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494 discussions

by Jane Houston Jones

It's cold and windy, but 4 of us will be out early for sidewalk astronomy tonight. Myrtle and Lime, Monrovia. 6 p.m. till 7:30 p.m. No promises that we'll be out later. Jane -- From Jane, sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

6 years, 1 month

Short sidewalk astronomy night tonight!

by Jane Houston Jones

6 years, 1 month

Pretty sun-lit clouds :-( Also ISS pass tonight!

by Jane Houston Jones

ISS Pass again tonight. Time: Sat Feb 09 6:53 PM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 48°, Appears: 10° above WNW, Disappears: 26° above SSE The forecast is partly cloudy, Gary just stepped out and sees increasing clouds and no visible moon. The temperatures are dropping, and none of the astronomers appear to be available tonight, so we won't be bringing telescopes out tonight for all those reasons. If you feel so inclined, and can see some patches of sky, step outside to see the ISS pass at 6:52 p.m. and look for the slim crescent moon. It's 22% illuminated, and sets at 10 p.m. We may try again next Saturday but some of us are not available then either. Hang in there for better weather and less busy volunteer astronomers. Jane -- Jane Houston Jones, JPL Retiree Astronomer, music lover, JPL retiree My Final What's Up Astronomy podcast #138: Dec 2018 Jane’s finale. An awesome comet https://go.nasa.gov/2DUnUsg All 138 What’s Ups since 2007: https://go.nasa.gov/2usaBaB

6 years, 2 months

Tonight: ISS pass on a clear Thursday night!

by Jane Houston Jones

Time: Thu Feb 07 6:59 PM, Visible: 2 min, Max Height: 41°, Appears: 11° above NW, Disappears: 41° above N Weather permitting (clouds and 20% chance of rain are in the forecast), may cancel Saturday Sidewalk Astronomy. Here's the forecast. I'll post a go/no-go on the website, and maybe a quick email on Saturdayo. https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/91016:4:US Finally, the new JPL What's Up video team has produced the February program. I like it, and so will you! https://youtu.be/CUaYcikaarE Jane -- Jane Houston Jones, retired JPLer Twitter: @jhjones @otastro http://www.otastro.org/ Astronomy, travel, music, food, cats

6 years, 2 months

Tonight's lunar eclipse will be through clouds

by Jane Houston Jones

Most of the Sidewalk astronomers are staying home, otherwise engaged, or doing school or scouting events that aren't reliant on guaranteed viewing tonight. We have been looking on Weather.com, or weather underground and the forecast is cloud cover/poor transparent skies for Pasadena and much of Southern California. Your eyes are the best observing tool for lunar eclipses. So take a break from the football games and check out the sky after 7:30p.m. that's when the first "bite" will show. I like to sketch the moon, and one thing you could do is draw some circles like the sketching example (on a sheet of paper secured on a clipboard.) Fill in the amount of shadow you observe and show the time you observe it below your sketch and draw or mark any prominent features you see. I'll try to do the same at my scouting event tonight. Sketching example from Erika Rix publisshed in Astronomy Magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/erika-rix/2014/08/sketching-a-lunar-eclip… Lunar features annotated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lunar_features#/media/File:Moon_names… Here are times of key eclipse events: before eclipse - note the features you see on the full moon 7:33 pm Moon enters the Earth’s inner shadow (first bite) 8:40 pm Totality begins (moon is covered in shadow) 9:12 pm Mid-eclipse 9:43 pm Totality ends (moon emerges from shadow) 10:51 pm Moon exits the earth's inner shadow One or two astronomers may be on the corner of Myrtle and Lime from 7:30 - 8:30 or 9 tonight, to look for the moon through the expected clouds and possibly aim binoculars if there are fleeting views. Don't make a special trip, but if you are planning to walk around Monrovia tonight, you may see an astronomer or two with binoculars, no promise of a telescope. I don't think the astronomers will stay past the beginning of totality at 8:40 p.m., so your best bet is to look up from your own place if you can see the moon. Your eyes turn out to be the best instrument for viewing lunar eclipses. I'm bringing binoculars and wishful thinking to a girl scout event tonight. From the Griffith Observatory announcement: NOTE: The eclipse will be visible to the naked eye from anywhere in southern California if skies are clear. You do not need a telescope. It is safe to view a lunar eclipse without any eye protection. Griffith Observatory has a warning about crowds, and traffic and lots of great info here. If you plan on going, be prepared to either go several hours before 7:30 p.m. or go late, and park miles away & walk. http://www.griffithobservatory.org/events/Lunar_Eclipse_January_2019.html?f… There are other cool astronomical events coming up so don't let the clouds dampen your stargazing enthusiasm! https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/los-angeles See you all soon! -- Jane Houston Jones Astronomer, music lover, storyteller NASA's January What's Up has not been posted due to partial gov't shutdown, sorry, but I'm retired!

6 years, 2 months

Clouds and rain tonight!

by Jane Houston Jones

We've been carefully watching the forecast for a couple days before posting a go or no-go sidewalk astronomy decision for tonight, January 12th. But I think Gary's morning forecast note "Now says rain all day until 6pm instead of being done around lunch, I think that seals the fate of this evening." sums it up. Once again weather wins over sidewalk astronomy, and we are cancelling sidewalk astronomy tonight. But next Sunday there is a total lunar eclipse you'll be able to see from home, any cloud free part of the Americas. For those easily confused between UTC (Universal Time) and your local time, the eclipse begins at 9: 12 PST and the totality portion is between 8:41 p.m. and 9:43 p.m. More details here, and you can change the location if you aren't local to us here in LA. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/los-angeles?iso=20190121 As the week progresses and we return from a month of travel, we'll post some viewing spots. That's all from Jacksonville FL, gotta board my flight home now! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones, JPL Retiree Astronomer, music lover, JPL retiree My Final What's Up Astronomy podcast #138: Dec 2018 Jane’s finale. An awesome comet https://go.nasa.gov/2DUnUsg All 138 What’s Ups since 2007: https://go.nasa.gov/2usaBaB

6 years, 3 months

ISS Pass tonight, Sidewalk Astronomy Saturday, Geminids too!

by Jane Houston Jones

ISS Pass: Time: Fri Dec 14 5:33 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 50°, Appears: 10° above WNW, Disappears: 11° above SSE Sidewalk Astronomy Myrtle and Lime Monrovia Saturday, sunset for 2+ hours, weather permitting. It looks like clear skies for Saturday night. Look up, if you can see the moon, then walk on down! There will be at least three telescopes out and Mojo and I are out of town. Geminids peak today (actually best from dark sky both Friday and Saturday mornings) so good luck! Here's a great page written by our friend from the 1999-2002 Leonid Storm observing campaign, Bob Lundsford: https://www.imo.net/viewing-the-geminid-meteor-shower-in-2018/ You will see how the rates have picked up from the 12th to the 14th, and rtes will still be nice and bright tomorrow morning, and then will start to decrease. https://www.imo.net/members/imo_live_shower?shower=GEM&year=2018 Lunar Eclipse Jan 20 -- from about 6:36 p.m. to 11:48 pm Pacific Time with total eclipse at 9:12 p.m. There will probably be some astronomers on hand at Library Park -- I'll let you know next month. But lunar eclipses are great to view with the unaided eye, so you can enjoy them at home, too. Jan 21, 2019 at 02:36:29 UTC is the time in UTC so you can calculate the time in your own time zone. Or use this handy drop down menu: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/los-angeles?iso=20190121 Finally some of you have asked if just because we are retiring from our day jobs (me this month, Mojo in March) will we also be retiring from sidewalk astronomy or moving way. The answers are no and no. We love our Old Town Sidewalk Astronomy family, our growing telescope yielding group and our many astro-fans who join us for viewing events, or read my emails. Happy star-trails everybody! The last "What's Up" video from me is here https://go.nasa.gov/2DUnUsg, but the show will go on with a new voice in January. The amazing Henry Kline will continue to produce the show from the JPL TV studio, so I'll keep sharing it with you! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones, JPL Retiree Astronomer, music lover, JPL retiree My Final What's Up Astronomy podcast #138: Dec 2018 Jane’s finale. An awesome comethttps://go.nasa.gov/2DUnUsg All 138 What’s Ups since 2007:https://go.nasa.gov/2usaBaB

6 years, 4 months

Fwd: SpotTheStation

by Jane Houston Jones

Again tonight! Spot the International Space Station 6:04 p.m. Pacific. Get your own customized email alerts by signing up here https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ Happy Saturday, everybody! Jane -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: SpotTheStation Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2018 09:57:24 -0500 (EST) From: HQ-spotthestation(a)mail.nasa.gov To: jane(a)whiteoaks.com Time: Fri Nov 23 6:04 PM, Visible: 2 min, Max Height: 68°, Appears: 29° above WSW, Disappears: 43° above NNE

6 years, 4 months

ISS pass tonight 6:04 p.m. and January eclipse correction

by Jane Houston Jones

Tonight from our LA area: Time: Fri Nov 23 6:04 PM, Visible: 2 min, Max Height: 68°, Appears: 29° above WSW, Disappears: 43° above NNE. That's in one hour! Sorry for the short notice. All you have to do is step outside, look above the horizon facing West-SouthWest. It will be visible about 1/3 of the way from horizon to overhead, and will dissappear 2 minutes later in the NNE. Also my last email mentioned the total eclipse in January 2019 with a correct link, but it is a total *LUNAR *eclipse, not solar, as I wrote. Thanks to those who caught my boo boo! Again, here's the January 20 Total Lunar Eclipse info for LA. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/los-angeles, tho' it will be visible across the US as shown here on this map. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2019-january-21 Keep looking up! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones @jhjones @otastro What's Up #137: Nov 2018 Planets, asteroid, comet, Leonids https://go.nasa.gov/2zlrCaF All 137 What’s Ups since 2007: https://go.nasa.gov/2usaBaB

6 years, 4 months

Cloudy tonight, cancelling Sidewalk Astronomy

by Jane Houston Jones

Hi everyone! The forecast is not very promising for tonight, with both poor transparency and possible clouds, so we are cancelling sidewalk astronomy. Looking at last night and the fog this morning, it looks like a repeat of the same (according to astronomer Gary). Our next scheduled sidewalk nights are December 15th and Jan 12th. We'll also have an added event January 20th -- A Sunday night, when a total solar eclipse will be visible for much of the US. The eclipse begins at 6:36 p.m., reaches maximum at 9:12 p.m., and ends at 11:48 p.m. We'll be on the sidewalk in Monrovia at least until maximum, then you can finish watching from your own place. Here are the details. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/los-angeles?iso=20190121 Tonight/tomorrow morning is the peak of the Leonid Meteor Shower, if it is clear where you are before dawn tomorrow and you are in a dark spot, you might see some, tho the rates will be poor. Next month, the Geminids will put on an impressive show on December 13th and 14th. December’s Gemind meteors peak on the morning of the 14^th at 12h 30m Universal Time, (or 7:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time, 4:30 am Pacific Standard time) and are active from December 4th through the 17th.The peak lasts for a full 24 hours, meaning meteor watchers around the globe will get to see this spectacle. If you can see the familiar winter constellations Orion and Gemini in the sky you'll see some Geminids. 120 meteors per hour may be seen from a very dark sky location during the peak, but only after the first quarter Moon sets around midnight your local time. Definitely check it out if you can! That last paragraph is a "preview" of "What's Up" for December, which will go live December 1st (or probably the 30th of November). That will be my last project before I retire from JPL on December 3rd! I'm definitely not retiring from the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers or from sending out these emails to you. I look forward to many more star-filled nights, and sunny solar viewing days sharing our skies with you! Jane -- Jane Houston Jones @jhjones @otastro What's Up Podcast #137: Nov 2018 Planets, asteroid, comet, Leonids https://go.nasa.gov/2zlrCaF All 137 What’s Ups since 2007: https://go.nasa.gov/2usaBaB Retiring Nov 30, 2018 to stargaze, play bridge, travel, more

6 years, 4 months

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