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Astronomical Observing at Silver Springs Campground - Saturday 10/27/2007

Special Saturday Event!
The annual Night Kite Flight at Silver Springs campground

Click Here for a map to the location at 5238 Young Rd, Stow, OH 44224
If the link to the map doesn't work for you, here are directions from Fishcreek School:
    1) From Fishcreek School, cross Fishcreek Rd and proceed east on Call Rd.
    2) Follow Call Rd for 1.25 miles.
    3) At the stop sign, turn left at Young Rd and follow north for .4 (4 tenths) mile.
    4) Turn left into Silver Springs Park Campgrounds and follow straight back to the open pavilion.

Special event night...we'll be setting up telescopes at the Silver Springs camp grounds on Young Rd in conjunction with the Ohio Society for the Elevation of Kites for their annual Halloween Night Kite Flight at 5:00pm.  The Moon will be a day and a half past full and located exactly in the middle of the Pleiades for a highly unusual sight.  We had a ball at this event two years ago and expect to do the same this year.  In 2005, the Night Kite Flight folks were great - and they welcomed us with enthusiasm exceeded only by the awe expressed by us astronomy folks at the magnificence of their illuminated kites. What?! Astronomers awed by illuminated kites? I'm entirely serious about this, you have to see them to believe it.  Come out and share the joy - you won't be disappointed.

Aerial view of campgrounds and where we'll be setting up.
Please click for full-size image.

FOOD!!    ← Look at this!
Hotdogs, chips, pop, and hot chocolate will be provided by the Stow Parks Department. The kites will be set up at the top of the hill at the new open pavilion. All this depends, of course, on the weather. Kites, telescopes and bad weather don't mix. If you have binoculars, please bring them and we'll show you how to find some very interesting objects including the 'Coat Hanger' star cluster, M27 - the 'Dumbbell Nebula', M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy. Yes - in binoculars. Also, to better see the kites!  We'll have the planet Jupiter, colorful double stars, open clusters made up of hundreds of stars, globular clusters comprised of hundreds of thousands of stars, planetary nebula formed by dying stars, diffuse nebula and emission nebula where stars are being born, will all be available to us the entire night.  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, the galaxy in which we live, is directly overhead.

We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - now in our thirteenth year!

Quick links:
    Inner Solar System     Outer Solar System    General Information about our events

Moon data   Rises: 7: 07pm Transits: 3: 06am Oct 28 - Time of highest position in the sky, due South Sets: 11: 14am Oct 28 Constellation:   Taurus Phase:   94.87% illuminated (waning gibbous) Distance:   0.00239739 AU = 358,645 km = 222,852 miles = 1.2 light-seconds Magnitude:   -12.2 Apparent size:   33.31 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun:   153.76 degrees (morning sky) Age:   16.77 days since last New Moon Next Phase:   Last Quarter Moon on Thursday Nov 1, 2007 at 5:18pm Next Lunar eclipse:   Total eclipse (100%) on Wednesday Feb 20, 2008 at 9:58pm EST At 7:29pm the Moon will be 1.9º above the northeast horizon and surrounded by stars of the Pleiades and will look like this: (back to 'Quick Links')

Jupiter data   Rises: 11: 33am Transits: 4: 13pm - Time of highest position in the sky, due South Sets: 8: 54pm Constellation:   Ophiuchus (pronounced oh-fee-oo'-cuss) Phase:   99.56% illuminated Distance:   5.93107546 AU = 887,276,260 km = 551,327,914 miles = 49.4 light-minutes Magnitude:   -1.9 Apparent size:   33.24 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun:   44.67 degrees (evening sky) At 7:29pm Jupiter will be 11.8º above the southwest horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot:  Friday Oct 27, 2007 at 9:36pm GRS longitude: 117.9º No Jupiter satellite events tonight: This image is neither inverted nor reversed, Jupiter and its moons will look like this in binoculars or a non-inverting telescope → Callisto is off-screen to the right 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')

Inner Solar System - the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth
(Created using Software Bisque's TheSky software)

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Outer Solar System - the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
(Created using Software Bisque's TheSky software)

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General Information you should know 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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