Spur-of-the-moment Sidewalk Astronomy ...
It's a lovely clear night, and we're not busy, so we're going to be at
Myrtle and Lime in Monrovia tonight from about 6:00 'til 9:00 p.m.
The Moon was exactly full at 12:07 p.m. this afternoon, so we'll be
showing it with almost no shadows and no terminator anywhere across
the disk. It's a very different view of the Moon from our favorie at
first-quarter.
This time of the lunar cycle is when you see the highly reflective glass
bead features of the Moon, made in the heat of so many large meteor
impacts, and often scattered across the lunar surface in the form of
powdery "rays" extending from larger craters like Tycho, Copernicus,
and Kepler.
These reflective glass beads are the same material used to make
reflective paint and road signs. They're the reason that the full Moon
is significantly brighter than just twice the light we receive from a
half Moon.
Tonight in Monrovia, 6-9 p.m.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones <*>
Monrovia, CA
mojo(a)whiteoaks.com
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Join us tonight (Wednesday, November 24) in Monrovia, and we'll try to make up
for last weekend's rainy Saturday. We'll be looking at the gibbous Moon from
about 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the corner of Myrtle and Lime, Library Park.
I've added a feature article to the OTAstro page that I wrote for the LAAS
Bulletin back in May, titled "Home Is Where The Sidewalk Is."
<http://www.otastro.org/home-is-where/>
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones <*>
Monrovia, CA
mojo(a)whiteoaks.com
http://www.whiteoaks.com
An upper-level low pressure area is bringing us clouds and a chance of
showers tonight, so we're reluctantly cancelling sidewalk astronomy in
Monrovia this evening.
Last night in Pasadena was excellent, with 281 visitors counted, and some
of the best seeing conditions for the Moon. I know the haze and smog
looked ugly, but it gave us a nice still atmosphere to look through. The
telescopes revealed lots of great lunar detail.
I've updated the web page <http://www.otastro.org> with some pictures.
Our next first-quarter Moon opportunity will be the weekend of December
17-18.
Conditions might be better in Griffith Park than they are here in the San
Gabriel Valley. The Los Angeles Astronomical Society will be featuring
telescopes at the Griffith Observatory Satellite next to the zoo parking
lot tonight.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones <*>
Monrovia, CA
mojo(a)whiteoaks.com
http://www.whiteoaks.com
