening, and that's looking pretty
questionable. I'll update the list as I see the conditions tomorrow
afternoon.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
