Hi everyone,
That darn "Mars will be bigger than the moon" email is circulating
again this month. Grrrr. Every year I update my Mars in August web
page in case people google around for help determining if it is fact
or fallacy. http://www.otastro.org/Mars2005/ note the angry red
font. ;-)
Yesterday our web server stats went astronomical - lots of people
were looking at my Mars page. Lo and behold, I discovered that my
page was linked to an MNSBC article, titled Mars Hoax Lasts Five
Years.
Here's the article - it is a really well written one:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/26/1294160.aspx
If anyone asks you about Mars, you can refer them to the article.
Our next Sidewalk Astronomy events will be September 5th in Pasadena
and 6th in Monrovia.
This weekend we'll be doing our dark sky observing at Lake Sonoma in
Sonoma County most likely, while visiting family in the North Bay.
For any of you hankering for some dark sky nights, I can recommend
the public star party in Joshua Tree National Park, Hidden Valley
picnic area. It's open to the public, starts at 7:30 p.m. with a
star talk and video projection, and then lights out, and stars and
milky way galore! Here is the local Yucca Valley Astronomy club's
website. http://www.andromedasociety.org/ You'll find the picnic area
near the Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree entrance to the park. There are
nearby campsites at Hidden Valley campgrounds, probably first come
first serve. It's a quarter mile walk to the picnic area.
See you in a couple weeks out on the sidewalk! 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
I'm delighted to see that our recent monsoon moisture is drying out a
little, and conditions should be warm but less humid than earlier this week.
Tonight we plan to be in Old Town Pasadena, on Colorado Blvd. near
Delacey from about 7:30 'til 10:00. We should have great views of the
first quarter moon and Jupiter tonight.
Jane's most recent "What's Up" video from JPL is all about Jupiter this
month, and a great preview to help interpret what you can see in a
telescope:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/whatsup/whatsup20080808/
Tomorrow night (Saturday) should have similar weather, and we'll be at
our usual spot in Old Town Monrovia.
Saturday evening features a nice nearly overhead pass of the
International Space Station at about 8:10 p.m., just about 25 minutes
after sunset. The ISS is so big and bright now, it should be easily
visible even in the evening twilight, though almost no stars will be
visible that early.
The station will appear at about 8:10 above the northwest horizon, well
to the right of the glow of the sunset. Venus may still be visible just
above the horizon, setting due west. The ISS will pass almost overhead
by 8:12, passing the bright orange star Arcturus, and will disappear in
the southeast, passing bright Jupiter, by about 8:15.
Hope you can join us this weekend!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Step out tonight (I'm writing this at 9 p.m.) and have a look at the
moon and Jupiter - both rising in the southeast! Look at their
positions tomorrow night too!
And since I have your attention :-) the Cassini Mission website has a
great feature written by Todd Barber, our Cassini Lead Propulsion
Engineer, who often operates one of out telescopes for sidewalk
astronomy in Pasadena. Todd spent last week at the Smithsonian Folk Life
Festival in Washington DC, and he shares some of this thoughts about the
event in a lovely "Insiders Cassini" piece. The recent pictures aren't
too shabby either! http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
Jane
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
We have a milky sky in Monrovia, but expect the moon to be visible at
least most of the time. So we'll bring some telescopes out to Myrtle &
Lime in Monrovia tonight, maybe with abbreviated hours, given the sky
conditions.
Our only telescope target will be the moon. Saturn is setting quickly
in the evening twilight, and Jupiter rises just a little too late.
There are a few isolated thunderstorm cells near San Bernardino and
Riverside. If our site looks threatened when I check the radar at about
6:00, we'll call it off.
So it's not a night to make a special trip to look through a telescope.
Save that for next month, when we'll have Jupiter joining the moon.
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
The monsoon conditions this week bring us heat, humidity, clouds, and
increasingly this weekend the threat of thunderstorms.
While it's unlikely that we might actually get caught in a thunderstorm
tonight on Colorado Blvd., these aren't conditions conducive to sidewalk
astronomy. So tonight's outing is canceled.
I'll revisit the forecast tomorrow for Monrovia, though at this time the
conditions look about the same.
Cheers,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers http://www.otastro.orghttp://twitter.com/mojo_la
Step outside when the sun sets this week for a nice pairing of red
rocky Mars and gassy giant Saturn. Then turn yourself around and
watch bright Jupiter rising low in the southeast. You won't need a
telescope to see these three planets. You just need good horizons,
clear skies, and the ambition to step outside.
Here is a little feature I wrote for the JPL website explaining
what's going on this week:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2198 . I hope
you'll share it with your friends.
Our Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers website also features these star
charts, and July's monthly astro roundup. http://www.otastro.org/
And speaking of the Sidewalk Astronomers, weather permitting, we'll
be out with telescopes this weekend. I say weather permitting because
there is a slight chance of monsoon thundershowers this weekend here
in southern California. You can follow the weather forecast yourself
if you'd like to, but we'll update our webpage (top right box) with a
weather cancellation if it is warranted.
LA weather from NOAA:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=LOX&llon=-118.968747&rlo…
Weather permitting this weekend:
Friday July 11 Colorado Blvd 7:30 - 10 p.m. but we may not be able to
see Mars and Saturn or Jupiter - buildings and palm trees may be in
the way. Beautiful view of the moon, however.
Saturday July 12 Myrtle and Lime, Monrovia 8:00 p.m. - 10 p.m. same
planetary disclaimer as above.
.
Over and out, 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
Hello intrepid stargazers!
You might have noticed our weird weather lately . Well, I can"t really
explain the weather, but I can talk about the sun a little bit.
Here is my monthly NASA podcast. My idea is to share the sun with you.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/whatsup/whatsup20080630/
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Hi everyone!
Step outside tonight to see the full moon rise in the East after
sunset. Sunset is at about 8:00 p.m. and moon rise is at about 8:30
p.m. so depending on your horizons it may take you a little while to
see the moon rise after 8:30 at your location. Often when you
observe the full moon rising, it "looks" bigger than it really is.
It's an optical illusion that is easy to test and interesting to see.
"The full Moon of June 18th is a "solstice moon", coming only two
days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant
because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is
high, the other is low.
This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon
and a strong Moon Illusion.
Sky watchers have known for thousands of years that low-hanging moons
look unnaturally big. At first, astronomers thought the atmosphere
must be magnifying the Moon near the horizon, but cameras showed that
is not the case. Moons on film are the same size regardless of
elevation: example. Apparently, only human beings see giant moons.
A fun activity: Look at the Moon directly and then through a narrow
opening of some kind. For example, 'pinch' the moon between your
thumb and forefinger or view it through a cardboard tube, which hides
the foreground terrain. Can you make the optical illusion vanish?"
The above excerpted from the excellent Science@NASA's feature all
about the moon illusion:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/16jun_moonillusion.htm
Here is another good article about the moon illusion.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25212851/
Both of these articles have some excellent graphics for you teachers
(and students) out there. And there is a full moon every month for
you to practice this activity with your friends and family.
Since you're out looking at the moon, swing your head around to the
West for a look at Mars and Saturn. You'll see they are appearing
closer and closer to each other. On July 10 they'll fit in the same
binocular view.
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
We had a great night in Old Town Pasadena last night, with about 260
visitors getting great views of the moon and Saturn.
One thing we realized is that 7:00 is a little too early this time of
year, with the sun not setting before about 8:00.
So a more realistic start time for us is really 7:30. To see Saturn,
you'll need to wait 'til about 8:30.
Clear skies!
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
It looks like a perfect weekend for Sidewalk Astronomy. We should have
a lovely gibbous moon and views of Saturn.
Tonight (Friday) in Old Town Pasadena, 7:00 'til 10:00. Come after
about 8:30 to see Saturn. We'll be on the north side of Colorado Blvd.
near DeLacey, somewhere between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave.
Saturday night in Monrovia at the corner of Myrtle and Lime, in Library
Park, 7:00 'til 10:00.
And this new page on the Old Town Astronomers site introduces you to the
fine people who join us on the sidewalk to show you the moon and
planets: http://www.otastro.org/astronomers/
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers http://www.otastro.orghttp://twitter.com/mojo_la
