Astronomical Observing from Fishcreek Observing Site - Friday 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm (nautical twilight). Sunset: 8:47pm Civil twilight ends: 9:16pm Nautical twilight ends: 9:54pm Astronomical twilight ends: 10:37pm Moon Phase: 78.57% illuminated (waning gibbous) Rise: 10:30pm Age: 19d 6h 14m since last New Moon Tonight, we have a bright gibbous Moon with us, but not until it clears the trees to the east of the observing field at midnight.  This phase is great for viewing detail in the craters on or near the terminator - the line separating lunar night from day, a wealth of features can still be seen. Although nearly painfully bright, we have a new piece of equipment that makes the view comfortable. Faint DSOs (Deep Space Objects) will be available to us prior to that, however.  Saturn will be beautiful with its rings still nearly edge-on and with four of its moons visible. Also, we have Mercury & Venus showing gibbous phases, and Mars growing smaller every night. We have the colorful double stars, open clusters made up of hundreds of stars, the 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.  Galaxies should be visible this evening despite the brightening of the sky by the Moon. We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - now in our fifteenth year! All times are shown in EDT (Eastern Daylight Time (UT-4)) as seen from Stow, Ohio Longitude: W 81 25' 38.3" Latitude: N41 11' 11.1" Altitude: 337m The following Sun, Moon and planet detail was calculated as it will be on Friday 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm (nautical twilight). Source: Guide8 software available from www.projectpluto.com ABOVE HORIZON: Object Mag Const Rise Set Venus -4.2 Leo 10:06 22:41 Mars 1.5 Vir 10:48 23:01 Saturn 1.1 Vir 10:47 23:09 Neptune 7.8 Aqr 21:31 08:11 Pluto 14.2 Sgr 18:06 04:03 BELOW HORIZON: Object Mag Const Rise Set Sun -26.7 Cnc 06:15 20:47 Mercury 0.2 Leo 08:32 21:55 Jupiter -2.7 Psc 22:59 11:09 Uranus 5.8 Psc 22:49 10:55 Moon -11.1 Psc 22:30 11:48 Sun data: Rise: 6:15am Transit: 1:32pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 8:47pm Constellation: Cancer Distance: 1.01511209 AU = 151,858,607 km = 94,360,565 miles = 8.46 light-minutes Magnitude: -26.7 Apparent size: 31.51 arcminutes in angular diameter Civil twilight ends at: 9:16pm ( When the Sun is 6° below the horizon ) Nautical twilight ends at: 9:54pm ( When the Sun is 12° below the horizon ) Astronomical twilight ends at: 10:37pm ( When the Sun is 18° below the horizon ) Summer began at the Summer Solstice which occurred on Monday Jun 21, 2010 at 7:29am Fall begins at the Autumnal Equinox which will occur on Wednesday Sep 22, 2010 at 11:10pm 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 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm the Sun will be 12° below the west-northwest horizon Moon data: Rise: 10:30pm Transit: 5:04am - Jul 31 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 11:48am - Jul 31 Constellation: Pisces Phase: 78.57% illuminated (waning gibbous) Distance: 0.00270541 AU = 404,724 km = 251,484 miles = 1.35 light-seconds Magnitude: -11.1 Apparent size: 29.52 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 124.72° (morning sky) Age: 19d 6h 14m since last New Moon Prior Phase: Full Moon on Sunday Jul 25, 2010 at 9:37pm Next Phase: Last Quarter on Tuesday Aug 3, 2010 at 12:59am Next Lunar eclipse: Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm the Moon will be 7.9° below the east-northeast horizon Mercury data: Rise: 8:32am Transit: 3:14pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 9:55pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 58.57% illuminated Distance: .98809104 AU = 147,816,315 km = 91,848,801 miles = 8.23 light-minutes Magnitude: 0.2 Apparent size: 6.81 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 26.33° (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Saturday, August 7, 2010 (27° 22' 00") Morning: Sunday, September 19, 2010 (17° 52' 13") On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Mercury will be 0.9° below the west horizon Venus data: Rise: 10:06am Transit: 4:24pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 10:41pm Constellation: Leo Phase: 58.53% illuminated Distance: .8441575 AU = 126,284,165 km = 78,469,343 miles = 7.03 light-minutes Magnitude: -4.2 Apparent size: 19.77 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 44.79° (evening sky) Next maximum elongations... Evening: Friday, August 20, 2010 (45° 57' 59") Morning: Saturday, January 8, 2011 (46° 57' 24") On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Venus will be 7.7° above the west-southwest horizon Mars data: Rise: 10:48am Transit: 4:54pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 11:01pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 93.09% illuminated Distance: 1.9883364 AU = 297,450,892 km = 184,827,418 miles = 16.56 light-minutes Magnitude: 1.5 Apparent size: 4.71 arcseconds inangular diameter Elongation from Sun: 52.88° (evening sky) Dates of Opposition (when Mars is closest to Earth) Previous: Friday Jan 29, 2010 at 2:21pm. Distance: 99,400,435 km. Size: 14.08 arcseconds. Next: Saturday Mar 3, 2012 at 3:52pm. Distance: 100,839,728 km. Size: 13.88 arcseconds. On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Mars will be 11.4° above 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/community/skyblog/observingblog/8708182.html http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars.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: 10:59pm Transit: 5:04am - Jul 31 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 11:09am - Jul 31 Constellation: Pisces Phase: 99.28% illuminated Distance: 4.31823161 AU = 645,998,254 km = 401,404,710 miles = 35.97 light-minutes Magnitude: -2.7 Apparent size: 45.65 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 124.47° (morning sky) Dates of Opposition (when Jupiter is closest to Earth) Previous: Friday Aug 14, 2009 at 1:44pm Next: Tuesday Sep 21, 2010 at 7:28am On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Jupiter will be 13.4° below the east-northeast horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Saturday Jul 31, 2010 at 7:35am (The Red Spot transits about every 9 hours 56 minutes) GRS longitude: 145.5 Jupiter satellite events (during darkness): Io eclipse begins on Friday Jul 30, 2010 at 11:42pm when Jupiter is 6.8° above the horizon Io occultation ends on Saturday Jul 31, 2010 at 3:04am when Jupiter is 40.5° above the horizon Saturn data: Rise: 10:47am Transit: 4:58pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 11:09pm Constellation: Virgo Phase: 99.82% illuminated Distance: 10.11446432 AU = 1,513,102,325 km = 940,198,207 miles = 1.4 light-hours Magnitude: 1.1 Apparent size: 16.43 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 53.05° (evening sky) Dates of Opposition (when Saturn is closest to Earth) Previous: Sunday Mar 21, 2010 at 8:28pm Next: Sunday Apr 3, 2011 at 7:48pm On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Saturn will be 13.1° above the west-southwest horizon Uranus data: Rise: 10:49pm Transit: 4:52am - Jul 31 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 10:55am - Jul 31 Constellation: Pisces Phase: 99.96% illuminated Distance: 19.4598833 AU = 2,911,157,106 km = 1,808,909,184 miles = 2.7 light-hours Magnitude: 5.8 Apparent size: 3.62 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 127.45° (morning sky) Dates of Opposition (when Uranus is closest to Earth) Previous: Thursday Sep 17, 2009 at 5:34am Next: Tuesday Sep 21, 2010 at 12:51pm On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Uranus will be 11.6° below the east-northeast horizon Neptune data: Rise: 9:31pm Transit: 2:51am - Jul 31 (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 8:11am - Jul 31 Constellation: Aquarius Phase: 100.00% illuminated Distance: 29.06291006 AU = 4,347,749,461 km = 2,701,566,300 miles = 4.03 light-hours Magnitude: 7.8 Apparent size: 2.35 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 159.95° (morning sky) Dates of Opposition (when Neptune is closest to Earth) Previous: Monday Aug 17, 2009 at 4:47pm Next: Friday Aug 20, 2010 at 5:59am On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Neptune will be 3° above the east horizon Pluto (Dwarf Planet aka Asteroid 134340) data: Rise: 6:06pm Transit: 11:04pm (Time of highest position in the sky, due South) Sets: 4:03am - Jul 31 Constellation: Sagittarius Phase: 99.99% illuminated Distance: 31.03497487 AU = 4,642,766,157 km = 2,884,881,178 miles = 4.31 light-hours Magnitude: 14.2 Apparent size: 0.11 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun: 145.16° (evening sky) Dates of Opposition (when Pluto is closest to Earth) Previous: Friday Jun 25, 2010 at 2:59pm Next: Tuesday Jun 28, 2011 at 1:23am On 7/30/2010 at 9:54:11pm Pluto will be 28.2° above the south-southeast horizon *************** Web hosting generously provided by *************** JCSi - Jucikas Computer Services, Inc. 4381 Hudson Drive, Suite KV2, Stow, OH 44224 Tel: 330-689-0155 * Fax: 330-689-0165