Mojo and I had a wonderful night of Saturn, Jupiter and lunar views last
night on Colorado Blvd. And the views tonight in Monrovia from 7 - 10
will be just as good, possibly even better!
First we aimed both telescopes at the moon, while waiting for the sun to
set at 7:30 p.m. and for darkness to envelop the sky. The seven day
waxing moon rose at mid-day and set at midnight. It was a night to see
the great mare, or seas, which are smooth lava filled basins on the
lunar surface. http://www.shallowsky.com/moon/hitchhiker.html I often
get asked by people who look through a telescope at the moon "Where is
the Apollo 11 landing site" in the Sea of Tranquility, or Mare
Tranquillitatis, and this is one of the areas I pointed out last night.
Here is where the landing sites are, for you armchair observers. :-)
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=804 Apollo 11
is marked with a green arrow with "11" on it. Tonight is the eighth day
of the lunar month, and one of my favorite lunar features is best seen
tonight and tomorrow night. It's called the straight wall or straight
fault. It looks like a hairline crack on the moon surface. One side of
the fault is lower than the other, and the wall casts a shadow that
stretches the entire 120 km length of this amazing feature.
Saturn, lord of the rings will be beautiful tonight, and we should see
several of its moons through the telescope. When the air is steady, the
features become easier to see. On this map you can see the Cassini
division, a dark gap between the outer A ring and the middle B ring in
Saturns icy ring system. It takes a moment to see Saturn and take in the
view and the details. Sometimes, with fewer people waiting in line for
views, our guests feel comfortable staring at Saturn for a minute or two
and this is how you can see more ring detail and some of the dark belts
and bright zones on the gas giant planet itself.
http://stars5.netfirms.com/satnori.jpg
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn will be easily visible. Today JPL's
Cassini Spacecraft made its closes flyby of Titan. Next week some
amazing pictures will be available on the Cassini Mission (which is
where I work) website http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
If Saturn is the jewel of the Solar System, mighty Jupiter is king.
Jupiter rises in the eastern sky at sunset, so we wait until later in
the night to observe it, after we've looked at the moon and Saturn. But
once it rises above trees and city buildings, those of you who take a
look will be in for a real treat tonight. Jupiter's great red spot, a
great anti-cyclonic storm similar to a hurricane on earth rotates onto
the visible planet at about 9 p.m.tonight. So from 9 to 10 p.m. viewers
will be able to see a disturbance in the darker southern belt of the
planet. We'll be sure to point it out. It's not red or bright but at 3
times the size of earth, it's a storm worth watching. All four of the
Gallilean satellites, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto will be visible
tonight. I like to ponder about Galileo seeing these four moons for the
first time over 400 years ago. Here's a sketch showing Jupiter features
http://www.shallowsky.com/jupfeatures.html
Lastly it was great to see some of you from our list last night, and
hope to see more tonight! We'll be repeating our outings in Pasadena and
Monrovia for the next two weeks. Weather permitting of course. Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Despite the grey sky we seem to have right now, the forecast is
optimistic for clearing tonight. The first quarter Moon will be high
and bright, and very close to Saturn in the sky.
Jane and I will be setting up about 7:00 tonight somewhere on the north
side of Colorado Blvd. between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave.
There's also a chance you'll see us in a weekend edition of the Pasadena
Star News. More about that if it happens. We're expecting a
photographer this evening. :)
More news later ...
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
First, Jane and I are going to set up in Monrovia tonight (Saturday) to
give out looks at Saturn and Jupiter. Despite having a thin overcast
most of the day, we're expecting it to clear soon.
Then tomorrow (Sunday) evening, we're going to join Dan Goods, JPL's
Artist in Residence, who will have a display at One Colorado Blvd. in
Old Town Pasadena. This is a nice alleyway between Fair Oaks and De
Lacey. We're going to set up telescopes on Colorado somewhere near the
exhibit.
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Yes, I know it's Thursday, but by happy circumstance, Jane and I are
planning to be in Old Town Pasadena tonight with telescopes. We should
have good views of Saturn to offer in the early evening, and good views
of Jupiter as well after about 8:00 p.m.
Look for us on Colorado Blvd. in the vicinity of Delacey Street between
7:00 and 9:00 p.m. tonight.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
We were really hoping to get in some sidewalk time this weekend, with an
excellent first-quarter Moon nearly overhead in the sky, and Saturn
keeping up its grand appearance.
At least we were able to get in an excellent school visit -- science
night at La Fetra Elementary in Glendora last Tuesday evening. We had a
perfect night with clear skies and good seeing. Over 300 kids, parents,
and teachers stopped by for looks at Saturn.
So we're rained out this weekend. Next week (Easter weekend) we'll be
visiting Anza-Borrego state park, staying at the Borrego Springs resort,
and hopefully setting up telescopes to view and show the Moon, Saturn,
Jupiter, and maybe a few interesting deep sky objects. During the day
we'll be enjoying the desert wildflowers.
New information is available on the web site <http://www.otastro.org>
about April sidewalk astronomy, and summertime dark sky astronomy in the
national parks. Jane and I plan to visit Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and
Yosemite on several occasions this summer with telescopes and step
ladders in tow.
If you're planning to get out from under the Los Angeles light dome this
summer, drop me a note and I might be have some suggestions for viewing
the universe beyond this little solar system.
I'll paraphrase a quote by John Dobson: A park ranger wondering about
the use of telescopes in his park asked, "Do you believe the sky is part
of the park?"
John replied, "Oh certainly not! The park is part of the sky!"
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
The conditions don't look very promising for sidewalk astronomy in
Monrovia this evening, but Jane and I plan to visit our favorite corner
(Myrtle & Lime) and take a look.
Last night was delightful on Colorado Blvd., with about 325 visitors
before the fog formed about 9:30.
The web site has a new article by Jane about our observing session in
Joshua Tree earlier this month. We plan to return to their dark skies
on March 5. <http://www.otastro.org/joshuatree/>
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
It was a real treat to see stars again last night, if only for a little
while. Jane and I set up a pair of telescopes at JPL outside Von
Karmann Auditorium for their public lecture series. About a hundred
people stopped by for a look at Saturn after the lecture, and before the
fog made it totally invisible.
Tonight there's also a chance for fog on Colorado Blvd., but there's
also a good chance for some looks at Saturn. Jane and I will be on the
north side of Colorado Blvd. tonight from about 6 'til 10.
Sunset tonight is at 5:45. The waning gibbous Moon rises at 7:25, and
should clear the buildings for us to get a good look after about 8:30.
Tomorrow evening in Monrovia at Myrtle and Lime.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
With the nice Moon phase, we were hoping to be out in Pasadena and
Monrovia this weekend, but (a) we can't see through the clouds, and (b)
rain isn't good for our telescopes. :)
We're going to try again next weekend. The Moon will be large and three
or four days before full.
This past week we were the guests of Santa Fe Middle School for their
Founder's Day celebration. The forecast wasn't good for Tuesday
evening, but just as the event was wrapping up and people would be
coming out to the telescopes, we caught a break of clear sky between the
storms. About 200 kids and parents got great looks at Saturn, the first
quarter Moon, and even the Pleiades star cluster.
I've added a fascinating article by Jane on observing Saturn's moon
Iapetus to the web site.
Keep dry this weekend!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
John Dobson will be joining us again tonight (Saturday) in Monrovia at
Myrtle and Lime.
For those who haven't met John, this is a special treat. He is one of
the founders of the Sidewalk Astronomers, and famous worldwide as the
inventor of the sidewalk telescope we all call the dobsonian. His
favorite thing (or maybe second to discussing physics and cosmology) is
setting up one of his telescopes on a sidewalk and showing the Moon or
Saturn. John will be turning 90 this year, and puts us all to shame
with his energy, charm, and enthusiasm.
Last night we had a record for Colorado Blvd. with 471 people stopping
by the telescope for eye-popping views of the Moon and Saturn. The
foggy conditions indicate the kind of calm still air that makes all
those great details pop out on the Moon and bright planets.
Tonight should be about as good as last night, and if I can track it
down, we'll have the added treat of Comet Machholz to show. This
fuzzball comet was a real hit last weekend. It was discovered about six
months ago by our friend astronomer Don Machholz from Colfax, California.
We'll be out from about 6:00 p.m. 'til 9:00 p.m. tonight at the corner
of Myrtle and Lime, Library Park, Monrovia.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
