Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 6/29/2007
This week, the Moon will be about as
full as it can get, so there won't be much opportunity for viewing the deep-sky
objects to fullest advantage. However, viewing planets isn't affected by the
brightness of the Moon and we have three beautiful planets from which to pick!
Saturn and its rings is just incredibly beautiful and will be within a degree of
Venus which appears like a tiny crescent Moon in the telescopes. Some of the
telescopes will be able to see both planets in the same eyepiece field!
Jupiter's Great Red Spot should be visible as well as its four moons: Io,
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Double stars are another class of object
unaffected by the brightness of the full Moon and there are plenty of those from
which to choose. We'll have a great night with plenty to look at despite the
brightness of the full Moon.
We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - our twelfth year.
Observing conditions in Stow, map to our location and other useful information
is available here:
ClearSkyClock for Fishcreek Site
(the darker blue the squares are, the better)
For
exact directions to our location, just click on 'Road Map' in the 'Nifty
Links' section immediately below the Sky Clock.
The following detail was calculated as it will be on Friday, 6/29/07 at 10:19pm
(nautical twilight).
Source: Guide8 software available from
www.projectpluto.com
Quick links:
Sun
Moon
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto &
General Information
All times are shown in EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) as seen from Stow, Ohio.
Sun data:
Rise 5:52am
Transit: 1:29pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Sets 9:06pm
Constellation: Gemini
Distance: 1.01662159 AU = 152,084,425 km = 94,500,882 miles
Magnitude: -26.7
Apparent size: 31.46 arcminutes in angular diameter
Civil twilight ends at 9:36pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon
)
Nautical twilight ends at 10:19pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the
horizon )
Astronomical twilight ends at 11:10pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the
horizon )
Autumnal Equinox: Sunday Sept 23, 2007 at 5:51am (when fall will officially
be here)
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Links')
Moon data:
Rise 8:49pm
Transit: 1:11am Jun 30 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Sets 5:34am Jun 30
Constellation: Sagittarius
Phase: 99.57% illuminated (waxing gibbous)
14.96 days since last New Moon
Distance: 0.00260753 AU = 390,081 km = 242,385 miles
Magnitude: -12.5
Apparent size: 30.62 arcminutes in angular diameter
Elongation from Sun: 172.44 degrees (evening sky)
Next Phase: Full Moon on Saturday June 30, 2007 at 9:49am
Next Lunar eclipse: Tuesday August 28, 2007 at 5:51am
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Links')
Mercury data:
Rise 6:07am
Transit: 1:21pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Sets 8:36pm
Constellation: Gemini
Phase: 0.92% illuminated (tiny waxing crescent)
Distance: 0.56406446 AU = 84,382,843 km = 52,433,068 miles
Elongation from Sun: 4.92 degrees (morning sky)
Magnitude: 4.9
Apparent size: 11.92 arcseconds in angular diameter
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Links')
Venus data:
Rise: 9:29am
Transit 4:30pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 11:31pm
Constellation: Leo
Phase: 36.32% illuminated (waning crescent)
Elongation from Sun: 43.34 degrees (evening sky)
Distance: 0.54085868 AU = 80,911,307 km = 50,275,956 miles
Magnitude: mag -4.4 (VERY bright!)
Apparent size: 30.85 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 10:06pm Venus will be at an altitude of 12º
and look like this in the telescopes
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Links')
Mars data:
Rise: 2:15am Jun 30
Transit 9:02am Jun 30 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 3:49pm Jun 30
Constellation: Aries
Phase: 87.55% illuminated
Distance: 1.48320995 AU = 221,885,050 km = 137,872,980 miles
Magnitude: mag 0.7
Apparent size: 6.31 arcseconds in angular diameter (getting larger)
Elongation from Sun: 64.21 degrees (morning sky)
Next close approach of Mars is on Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Links')
Jupiter data:
Rise: 6:51pm
Transit 11:36am (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 4:21am Jun 30
Constellation: Ophiuchus (pronounced oh-fee-oo'-cuss)
Phase: 99.82% illuminated
Distance: 4.37868622 AU = 655,042,135 km = 407,024,317 miles
Magnitude: mag -2.5
Elongation from Sun: 154.06 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 45.02 arcseconds in angular diameter
Last transit of the Great Red Spot: Friday June
29 10:07pm
At 10:19pm Jupiter and its four moons will be at an altitude of 24¾º
and look like this in the telescopes
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Links')
Saturn data:
Rise: 9:34am
Transit 4:35pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 11:36pm
Constellation: Leo
Phase: 99.85% illuminated
Distance: 9.91899848 AU = 1,483,861,052 km = 922,028,523 miles
Magnitude: mag 0.6
Elongation from Sun: 44.35 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 16.76 arcseconds in angular diameter
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Links')
Uranus data:
Rise: 0:26am Jun 30
Transit 6:12am Jun 30 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 11:59am Jun 30
Constellation: Aquarius
Phase: 99.94% illuminated
Distance: 19.73444631 AU = 2,952,231,148 km = 1,834,431,411 miles
Magnitude: mag 5.8
Elongation from Sun: 109.20 degrees (morning sky)
Apparent size: 3.57 arcseconds in angular diameter
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Links')
Neptune data:
Rise: 11:17pm
Transit: 4:30am Jun 30 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 9:43am Jun 30
Constellation: Capricornus
Phase: 99.99% illuminated
Distance: 29.30480412 AU = 4,383,936,298 km = 2,724,051,758 miles
Magnitude: mag 7.9
Elongation from Sun: 136.18 degrees (morning sky)
Apparent size: 2.33 arcseconds in angular diameter
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Links')
Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340)
data:
Rise: 7:37pm
Transit 0:43am Jun 30 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
Set: 5:49am Jun 30
Constellation: Sagittarius
Phase: 100.00% illuminated
Distance: 30.31279893 AU = 4,534,730,175 km = 2,817,750,731 miles
Magnitude: mag 14.1
Elongation from Sun: 167.38 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter
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Links')
General Information -
Q&As of Where, When and What
Very sincerely yours,
Dave Jessie
"Time spent observing the heavens is not deducted from your life span"
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