Relay for Life, Eclipses, Transit

Tonight Mojo and I will be at Recreation Park for Monrovia's Relay for Life - our local annual American Cancer Society 24 hour walk-a-thon fundraiser. Others from our group will be at Myrtle and Lime from 8 - 9:30 tonight. Walk with us, or look up at the moon, Mars and Saturn as other walk tonight Saturday, June 2 at Monrovia's Relay for Life event at Monrovia Recreation Park, 620 South Shamrock Ave. Please join us (look for telescopes along the walk Saturday night from about 7:30-9:30p.m. as our community fights cancer. http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=36809 . It's a great night for stargazing tonight! In other news (sorry we haven't written much, both working super long hours for the last month) May 19 was our semi annual Mojave National Preserve Dark Sky Star party. It was great to see some of you from our list there! Mojo and I got up early Sunday and drove to Mesquite, NV to see the annular "ring of fire" eclipse of the sun and will get up at 3 am Monday morning June 4 for the partial lunar eclipse, weather permitting. Did you know eclipses of the sun and moon always come in groups. A solar eclipse is always accompanied by a lunar eclipse <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47648602/ns/technology_and_science-space/#>two weeks before or after it, since over those two weeks the moon travels halfway around in its orbit and is likely to form another almost straight line with the Earth and sun. If the solar eclipse is a "central" one --- that is, either total or annular --- the lunar eclipse is likely to be one where the moon will only partially interact with the shadow of the Earth. On June 5th 3 p.m. to sunset, witness a rare Transit of Venus - the next one will be in 2117, so don't miss it. Safe solar filters on your telescope, #14 welders glass or pinhole projection are required to view the sun. My podcast *should* be available Monday at the below websites - it's all about the transit, naturally! -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ http://twitter.com/jhjones What's Up for May video: Sunspots and a solar eclipse http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JPLnews