Tonight in the desert: Clear skies, cold and wind :-)

Hi everyone, I'm heading out to Mojave National Preserve's Black Canyon Group Campsite tonight for a star party! I've announced this before to you all, and I doubt anyone will make the trek on Halloween eve, but the weather is improving, and I'm packing right now! We'll be celebrating the preserve's anniversary, creating awareness of the pristine desert dark skies, and take star tours. We'll probably see some slow, yellow Taurid meteors too! http://www.preservethemojave.org/index.php Here are news and events: Comet Hartley 2 was seen from La Canada Fintridge a few days ago. A colleague of mine at JPL took out a medium-sized telescope the other night at his house and he was able to see the comet. I haven't managed to see it myself and it is my project for the desert tonight. It'll be faint and unimpressive, but comets are always worth hunting down. Here is a comet finding chart - the comet is skimming by the "feet" of Gemini over the next few days. Look for Gemini rising in the east to the left or north of Orion after 10:30 p.m, the later and higher the better. Try with binoculars and telescope if you have one. On November 2nd, Malcolm Hartley, the comet's discoverer will be giving a public talk at JPL, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.cfm?year=2010&month=11#… Back on March 15, 1986, while observing in Siding Spring, Australia, Hartley discovered the comet that would officially be designated Comet 103P/Hartley2 (Hartley 2). On November 4th, 2010, NASA's EPOXI mission, the extended mission of the Deep Impact Spacecraft, will capture close-up images and other data as it flies within 750 kilometers (460 miles) of the comet's nucleus, estimated to be about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter. My What's Up podcast for November is online, too. Here's the many-versioned webpage, complete with recipes for edible comets and spacecraft. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-view.cfm?WUID=604 Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews#p/u/0/ZgtrPsXXqmg Our next sidewalk astronomy night will be November 13th in Monrovia. I'll be in Canada -- Winnipeg, Thompson, Nelson House, Churchill and back to Winnipeg via the 1000 mile train ride for the next two weeks, so I'll catch up with you in December. Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA My What's Up Podcast: November-Planets and Meteors NASA http://is.gd/guuXF Youtube http://is.gd/eSMnh Twitter: http://twitter.com/jhjones /CassiniSaturn /otastro Blog: http://jane.whiteoaks.com/