Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 9/07/2007

Tonight's event will feature a dark sky the entire night since the Moon is almost new and doesn't rise until 3:41am Saturday.  We'll have all the deep sky object available and still have the planet Jupiter, colorful double stars, open clusters made up of hundreds of stars, globular clusters comprised of hundreds of thousands of stars from which to choose.  Many amateur astronomers feel that late fall is the best time to observe since there are beautiful objects of all categories available and the Milky Way is directly overhead.

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 6:54am
     Transit: 1:23pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 7:52pm
     Constellation: Leo
     Distance: 1.00769339 AU = 150,748,785 km = 93,670,953 miles = 8.39 light-minutes
     Magnitude: -26.7
     Apparent size: 31.74 arcminutes in angular diameter
     Civil twilight ends at 8:17pm ( When the Sun is 6° below the horizon )
     Nautical twilight ends at 8:50pm ( When the Sun is 12° below the horizon )
     Astronomical twilight ends at 9:24pm ( When the Sun is 18° 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 8:50pm the Sun will be 12° below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Moon data:
     Rise 3:41am Sep 8
     Transit: 11:17am Sep 8 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 6:39pm Sep 8
     Constellation: Cancer
     Phase: 6.32% illuminated (waning crescent)
     27.07 days since last New Moon
     Distance: 0.00262220 AU = 392,276 km = 243,749 miles = 1.31 light-seconds
     Magnitude: -6.6
     Apparent size: 30.45 arcminutes in angular diameter
     Elongation from Sun: 29.06° (morning sky)
     Next Phase: New Moon on Tuesday Sep 11, 2007 at 8:44am
     Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Wednesday Feb 20, 2008 at 9:58pm EST
     At 8:50pm the Moon will be 22° below the north north-western horizon
     but will look like this when it rises over the trees at 4:45am or so:
    
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Mercury data:
     Rise 8:30am
     Transit: 2:32pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Sets 8:33pm
     Constellation: Virgo
     Phase: 84.62% illuminated
     Distance: 1.26711594 AU = 189,557,847 km = 117,785,787 miles = 10.55 light-minutes
     Elongation from Sun: 18.95° (evening sky)
     Magnitude: -0.3
     Apparent size: 5.31 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Mercury will be 4° below the western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Venus data:
     Rise: 4:50am
     Transit 11:28pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 6:05pm
     Constellation: Cancer
     Phase: 13.18% illuminated (thin waxing crescent)
     Elongation from Sun: 29.21° (morning sky)
     Distance: 0.34449230 AU = 51,535,314 km = 32,022,560 miles = 2.87 light-minutes
     Magnitude: mag -4.5 Bright, visible in the morning before sunrise
     Apparent size: 48.44 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Venus will be 28° below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Mars data:
     Rise: 0:00am Sep 8
     Transit 7:31am Sep 8 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 3:03pm Sep 8
     Constellation: Taurus
     Phase: 85.83% illuminated
     Distance: 1.10815280 AU = 165,777,299 km = 103,009,239 miles = 9.23 light-minutes
     Magnitude: mag 0.2
     Apparent size: 8.44 arcseconds in angular diameter (getting larger)
     Elongation from Sun: 85.70° (morning sky)
     Next close approach of Mars is on Monday, Dec 24, 2007
     At 8:50pm Mars is 24° 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: 2:14pm
     Transit 6:59pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 11:43pm
     Constellation: Ophiuchus (pronounced oh-fee-oo'-cuss)
     Phase: 99.09% illuminated
     Distance: 5.25419782 AU = 786,016,807 km = 488,408,207 miles = 43.76 light-minutes
     Magnitude: mag -2.1
     Elongation from Sun: 86.44° (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 37.52 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Jupiter will be 22° above the south south-west horizon
     Last transit of the Great Red Spot: This evening at 7:59pm
     Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Tomorrow morning at 5:55am
     GRS longitude: 116.8°
     There are no Jupiter moons events tonight (transits, eclipses or shadow transits)
     This animated GIF of Jupiter and its four moons begins at 8:50:06pm EDT and runs until Jupiter is
     below the horizon at just before 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° above the horizon, 'Az' is azimuth: 0 is north, 90 is east, 180 is south and 270 is west
    
     Interestingly, as last week, no motion of Jupiter's moons is seen throughout the evening since they're near 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: 5:42am
     Transit 12:32pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 7:22pm
     Constellation: Leo
     Phase: 99.98% illuminated
     Distance: 10.20943682 AU = 1,527,310,010 km = 949,026,454 miles = 1.42  light-hours
     Magnitude: mag 0.6
     Elongation from Sun: 14.39° (morning sky)
     Apparent size: 16.28 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Saturn will be 16° below the north-western horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Uranus data:
     Rise: 7:46pm
     Transit 1:30am Sep 8 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 7:14am Sep 8
     Constellation: Aquarius
     Phase: 100.00% illuminated
     Distance: 19.08613693 AU = 2,855,245,445 km = 1,774,167,288 miles = 2.65 light-hours
     Magnitude: mag 5.7
     Elongation from Sun: 178.06° (morning sky)
     Apparent size: 3.69 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Uranus is 11° above the east south-eastern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Neptune data:
     Rise: 6:37pm
     Transit: 11:48pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 4:59am Sep 8
     Constellation: Capricornus
     Phase: 99.99% illuminated
     Distance: 29.12912329 AU = 4,357,654,820 km = 2,707,721,205 miles = 4.04 light-hours
     Magnitude: mag 7.8
     Elongation from Sun: 154.95° (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 2.34 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Neptune is 20° above the south eastern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data:
     Rise: 2:58pm
     Transit 8:03pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South)
     Set: 1:08am Sep 8
     Constellation: Sagittarius
     Phase: 99.98% illuminated
     Distance: 31.12785441 AU = 4,656,660,739 km = 2,893,514,871 miles = 4.32 light-hours
     Magnitude: mag 14.1
     Elongation from Sun: 101.20° (evening sky)
     Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter
     At 8:50pm Pluto is 31° above the southern horizon
     (back to 'Quick Links')

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

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

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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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