Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 8/31/2007

This event will feature the just-past-full Moon, the planet Jupiter, colorful double stars, open clusters made up of hundreds of stars, globular clusters comprised of hundreds of thousands of stars, and a host of brighter deep sky objects.  The fainter objects will again be obscured by the brightness of the Moon, but not until later in the night.

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.

Quick links:
General Information    Inner Solar System     Outer Solar System

Sun data:
     Rise 6:47am
     Transit: 1:26pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 8:03pm
     Constellation: Leo
     Distance: 1.00936569 AU = 150,998,957 km = 93,826,403 miles
     Magnitude: -26.7
     Apparent size: 31.69 arcminutes in angular diameter
     Civil twilight ends at 8:29pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon )
     Nautical twilight ends at 9:03pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon )
     Astronomical twilight ends at 9:38pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon )
     Autumnal Equinox: Sunday Sept 23, 2007 at 5:51am (when fall will officially be here)
     Winter Solstice: Saturday Dec 22, 2007 at 2:08am (when winter will officially be here)
     Next Solar Eclipses in Stow, Ohio:
          Partial eclipse (>80%) on Monday August 21, 2017 2:30pm EDT
          Total eclipse (an amazing sight!) on Monday April 8, 2024 2:15pm EST (3:15pm EDT)
     At 9:03pm the Sun will be 12 degrees below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Moon data:
     Rise 9:28pm
     Transit: 4:37am Sep 1 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 12:01pm Sep 1
     Constellation: Pisces
     Phase: 82.56% illuminated (waning gibbous)
     19.08 days since last New Moon
     Distance: 0.00244257 AU = 365,403 km = 227,051 miles
     Magnitude: -11.5
     Apparent size: 32.69 arcminutes in angular diameter
     Elongation from Sun: 130.53 degrees (morning sky)
     Next Phase: Last Quarter Moon on Tuesday Sep 3, 2007 at 10:32pm
     Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Wednesday Feb 20, 2008 at 9:58pm EST
     At 9:03pm the Moon will be 6 degrees below the east north-eastern horizon
     but will look like this when it rises over the trees at 10:30pm or so:
    
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Mercury data:
     Rise 7:59am
     Transit: 2:20pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 8:39pm
     Constellation: Leo
     Phase: 90.40% illuminated
     Distance: 1.32356381 AU = 198,002,327 km = 123,032,944 miles
     Elongation from Sun: 14.49 degrees (evening sky)
     Magnitude: -0.5
     Apparent size: 5.08 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Mercury is 5.5 degrees below the western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Venus data:
     Rise: 5:26am
     Transit 11:59pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 6:32pm
     Constellation: Cancer
     Phase: 7.21% illuminated (thin waxing crescent)
     Elongation from Sun: 21.89 degrees (morning sky)
     Distance: 0.31418410 AU = 47,001,273 km = 29,205,237 miles
     Magnitude: mag -4.3 Bright, visible in the morning just before sunrise
     Apparent size: 53.11 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Venus will be 26⅔ degrees below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Mars data:
     Rise: 0:13am Sep 1
     Transit 7:42am Sep 1 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 3:11pm Sep 1
     Constellation: Taurus
     Phase: 85.76% illuminated
     Distance: 1.14969934 AU = 171,992,573 km = 106,871,231 miles
     Magnitude: mag 0.3
     Apparent size: 8.14 arcseconds in angular diameter (getting larger)
     Elongation from Sun: 82.91 degrees (morning sky)
     Next close approach of Mars is on Monday, Dec 24, 2007
     At 9:03pm Mars is 24⅓ degrees below the north north-east horizon
     No, Mars was NOT 'as big as a Full Moon on August 27!'
     Please see the following links for more information about this annual 'Mars Hoax'
         http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/8708182.html
         http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp
         http://www.hoax-slayer.com/mars-earth-close.html
         http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07/25/will-the-mars-look-as-big-as-the-moon-on-august-27-nope/
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Jupiter data:
     Rise: 2:39pm
     Transit 7:24pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 0:09am Sep 1
     Constellation: Ophiuchus (pronounced oh-fee-oo'-cuss)
     Phase: 99.08% illuminated
     Distance: 5.14726067 AU = 770,019,235 km = 478,467,776 miles
     Magnitude: mag -2.2
     Elongation from Sun: 92.63 degrees (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 38.30 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Jupiter will be 23 degrees above the south south-west horizon
     Last transit of the Great Red Spot: This evening at 7:11pm
     Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Tomorrow morning at 5:06am
     GRS longitude: 116.7º
     There are no Jupiter moons events tonight (transits, eclipses or shadow transits)
     This animated GIF of Jupiter and its four moons begins at 8:00pm EDT and runs until Jupiter is
     below the horizon at just after midnight Saturday morning.  You can read the altitude and azimuth in the
     caption below Jupiter.  This image is neither inverted nor reversed - Jupiter will look like this in
     binoculars or a non-inverting telescope.  Frames are 15 minutes apart.
     'Alt' is degrees above the horizon, 'Az' is azimuth: 0 is north, 90 is east, 180 is south and 270 is west
    
     Interestingly, no motion of Jupiter's moons is seen throughout the evening since they're at the extremes of their orbits.
     The apparent eastward (left) motion of Jupiter and its moons relative to the background stars is due
     to the combined motion of Jupiter and Earth in their orbits around the Sun.
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Saturn data:
     Rise: 6:05am
     Transit 12:57pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 7:48pm
     Constellation: Leo
     Phase: 99.99% illuminated
     Distance: 10.23197745 AU = 1,530,682,039 km = 951,121,735 miles
     Magnitude: mag 0.6
     Elongation from Sun: 8.53 degrees (morning sky)
     Apparent size: 16.24 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Saturn will be 14 degrees below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Uranus data:
     Rise: 8:14pm
     Transit 1:59am Sep 1 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 7:43am Sep 1
     Constellation: Aquarius
     Phase: 100.00% illuminated
     Distance: 19.09518133 AU = 2,856,598,467 km = 1,775,008,017 miles
     Magnitude: mag 5.7
     Elongation from Sun: 171.15 degrees (morning sky)
     Apparent size: 3.69 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Uranus is 8 degrees above the eastern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Neptune data:
     Rise: 7:05pm
     Transit: 0:16am Sep 1 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 5:27am Sep 1
     Constellation: Capricornus
     Phase: 100.00% illuminated
     Distance: 29.08416910 AU = 4,350,929,768 km = 2,703,542,451 miles
     Magnitude: mag 7.8
     Elongation from Sun: 161.89 degrees (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 2.35 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Neptune is 18 degrees above the south eastern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data:
     Rise: 3:26pm
     Transit 8:31pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 1:36am Sep 1
     Constellation: Sagittarius
     Phase: 99.98% illuminated
     Distance: 31.01029781 AU = 4,639,074,522 km = 2,882,587,303 miles
     Magnitude: mag 14.1
     Elongation from Sun: 107.94 degrees (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 9:03pm Pluto is 32 degrees above the southern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Inner Solar System - the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth

Outer Solar System - the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

 

General Information about our events - 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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