Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 10/17/2008 Sunset 6:44pm Civil twilight ends: 7:09pm - when the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon Nautical twilight ends: 7:41pm - when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon Astronomical twilight ends: 8:13pm - when the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon Tonight's event will be somewhat limited by the nearly full Moon rising at 8:16pm. 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 10/17/08 at 7:41:00pm (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 10:35 20:13 Jupiter -2.2 Sgr 14:04 23:23 Uranus 5.8 Aqr 17:12 04:47 Neptune 7.9 Cap 16:01 02:26 Pluto 14.2 Sgr 12:32 22:35 Below Horizon: Object Mag Const Rise Set Sun -26.7 Vir 07:37 18:44 Mercury 0.1 Vir 06:12 18:09 Mars 1.6 Lib 08:52 19:20 Saturn 1.0 Leo 04:26 17:24 Luna -11.7 Tau 20:16 12:33 Sun data: Rise 7:37am Transit: 1:10pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets 6:44pm Constellation: Virgo Distance: 0.99628334 AU = 149,041,867 km = 92,610,324 miles = 8.3 light-minutes Magnitude: -26.7 Apparent size: 32.11 arcminutes in angular diameter Civil twilight ends at 7:09pm ( When the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends at 7:41pm ( When the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends at 8:13pm ( 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 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm the Sun will be 12º below the west-southwest horizon Moon data: Rise: 8:16pm Transit: 4:22am Oct 18 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 12:32pm Oct 18 Constellation: Taurus Phase: 86.16% illuminated (waning gibbous) 18.64 days since last New Moon Distance: 0.00243866 AU = 364,819 km = 226,688 miles = 1.22 light-seconds Magnitude: -11.7 Apparent size: 32.74 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 136.22 degrees (morning sky) Next Phase: Last quarter on Tuesday Oct 21, 2008 at 7:55am Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm the Moon will be 6.4º below the northeast horizon Mercury data: Rise: 6:12am Transit: 12:10pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 6:09pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 34.25% illuminated Distance: 0.85569487 AU = 128,010,130 km = 79,541,808 miles = 7.13 light-minutes Magnitude: 0.1 Apparent size: 7.86 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 17.04 degrees (morning sky) Next maximum elongations... Morning: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (18° 19' 05") Evening: Sunday, January 04, 2009 (19° 20' 36") On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Mercury will be 18.3º below the west horizon Venus data: Rise: 10:35am Transit 3:24pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 8:13pm Constellation: Libra Phase: 82.07% illuminated Distance: 1.29181811 AU = 193,253,238 km = 120,081,996 miles = 10.76 light-minutes Magnitude: -4.0 Extremely bright, but somewhat difficult with the glare of the setting sun Apparent size: 12.92 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 34.09 degrees (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 (47° 07' 21") Morning: Friday, June 05, 2009 (45° 51' 07") On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Venus will be 4.1º above the southwest horizon Mars data: Rise: 8:52am Transit 2:06pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 7:20pm Constellation: Libra Phase: 99.36% illuminated Distance: 2.49920804 AU = 373,876,201 km = 232,315,904 miles = 20.82 light-minutes Magnitude: 1.6 Apparent size: 3.74 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 14.44 degrees (evening sky) Next close approach of Mars is on Friday, Jan 29, 2010 On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Mars will be 4.9º 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: 2:04pm Transit 6:43pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 11:23pm Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.08% illuminated Distance: 5.21969905 AU = 780,855,863 km = 485,201,345 miles = 43.48 light-minutes Magnitude: -2.2 Apparent size: 37.77 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 79.99 degrees (evening sky) On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Jupiter will be 24.5º above the south horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot: None before it sets GRS longitude: 126.0 Jupiter satellite events: None tonight Saturn data: Rise: 4:26am Transit 10:55am (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 5:23pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 99.89% illuminated Distance: 10.11282434 AU = 1,512,856,988 km = 940,045,762 miles = 1.40 light-hours Magnitude: 1.0 Apparent size: 16.43 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 37.81 degrees (morning sky) On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Saturn will be 24.9º below the west-northwest horizon Uranus data: Rise: 5:12pm Transit 11:00pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 4:47am Oct 18 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 19.27995451 AU = 2,884,240,141 km = 1,792,183,758 miles = 2.68 light-hours Magnitude: 5.8 Apparent size: 3.66 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 144.41 degrees (evening sky) On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Uranus will be 25.2º above the east-southeast horizon Neptune data: Rise: 4:01pm Transit: 9:14pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 2:26am Oct 18 Constellation: Capricornus Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 29.57715669 AU = 4,424,679,661 km = 2,749,368,511 miles = 4.11 light-hours Magnitude: 7.9 Apparent size: 2.31 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 116.56 degrees (evening sky) On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Neptune will be 30.1º above the southeast horizon Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data: Rise: 12:32pm Transit 5:34pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Set: 10:35pm Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.98% illuminated Distance: 31.96151658 AU = 4,781,374,824 km = 2,971,008,612 miles = 4.44 light-hours Magnitude: 14.2 Apparent size: 0.10 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 64.07 degrees (evening sky) On 10/17/2008 at 7:41:00pm Pluto will be 24.3º above the south-southwest horizon