We are cancelling Sidewalk Astronomy in Monrovia tonight. If you do get
a clearing, here is a star chart for 5:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
tonight.https://goo.gl/ROgrsB
You could break out the binoculars and try looking at Venus and Mars and
the moon. Between the two planets is fainter Neptune. If you can see
below Venus you canalso try for Comet 45P for about an hour after
sunset, depending on your location andif you have a flat SW horizon.
Neptune is blue, comet is needle-shaped with the tail pointing up as it
is being blown by the solar wind!
We'll have news about our next Mojave National Preserve Star Party
(possibly April or May), next sidewalk astronomy night, future
Huntington Garden star party, and the Solar Eclipse next time. We now
have about 4 folks from our sidewalk Astronomy family joining us at the
Idaho Dunes RV Park. Toggle between the map, and the reservations pages
https://www.idahodunesrv.com/map.php and
https://www.idahodunesrv.com/reservations.php?month=August+2017 We are
in spaces 50-56, and you can several nearby spaces available.
Speaking of the Eclipse, NASA's Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter LRO
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-moon-data-provides-more-accu…
My two astro products (for my work at JPL) are What's Up and a new thing
called Ten Things. It's a list of ten interesting things happening in
the solar system each week. I sneak in a stargazing "thing" almost every
week, and this one features all the 2017 Meteor showers, so it's a
useful bookmark. :-)
What's Up January video:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/01/03/whats-up-january-2016
Ten Things http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/category/10things
2017 Meteor Showers:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2016/12/12/10-things-december-12
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
@jhjones @otastro
What's Up Jan? Comet, moon, Venus, Mars and Quadrantids ring in the new year!
https://youtu.be/e1QyhUqv1yE
New: My Ten Things Blog https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/category/10things
