for a list of DeepSky Objects that
will be available to us this session.Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 8/03/2007
This week, the Moon will be near last quarter and won't rise over the
trees until after midnight, so there will be plenty of time to catch some
ancient photons from those deep sky objects we love. Planet-wise, we'll be
viewing Jupiter since the Earth's trip around the Sun has moved Saturn out of
convenient evening view until next April. Venus is another story since its
inside track around the Sun puts it out of convenient evening viewing with that
wonderful crescent shape until February and March of 2009. Jupiter's four moons, Io, Europa,
Ganymede and Callisto, will be visible and we'll be able to see Io (pronounced
eye'-oh or eee'-oh) disappear behind Jupiter at 10:05pm and reappear at 1:25am
Saturday. Double stars, some beautifully colored, are another class of
object we love to observe and there are plenty of those to see. Globular
clusters, open clusters, planetary nebula and galaxies are all on the agenda.
We'll have a great night with plenty to keep us busy!
for a list of DeepSky Objects that
will be available to us this session.
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 Sun, Moon and planet detail was calculated as it will be on
Friday, 8/03/07 at 9:49pm (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 6:19am
Transit: 1:31pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Sets 8:43pm
Constellation: Cancer
Distance: 1.01466966 AU = 151,792,421 km = 94,319,439
miles
Magnitude: -26.7
Apparent size: 31.53 arcminutes in angular diameter
Civil twilight ends at 9:11pm ( When the Sun is 6
degrees below the horizon )
Nautical twilight ends at 9:49pm ( When the Sun is 12
degrees below the horizon )
Astronomical twilight ends at 10:31pm ( 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 10:50pm
Transit: 5:51am Aug 4 (Time of highest position in the
sky, due South)
Sets 12:57pm Aug 4
Constellation: Pisces
Phase: 70.21% illuminated (waning gibbous)
20.57 days since last New Moon
Distance: 0.00247538 AU = 370,311 km = 230,101 miles
Magnitude: -11.0
Apparent size: 32.26 arcminutes in angular diameter
Elongation from Sun: 113.71 degrees (morning sky)
Next Phase: Last Quarter on Sunday Aug 5, 2007 at
5:20pm
Next Lunar eclipse: Tuesday August 28, 2007 at 5:51am
At 29 minutes after midnight, the Moon will be in the east at an altitude of 15º and look like this in
binoculars:
or like this at low power in the telescopes, except with far
more detail - honest!
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Links')
Mercury data:
Rise 5:11am
Transit: 12:39pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Sets 8:06pm
Constellation: Cancer
Phase: 84.70% illuminated (waxing gibbous)
Distance: 1.20374079 AU = 180,077,060 km = 111,894,699
miles
Elongation from Sun: 12.61 degrees (morning sky)
Magnitude: -1.2
Apparent size: 5.59 arcseconds in angular diameter
Altitude at 9:49pm: 16° below the north western horizon
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Links')
Venus data:
Rise: 8:21am
Transit 2:45pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Set: 9:10pm
Constellation: Sextans
Phase: 6.86% illuminated (waning crescent)
Elongation from Sun: 21.27 degrees (evening sky)
Distance: 0.31724660 AU = 47,459,416 km = 29,489,914
miles
Magnitude: mag -4.3 Bright, but below the horizon at
Nautical Twilight
Apparent size: 52.60 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 9:49pm Venus will be 8º below the north western horizon,
but it will look like this in the telescopes before it
sets:
At 8:26pm, before the Sun sets, Venus will be in the west at an altitude
of 7º
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Links')
Mars data:
Rise: 1:05am Aug 4
Transit 8:19am Aug 4 (Time of highest position in the
sky, due South)
Set: 3:35pm Aug 4
Constellation: Taurus
Phase: 86.13% illuminated
Distance: 1.30634572 AU = 195,426,538 km = 121,432,422
miles
Magnitude: mag 0.5
Apparent size: 7.16 arcseconds in angular diameter
(getting larger)
Elongation from Sun: 73.41 degrees (morning sky)
Next close approach of Mars is on Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Links')
Jupiter data:
Rise: 4:24pm
Transit 9:10pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Set: 1:56am Aug 4
Constellation: Ophiuchus (pronounced oh-fee-oo'-cuss)
Phase: 99.29% illuminated
Distance: 4.73813653 AU = 708,815,136 km = 440,437,312
miles
Magnitude: mag -2.4
Elongation from Sun: 118.65 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 41.61 arcseconds in angular diameter
Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Saturday
Aug 4, 2007 at 1:54am
GRS longitude: 116.1º
This animated GIF of Jupiter and its four moons begins at 8:00pm EST and
runs until Jupiter is
below the horizon at 2:00am Saturday morning. You can read the
altitude and azimuth in the
caption below Jupiter. This image is neither inverted nor reversed
and will look like this in binoculars
or a non-inverting telescope. Frames are 20 minutes apart. Io will disappear behind Jupiter at
10:05pm
and will reappear from Jupiter's shadow at 1:25am on Aug 4, 2007 as the video
demonstrates..
'Alt' is degrees above the horizon, 'Az' is azimuth: 0 is north, 90 is
east, 180 is south and 270 is west
It's really special to see Io suddenly appear when it emerges from
Jupiter's shadow!
The GRS (Great Red Spot) will be seen rotating into view around
Jupiter's lower left rim at 1:00am
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Links')
Saturn data:
Rise: 7:37am
Transit 2:33pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Set: 9:29pm
Constellation: Leo
Phase: 99.98% illuminated
Distance: 10.20455071 AU = 1,526,579,057 km =
948,572,261 miles
Magnitude: mag 0.6
Elongation from Sun: 14.98 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 16.29 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 9:49pm Saturn and five of its brightest moons will be 5⅓º
below the north western horizon,
but
would have looked like this in the telescopes if we could see it:
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Links')
Uranus data:
Rise: 10:07pm
Transit 3:52am Aug 4 (Time of highest position in the
sky, due South)
Set: 9:38am Aug 4
Constellation: Aquarius
Phase: 99.98% illuminated
Distance: 19.26987800 AU = 2,882,732,717 km =
1,791,247,088 miles
Magnitude: mag 5.7
Elongation from Sun: 143.30 degrees (morning sky)
Apparent size: 3.66 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 9:49pm Uranus is 4½º below
the eastern horizon
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Links')
Neptune data:
Rise: 8:57pm
Transit: 2:09am Aug 4 (Time of highest position in the
sky, due South)
Set: 7:21am Aug 4
Constellation: Capricornus
Phase: 100.00% illuminated
Distance: 29.04470912 AU = 4,345,026,640 km =
2,699,874,417 miles
Magnitude: mag 7.8
Elongation from Sun: 170.45 degrees (morning sky)
Apparent size: 2.35 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 9:49pm Neptune is 7¾º
above the south eastern horizon
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Links')
Pluto
(Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340)
data:
Rise: 5:16pm
Transit 10:22pm (Time of highest position in the sky,
due South)
Set: 3:28am Aug 4
Constellation: Sagittarius
Phase: 99.99% illuminated
Distance: 30.59887960 AU = 4,577,527,233 km =
2,844,343,590 miles
Magnitude: mag 14.4
Elongation from Sun: 134.83 degrees (evening sky)
Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter
At 9:49pm Pluto is 31 3/4º above the south
south-eastern horizon
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Links')
General Information -
Q&A 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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