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/
