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Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday
8/08/2008
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Event report...
After many weeks of bad
weather,
we finally had a fantastic night of observing.
If amateur astronomy teaches anything, it's patience...
and tonight, our patience rewarded us handsomely!
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The Moon is in the best phase for viewing detail
on the terminator - the line separating lunar day from night. It sets
early enough to allow us to view deep sky objects without having to stay up too
late. Alas,
Saturn
is no longer visible to us since it's lost in the glare of the setting sun.
However,
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, and
galaxies. Jupiter, the King of the planets, is
a beautiful sight and now rises early enough for everyone to see. With a high-power view
through the telescopes, details in the cloud bands is possible, and the four
Galilean moons actually appear as disks instead of just point light sources.
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 -
now in our fourteenth year!
For observing conditions at our site, please click on the link below:
ClearSkyClock for Fishcreek Site
(the darker blue the squares are, the better)
Quick links:
Inner Solar System
Outer Solar System
General Information about our events
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Sun data |
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Rises: |
6: |
25am |
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Transits:
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1: |
31pm - Time of highest
position in the sky, due South |
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Sets:
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8: |
36pm |
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Constellation: |
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Cancer |
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Distance: |
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1.01382339 AU = 151,665,820 km = 94,240,773 miles =
8.44 light-minutes |
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Magnitude: |
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-26.7 |
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Apparent size: |
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31.55 arcminutes in angular diameter |
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Twilight ends... |
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Civil: |
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9: |
04pm |
- Sun is 6° below the horizon |
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Nautical: |
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9:
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40pm |
- Sun is 12° below the
horizon |
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Astronomical: |
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10:
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21pm |
- Sun is 18° below the
horizon |
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Fall
Equinox: |
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Monday Sept 22, 2008
at 11:45am
(when Fall 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)
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm the Sun will be 12º below
the west-northwest horizon
(back to 'Quick Links') |
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Moon data |
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Rises: |
2: |
19pm |
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Transits:
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7: |
10pm - Time of highest
position in the sky, due South |
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Sets:
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11: |
55pm |
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Constellation: |
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Libra |
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Phase: |
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52.10% illuminated
(waxing gibbous) |
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Distance: |
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0.00267857 AU =
400,709 km = 248,989 miles = 1.34 light-seconds |
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Magnitude: |
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-10,1 |
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Apparent size: |
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29.81 arcminutes
in
angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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92.26 degrees
(evening sky) |
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Age: |
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7.64 days
since last
New Moon |
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Next Phase: |
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Full Moon on
Saturday Aug 16, 2008 at 5:17pm |
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Next Lunar eclipse: |
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Total eclipse (100%)
on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm the
Moon will be 17º above the
south-southwest horizon
and will look like this...
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Mercury data |
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Rises: |
7: |
15am |
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Transits:
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2: |
13pm - Time of highest
position in the sky, due South |
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Sets:
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9: |
11pm |
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Constellation: |
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Leo |
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Phase: |
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93.54% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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1.32960692 AU =
198,906,364 km = 123,594,686 miles = 11.07
light-minutes |
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Magnitude: |
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-1.0 |
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Apparent size: |
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5.06 arcseconds
in angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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10.70 degrees
(evening sky) |
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Next maximum elongations... |
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Evening: |
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Thursday, September
11, 2008 (26° 52' 17") |
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Morning: |
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Wednesday, October
22,
2008 (18° 19' 05") |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm
Mercury will be 6.3º below the
west-northwest horizon
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Venus data |
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Rises: |
7: |
49am |
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Transits:
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2: |
37pm - Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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9: |
25pm |
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Constellation: |
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Leo |
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Phase: |
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95.69% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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1.62860479 AU =
243,635,809 km = 151,388,275 miles = 13.57
light-minutes |
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Magnitude: |
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-3.9
(bright, but lost in the glare
of the setting Sun) |
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Apparent size: |
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10.25 arcseconds in
angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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16.76 degrees
(evening sky) |
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Next maximum elongations... |
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Evening: |
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Wednesday 1/14/2009
(47° 07' 21") |
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Morning: |
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Friday 6/05/2009
(45° 51' 07") |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Venus
will be 3.8º below the west
horizon
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Mars data |
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Rises: |
9: |
34am |
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Transits:
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3: |
51pm
- Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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10: |
08pm |
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Constellation: |
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Leo |
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Phase: |
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96.43% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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2.32587724 AU =
347,946,282 km = 216,203,799 miles = 19.37
light-minutes |
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Magnitude: |
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1.7
(getting dimmer) |
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Apparent size: |
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4.02 arcseconds
in angular diameter (getting
smaller) |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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36.62
(evening sky) |
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Next
close approach: |
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Friday, Jan 29, 2010 |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Mars
will be 4.2º above the west
horizon
No, Mars will *not
be* "...as big as a Full Moon on August
27!"
Please see the following links for more information
about this annual 'Mars Hoax'
Sky & Telescope article
Snopes.com article
Hoax-slayer article
Universe Today article
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Jupiter data |
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Rises: |
6: |
35pm |
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Transits:
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11: |
14pm
- Time of highest
position in the sky, due South |
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Sets:
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3: |
53am Aug 9 |
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Constellation: |
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Sagittarius |
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Phase: |
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99.71% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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4.28615335 AU =
641,199,415 km = 398,422,850 miles = 35.7
light-minutes |
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Magnitude: |
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-2.6 |
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Apparent size: |
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46.00 arcseconds
in angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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147.07 degrees
(evening sky) |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Jupiter will be 22.2º
above the southeast horizon
Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Saturday
August 9, 2008 at 4:24am
GRS longitude: 124.5º
Jupiter moons activity:
None tonight
Jupiter and its four visible moons will look like this
at 9:40:22pm tonight...
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Saturn data |
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Rises: |
8: |
18am |
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Transits:
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2: |
58pm - Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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9: |
39pm |
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Constellation: |
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Leo |
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Phase: |
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99.96% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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10.25896488 AU =
1,534,719,302 km = 953,630,374 miles = 1.42
light-hours |
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Magnitude: |
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0.8 |
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Apparent size: |
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16.20 arcseconds
in angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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21.90 degrees (evening sky) |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Saturn
will be 1.4º below the west
horizonSaturn is gone for
evening viewing this observing season - he will be missed!
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Uranus data |
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Rises: |
9: |
53pm |
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Transits:
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3: |
44am Aug 9 - Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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9: |
36am Aug 9 |
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Constellation: |
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Aquarius |
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Phase: |
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99.98% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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19.26016336 AU =
2,881,279,428 km = 1,790,344,056 miles = 2.67
light-hours |
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Magnitude: |
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5.7 |
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Apparent size: |
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3.66 arcseconds
in angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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144.89 degrees
(morning sky) |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Uranus
will be 3.6º
below the east horizon
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Neptune data |
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Rises: |
8: |
40pm |
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Transits:
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1: |
55am Aug 9 - Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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7: |
09am Aug 9 |
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Constellation: |
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Capricornus |
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Phase: |
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100.00% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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29.02931989 AU =
4,342,724,443 km = 2,698,443,898 miles = 4.03
light-hours |
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Magnitude: |
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7.8 |
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Apparent size: |
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2.35 arcseconds in
angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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173.83 degrees
(morning sky) |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm
Neptune will be 9.2º above the
east-southeast horizon
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
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Pluto
(Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340)
data |
| |
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Rises: |
5: |
05pm |
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Transits:
|
10: |
08pm
- Time of highest position in the sky,
due South |
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Sets:
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3: |
11am Aug 9 |
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Constellation: |
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Sagittarius |
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Phase: |
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99.99% illuminated |
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Distance: |
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30.82184292 AU =
4,610,882,071 km = 2,865,069,326 miles = 4.28
light-hours |
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Magnitude: |
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14.1 |
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Apparent size: |
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0.11 arcseconds
in angular diameter |
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Elongation from Sun: |
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131.57 degrees
(evening sky) |
On 8/08/2008 at 9:40:22pm Pluto will be 31.3º above
the south-southeast horizon
(back to 'Quick
Links') |
|
Inner Solar System
- the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth
(Created using
Software Bisque's
TheSky
software)
(back to 'Quick
Links')
Outer Solar System
- the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
(Created using
Software Bisque's
TheSky
software)
(back to 'Quick
Links')
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
(back to 'Quick
Links')
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