Kelly Beatty, the Executive Editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine has
a nice little article today in his "Homepage News" web feature. It's
all about International Sidewalk Astronomy Night (ISAN) and he used
one of our Old Town Pasadena sidewalk astronomy pictures taken by
Mojo (of my telescope and people looking through it) in the article.
Kelly mentions that Donna Smith, our intrepid Burbank sidewalk
astronomer came up with the idea. Congrats to Donna - she is on this
email list, and will be out with telescopes at San Fernando and Palm
(near Ben and Jerry's) in Burbank tomorrow night.
Here's the article,
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/17550004.html but if you
don't see the image, try this link:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/17550004.html
That's all for now - we will have gorgeous weather and sky conditions
both tonight and Saturday night too! Yay!
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
This is our sidewalk astronomy weekend. Join us in Pasadena Friday
night from 7-10 p.m. somewhere along colorado Blvd in Old Town
Pasadena, and Saturday Night from 7-9:30 in Monrovia. Weather looks
good!
Also, on Saturday night in Hollywood there is a local Yuri's Night
Celebration at Cinespace 6356 Hollywood Blvd. Tickets can be
purchased at www.groovetickets.com.
Saturday the 12th is also International Sidewalk Astronomy Night
http://www.sidewalkastronomynight.com/ and there are some more local
events posted on the website's world map. At the Marine Mammal
Center in San Pedro, and at Keystone and Chandler in Burbank , and
also at San Fernando and Palm (near Ben and Jerry's) in Burbank. If
these are more convenienbt than our locations, join these nice
sidewalk astronomers at some other events this weekend. :-)
In the spirit of Yuri's Night, celebrating the anniversary of human
exploration of space, here is a map of the moon showing all the
landing sites.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=804
And finally, there is a good ISS pass on Saturday night 8:23 p.m. PDT
- the space station will be visible in the north and will pass right
through the big dipper's bowl - at 52 degrees above the horizon. It
will enter Earth shadow at 8:27 p.m. to the East below Saturn. More
challenging, and closer to the horizon is the Hubble Telescope pass
on Saturday night. Beginning at 9:07 p.m. look low in the west 10
degrees above the horizon. It reaches maximum altitude 25 degrees
above the horizon, and also enters Earth's shadow at 9:13, when it is
near the bright star Sirius in the SSW. The Hubble Telescope is
much fainter than the ISS.
ISS:
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&Session=kebgcpakg…
Hubble:
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.asp?satid=20580&Session=kebgcpakgc…
April 2008 Highlights
Saturn is the major planet visible in April. Nothing elicits a wow
like Saturn does! It's visible all night now, and it is higher in the
sky and visible right after sunset. Mars dims a bit this month, but
it's still nice and high in the sky and well worth a look. What's Up
for March talks about these, plus a fun planetary nebula recently
studied by Spitzer, and visible through medium sized telescopes.
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html
Here's a fun project for you - if you can see some bright stars from
your home, then you may be able to see the winter circle of stars.
No telescope required - just look up! The winter stars rotate
towards the west, making room for the galaxies of spring. The
constellation of Orion and its neighbors contain what is called the
Winter Circle of Stars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wintersky.jpg. Most of these
bright stars are even visible from the city! Look on any star chart
and find Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Auriga and Taurus,
circling westward as winter ends. These six constellations contain a
visible "circle" of very bright and colorful stars. If you can
imagine the circle as a clock, we'll begin with Capella, yellow like
our sun in the one o'clock position. Capella is the bright yellow
star in the constellation Auriga, found above the shoulders of Orion.
Red Aldebaran, the eye of the bull Taurus is at the three o'clock
position. Red stars are the oldest and coolest. At five o'clock
stands Rigel, the brilliant blue knee of Orion, the hunter. Rigel is
young and very hot! Diamond white Sirius, the brightest star in the
sky, is below Orion in the constellation Canis Major, the great dog.
It fills the seven o'clock position. At nine o'clock is Procyon,
another yellow star like our sun, in the constellation Canis Minor.
The Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux complete the circle at 10
o'clock. Castor is white and Pollux (the brighter of the twins) is
red. Within the circle are red Betelgeuse, the shoulder of Orion, and
blue/purple stars Alnitak and Mintaka, the pretty belt stars of the
constellation Orion.
Yearning for more views? Spring galaxies require dark skies. We
occasionally drive to the Colorado Desert South of of Joshua Tree
National Park. Where we go is off I-10 about 30 miles east of Indio,
on a 2-mile dirt road on BLM land, with no "facilities." There is not
room for a lot of cars, but if you are interested, contact me or Mojo
for details. Or join the regularly scheduled dark sky parties held by
the Andromeda Society http://www.andromedasociety.org/ in Joshua Tree
National Park. April 4, May 5, May 31, July 5, August 2 are the next
star party dates. This location is more public friendly with a paved
parking lot, restrooms, and a nearby campground.
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
