OTEvents July 2010

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by Morris Jones

On the way home from the movies, Jane snapped a lovely picture of the full moon rising over Pasadena. I realized that there was a fun short beautiful astronomy lesson to be had in that one post. Did you see this lovely moon tonight as well? Read the deeper observations here: http://mojo.whiteoaks.com/2010/07/24/just-another-full-moon/ Cheers, Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://mojo.whiteoaks.com Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers http://otastro.org

12 years, 10 months

Free telescope, Cassini videos, happy 400th Galileo's Saturn view

by Jane Houston Jones

I was asked by a colleague to see if anyone might want a free telescope, complete with eyepieces. I asked him to take some pictures, and I am offering it to our Sidewalk Astronomy email list first. When I saw the pictures of the telescope, I just had to tell a story about it, so here's the story and the free telescope offer. First person to call Steve and arrange pickup will get it. Don't call or email me with questions - I am out of the office and traveling until Monday. http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2010/07/20/free-telescope-to-first-caller/ Steve is also featured in this awesome video from Cassini today. It's comparing Titan's lakes to Death Valley's Racetrack Playa and the video is on this page. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/video/videodetails/?videoID=213 The YouTube version is here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#g/u Finally, back to the solar system. :-) I was in Washington DC last week as part of NASA's 400 years of Discovery - from Galileo to the Outer Planets exhibit in the U.S. House of Representatives Rayburn Office Building. The day of our event was also the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first telescopic look at Saturn. so I wrote this little piece about it for our NASA Solar system Exploration website. Ta da! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm Here is what the exhibit looked like: http://photo.whiteoaks.com/2010-07-15-DC/slides/IMG_7009.html Over and out, Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ http://twitter.com/jhjones What's Up for July? Dark Nebulae http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm

12 years, 10 months

Sidewalk Astronomy this weekend

by Morris Jones

Summer has definitely arrived in L.A., and it's promising to be a hot weekend! It's also the weekend of the first-quarter moon, when you see a roughly half-moon in the early evening sky. You might have noticed it growing from a small crescent this week as it passed by Venus, Mars, and Saturn after sunset on successive nights. This weekend we'll be serving up views of the moon, Saturn, and Venus to accidental astronomers at Pamela Park in Duarte, and Old Town Monrovia. Tonight instead of Old Town Pasadena, the astronomers will be set up in small Pamela Park in Duarte. L.A. is keeping several county parks open past sunset this summer. Look for telescopes there tonight between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. The park's official web page has its location just south of Duarte Blvd.: http://parks.lacounty.gov/Parkinfo.asp?URL=cms1_033233.asp&Title=Pamela%20P… Saturday we'll be at our usual spot in Monrovia at the corner of Myrtle and Lime at Library Park from 8:00 'til 10:00. Now here's a kick -- Monrovia is putting on free outdoor movies in Library Park this summer, and Saturday evening they'll be showing _Star Wars_. Last month this turned out to be a great combination activity, and we had one of our biggest turnouts in Monrovia. Between the hot summer day and the movie in the park, we should have good crowds this Saturday as well. Finally, if any of you still have a telescope in the closet that you've never quite figured out how to set up, I'll be happy to meet you in Monrovia at our Library Park location at 7:00 with my box of tools. Drop me a note if you'd like to do this. If I don't hear from you I won't be there. Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://mojo.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org

12 years, 10 months

Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers: Web Updates & desert viewing July 3rd

by Jane Houston Jones

I've just updated the otastro.org website with July and August dates for our sidewalk astronomy events. On July16, a few of us will be at Pamela Park in Duarte for a new venue tryout from 8-10 p.m. July 17th is our Monrovia sidewalk date, same hours again - from 8-10 p.m., and just like last month, it will coincide with Monrovia's free movie in Library Park. Both movies and stargazing start "8-ish", but we'll target the moon before it gets dark at 8 p.m. Wow, see stars AND Star Wars! What could be more perfect? Tomorrow night, that's Saturday, July 3rd, a few of us are heading out to the hot desert for a night of stargazing. The moon will rise at about 1:30 p.m. but it will be the third quarter moon, a beautiful lunar phase too few stay up late enough to see. It will be hot. At Desert Center, CA (the closest town) temperatures are predicted to range from a high of 102 to a low of 75. We'd welcome people to join us on our little piece of astro-heaven - 2 miles of washboard dirt road off the I-10 freeway. Wear sturdy rattlesnake and cactus needle-proof hiking boots, and dress for warm weather, but bring a jacket. There are no facilities on this unimproved stretch of BLM land I do bring a PET (portable environmental toilet). And bring plenty of water. We'll leave at 3 p.m. from Monrovia so email before then if you need details or a map.We will arrive by 7 p.m. There is room for half a dozen cars in very soft sandy ground (trucks and RV's have sunk into the sand). But seriously, most people will be staying home readying for Fourth of July festivities, so I have prepared a home-observing project for you all, and it doesn't even require a telescope. Why not try to see Galileo's famous third quarter lunar view Saturday or Sunday morning after midnight and before dawn? Galileo made a series of lunar sketches in 1609, and on December 18, 1609 (4:00UT), he sketched this view of the lunar surface. http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2009/08/31/chasing-galileo-22-day-old-moon-compar… This is the same view you will have over the next two mornings. :-) So step outside this weekend and aim your binoculars at the moon, and get a sense of Galileo saw 400 years ago. If you are interested in observing all of Galileo's views, here is a table of modern dates to complete the project. I did it and it was a great learning and observing project. http://www.pacifier.com/~tpope/Reproducing_Observations.htm You can see the third quarter moon in the daytime, too, tho' the contrast isn't as great in the bright sun. The moon rises at about midnight tonight and sets at about noon, then a smaller crescent rises later each morning until new moon phase in the 10th. Have a safe and sparkly weekend, everyone! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA What's Up July 2010? Dark Nebulae! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://is.gd/c3r1i Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn http://twitter.com/otastro Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

12 years, 11 months

Fireworks and/or Dark nebulae!

by Jane Houston Jones

For those of you escaping the urban jungle this holiday weekend, pack a pair of binoculars and enjoy the glorious Milky Way after the sight of fireworks is over. A pretty march of the planets is underway too. Mars and Saturn are inching closer to one another (from out vantage point on Earth, that is) with Venus not too far away - all grouped in the western sky at sunset. The sky looked exactly like the images in this month's What's Up podcast at our recent desert outing. In fact, nearly all the astrophotos in July's podcast were taken on that June 12-13 night by Mojo from our dark sky astronomy location. Out next outing should be July 10. If you are interested in seeing an amazing summer sky through big and small telescopes, let me know. We haven't quite decided if and where we'll go, as the desert heats up in the summer, even at night! I have a new webpage for my What's Up podcast and occasional blog entries on our NASA Solar System Exploration website. Here's the new News and Events webpage, and from here you can get to this month's podcast and more. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm And join me and take a stroll through the new Solar System web content. My group at work has been developing, writing and coding it for a year now! There is great kids content! I double dog dare you to try these puzzles! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/kids/puzzles.cfm YouTube version of the podcast is easier for some people so here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#g/u We'll keep you in the loop with regard to celestial happenings, and we both have some work travel this month. I get to go to Washington DC and be Galileo with my Galilean telescope replica. :-) -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA What's Up July 2010? Dark Nebulae! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm What's Up Podcast on YouTube: http://is.gd/c3r1i Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones http://twitter.com/CassiniSaturn http://twitter.com/otastro Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/

12 years, 11 months

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OTEvents July 2010