Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 10/10/2008 Sunset 6:55pm Civil twilight ends: 7:20pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends: 7:52pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends: 8:23pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon ) Tonight's event will be somewhat limited by the nearly full Moon the entire night. Despite the brightness of the moon, we will 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. Jupiter, the King of the planets, is a beautiful sight. 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. 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! The following Sun, Moon and planet detail was calculated as it will be on Saturday 10/10/08 at 7:51:30pm (nautical twilight). Source: Guide8 software available from www.projectpluto.com All times are shown in EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) as seen from Stow, Ohio. Longitude: W 81° 25' 37.4" Latitude: N 41° 11' 11.2" Altitude: 350m Above Horizon: Object Mag Const Rise Set Venus -4.0 Lib 10:18 20:16 Jupiter -2.2 Sgr 14:28 23:47 Uranus 5.7 Aqr 17:40 05:16 Neptune 7.9 Cap 16:29 02:54 Pluto 14.2 Sgr 12:59 23:02 Luna -11.4 Aqr 16:42 03:55 Below Horizon: Object Mag Const Rise Set Sun -26.7 Vir 07:29 18:55 Mercury 2.9 Vir 06:54 18:31 Mars 1.6 Vir 08:55 19:35 Saturn 1.0 Leo 04:50 17:49 Sun data: Rise 7:29am Transit: 1:12pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets 6:55pm Constellation: Virgo Distance: 0.99827383 AU = 149,339,639 km = 92,795,351 miles = 8.31 light-minutes Magnitude: -26.7 Apparent size: 32.04 arcminutes in angular diameter Civil twilight ends at 7:20pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends at 7:52pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends at 8:24pm ( When the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon ) Winter Solstice: Sunday Dec 21, 2008 at 8:04am (when Winter 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 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm the Sun will be 12º below the west horizon Moon data: Rise: 4:42pm Transit: 10:13pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 3:55am Oct 11 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 83.00% illuminated (waxing gibbous) 11.65 days since last New Moon Distance: 0.00256544 AU = 383,784 km = 238,472 miles = 1.28 light-seconds Magnitude: -11.4 Apparent size: 31.13 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 131.18 degrees (evening sky) Next Phase: Full Moon on Tuesday Oct 14, 2008 at 4:02pm Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm the Moon will be 28.3º above the southeast horizon Mercury data: Rise: 6:54am Transit: 12:42pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 6:31pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 5.46% illuminated Distance: 0.70162589 AU = 104,961,739 km = 65,220,202 miles = 5.84 light-minutes Magnitude: 2.9 Apparent size: 9.59 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 8.40 degrees (morning sky) Next maximum elongations... Morning: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (18° 19' 05") Evening: Sunday, January 04, 2009 (19° 20' 36") On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Mercury will be 16.3º below the west horizon Venus data: Rise: 10:18am Transit 3:17pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 8:16pm Constellation: Libra Phase: 83.75% illuminated Distance: 1.3327061 AU = 199,369,995 km = 123,882,773 miles = 11.1 light-minutes Magnitude: -4.0 Extremely bright, but somewhat difficult with the glare of the setting sun Apparent size: 12.52 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 32.52 degrees (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 (47° 07' 21") Morning: Friday, June 05, 2009 (45° 51' 07") On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Venus will be 3º above the southwest horizon Mars data: Rise: 8:55am Transit 2:15pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 7:35pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 99.16% illuminated Distance: 2.49360975 AU = 373,038,709 km = 231,795,510 miles = 20.77 light-minutes Magnitude: 1.6 Apparent size: 3.75 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 16.58 degrees (evening sky) Next close approach of Mars is on Friday, Jan 29, 2010 On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Mars will be 4.1º 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: 2:28pm Transit 7:07pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 11:47pm Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.05% illuminated Distance: 5.11307305 AU = 764,904,841 km = 475,289,839 miles = 42.59 light-minutes Magnitude: -2.2 Apparent size: 38.56 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 86.16 degrees (evening sky) On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Jupiter will be 25º above the south horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot: None before it sets GRS longitude: 125.9 Jupiter satellite events: Callisto transit ends at 8:20pm Europa transit starts at 10:31pm Saturn data: Rise: 4:50am Transit 11:19am (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 5:49pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 99.92% illuminated Distance: 10.17862426 AU = 1,522,700,516 km = 946,162,247 miles = 1.41 light-hours Magnitude: 1.0 Apparent size: 16.33 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 31.66 degrees (morning sky) On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Saturn will be 22.5º below the west-northwest horizon Uranus data: Rise: 5:40pm Transit 11:28pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 5:16am Oct 11 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 99.99% illuminated Distance: 19.21506674 AU = 2,874,533,070 km = 1,786,152,063 miles = 2.67 light-hours Magnitude: 5.7 Apparent size: 3.67 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 151.56 degrees (evening sky) On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Uranus will be 22.4º above the east-southeast horizon Neptune data: Rise: 4:29pm Transit: 9:42pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 2:54am Oct 11 Constellation: Capricornus Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 29.47268285 AU = 4,409,050,597 km = 2,739,657,060 miles = 4.09 light-hours Magnitude: 7.9 Apparent size: 2.32 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 123.55 degrees (evening sky) On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Neptune will be 28.6º above the southeast horizon Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data: Rise: 12:59pm Transit 6:01pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 11:02pm Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 31.84886161 AU = 4,764,521,881 km = 2,960,536,679 miles = 4.42 light-hours Magnitude: 14.2 Apparent size: 0.10 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 70.82 degrees (evening sky) On 10/10/2008 at 7:51:30pm Pluto will be 26º above the south-southwest horizon