Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 9/05/2008 Sunset 7:54pm Civil twilight ends: 8:19pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends: 8:52pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends: 9:27pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon ) The Moon is in the best phase for viewing detail on the terminator - the line separating lunar day from night. It sets early enough (10:28pm) to allow us to view deep sky objects without having to stay up too late. We'll be able to see 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. With a high-power view through the telescopes, detail in the cloud bands of Jupiter will be possible, and the four Galilean moons actually appear as disks instead of just point light sources. Uranus and Neptune are visible now as well and appear as small bluish-green 'large' stars in our telescopes. We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - now in our thirteenth year! Summary data for 9/5/2008 at 20:52:16 EDT (nautical twilight) for our location: Longitude: W 81°25' 37.4" Latitude: N 41°11'11.2" Altitude: 350m Above Horizon: Object Mag Const Rise Set Moon -9.3 Lib 13:08 22:28 Jupiter -2.5 Sgr 16:39 01:56 Uranus 5.7 Aqr 20:01 07:40 Neptune 7.8 Cap 18:48 05:15 Pluto 14.2 Sgr 15:15 01:20 Below Horizon: Object Mag Const Rise Set Sun -26.7 Leo 06:53 19:54 Mercury 0.1 Vir 09:10 20:44 Venus -3.9 Vir 08:54 20:52 Mars 1.7 Vir 09:14 20:57 Saturn 0.8 Leo 06:46 19:57 New moon: Aug 1 2008 6:13 Aug 30 2008 15:58 Sep 29 2008 4:12 First quarter: Aug 8 2008 16:20 Sep 7 2008 10:04 Oct 7 2008 5:04 Full moon: Aug 16 2008 17:17 Sep 15 2008 5:13 Oct 14 2008 16:02 Last quarter: Aug 23 2008 19:50 Sep 22 2008 1:05 Oct 21 2008 7:55 Sun data: Rise 6:53am Transit: 1:24pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets 7:54pm Constellation: Leo Distance: 1.00798673 AU = 150,792,669 km = 93,698,222 miles = 8.4 light-minutes Magnitude: -26.7 Apparent size: 31.73 arcminutes in angular diameter Civil twilight ends at 8:19pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends at 8:52pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends at 9:27pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon ) Fall Equinox: Monday Sept 22, 2008 at 11:45am (when Fall will officially be here) Next Solar Eclipse: Partial eclipse (>80%) on Monday August 21, 2017 2:30pm EDT Next TOTAL Solar Eclipse: Monday April 8, 2024 at 3:15pm On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm the Sun will be 12º below the west horizon Moon data: Rise: 1:08pm Transit: 5:50pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 10:28pm Constellation: Libra Phase: 35.38% illuminated (waxing crescent) 6.20 days since last New Moon Distance: 0.00268229 AU = 401,265 km = 249,335 miles = 1.34 light-seconds Magnitude: -9.3 Apparent size: 29.77 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 72.85 degrees (evening sky) Next Phase: First Quarter on Sunday Sept 7, 2008 at 10:04am Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm the Moon will be 11.9º above the south-southwest horizon Mercury data: Rise: 9:10am Transit: 2:57pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 8:44pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 64.01% illuminated Distance: 1.03391125 AU = 154,670,922 km = 96,108,056 miles = 8.61 light-minutes Magnitude: 0.1 Apparent size: 6.51 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 26.34 degrees (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Thursday, September 11, 2008 (26° 52' 17") Morning: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (18° 19' 05") On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Mercury will be 2.7º below the west-southwest horizon Venus data: Rise: 8:54am Transit 2:54pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 8:52pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 91.13% illuminated Distance: 1.5153344 AU = 226,690,799 km = 140,859,134 miles = 12.62 light-minutes Magnitude: -3.9 Bright, but lost in the glare of the setting sun Apparent size: 11.01 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 24.08 degrees (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 (47° 07' 21") Morning: Friday, June 05, 2009 (45° 51' 07") On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Venus will be 1.2º below the west-southwest horizon Mars data: Rise: 9:14am Transit 3:06pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 8:57pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 97.84% illuminated Distance: 2.42728504 AU = 363,116,674 km = 225,630,243 miles = 20.22 light-minutes Magnitude: 1.7 Apparent size: 3.85 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 27.52 degrees (evening sky) Next close approach of Mars is on Friday, Jan 29, 2010 On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Mars will be 0.1º below the west-southwest 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/ Jupiter data: Rise: 4:39pm Transit 9:18pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 1:56am Sep 6 Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.26% illuminated Distance: 4.59558288 AU = 687,489,413 km = 427,186,122 miles = 38.28 light-minutes Magnitude: -2.5 Apparent size: 42.90 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 118.72 degrees (evening sky) On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Jupiter will be 25.4º above the south-southeast horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Tonight at 9:36pm GRS longitude: 125.1° Jupiter satellite events: Ganymede occultation begins at 11:57pm Io transit begins at 12:33am Sep 6 Io shadow transit begins at 1:43am Sep 6 Io transit ends at 2:49am Sep 6 Saturn data: Rise: 6:46am Transit 1:21pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 7:57pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 100.00% illuminated Distance: 10.34084476 AU = 1,546,968,357 km = 961,241,584 miles = 1.44 light-hours Magnitude: 0.8 Apparent size: 16.07 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 2.35 degrees (morning sky) On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Saturn will be 11.1º below the west horizon Uranus data: Rise: 8:01pm Transit 1:50am Sep 6 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 7:40am Sep 6 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 100.00% illuminated Distance: 19.0977542 AU = 2,856,983,363 km = 1,775,247,181 miles = 2.65 light-hours Magnitude: 5.7 Apparent size: 3.69 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 172.82 degrees (morning sky) On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Uranus will be 8.4º above the east horizon Neptune data: Rise: 6:48pm Transit: 12:02am Sep 6 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 5:15am Sep 6 Constellation: Capricornus Phase: 100.00% illuminated Distance: 29.0969918 AU = 4,352,848,017 km = 2,704,734,396 miles = 4.04 light-hours Magnitude: 7.8 Apparent size: 2.35 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 158.45 degrees (evening sky) On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Neptune will be 19.1º above the east-southeast horizon Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data: Rise: 3:15pm Transit 8:17pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 1:20am Sep 6 Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 31.24854144 AU = 4,674,715,261 km = 2,904,733,431 miles = 4.34 light-hours Magnitude: 14.2 Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 104.59 degrees (evening sky) On 9/5/2008 at 8:52:16pm Pluto will be 30.9º above the south horizon