This week’s Look-Up report features a colorful sunset conjunction, the waxing gibbous Moon with Jupiter and Pleiades, and a word about light pollution! Click here for the full report, including graphics and links.
Posts Tagged ‘Moon’
The Sky Tonight: Aug 26 – Sept 1
Thursday, August 26th, 2010Billions of Eyes are Waiting – for You!
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010What do Sun-Earth Day, the Spring Equinox, and International Sidewalk Astronomy Night have in common? In addition to recognizing our planet’s relationship to the cosmos, this year all three occur on March 20 and you can celebrate in one fun event!
International Sidewalk Astronomy Night:
“Billions of Eyes are waiting!”
It is with those words that John Dobson encourages all of us to share the night sky with others. On March 20, people all across the world are taking Dobson’s words to heart with the 4th Annual International Sidewalk Astronomy Night!
You don’t have to be an astronomer, or even own expensive equipment, to encourage others to Look Up – just take your knowledge, your binoculars, or your telescope to a public setting and share what you do know and have with others. It doesn’t even matter that public settings are typically not the darkest sites to observe. There’s plenty of wow-factor with the Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and some of the brighter stars – especially if you take a moment to share some fun facts about each. Public settings also offer the perfect opportunity to talk about light pollution. You could even hand-out a few flyers about responsible lighting techniques to make your event more meaningful!
Whether you live in a small town or a big city – whether you’ve a telescope, a pair of binoculars, or even just your eyes – whether you share with one person or a hundred – the point is to get out there and encourage people to look up. Show them why you’re so excited about the night sky and why they should be too!
The Sky This Month – March 2010
Monday, March 1st, 2010Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We’re premiering a new feature, The Sky This Month, here and on AFM*Radio! In addition to our occasional daily report, The Sky Tonight, we’ll also be posting a monthly highlights report, here, and featuring the audio version each month, throughout the month, on AFM*Radio.
Don’t just talk about the stars – Go outside and look at them!
The month of March includes four bright planets, five moon & planet conjunctions, and a whole collection of open star clusters!
Look Ma, It’s the Moon!
Monday, October 26th, 2009
The much-anticipated Twitter #MoonWatch is finally here! Are you looking up, and are you sharing what you see?
Spearheaded by Newbury Astronomical Society‘s Adrian West (@NewburyAS), the Twitter #Moonwatch encourages people all across the world to take special notice of our one and only natural satellite, the Moon. The forty-eight hour event, which kicks-off October 26 at 19:00 UTC, will include regular observation reports, on-air updates, webcasts, local images, and resource-sharing. All of this will be communicated via Twitter, by events organizers, as well as casual observers; so if you haven’t yet tried that popular networking tool, now’s the time to do it!
While the Twitter #MoonWatch is part of the IYA2009′s UK Autumn Moonwatch, it is an international event and everyone is encouraged to join in. For those wishing to share their own observations, you need only include the text, #moonwatch, in your moon-related tweets. If you’d like to keep track of all the tweet action, you can follow along, here. You can also see the images, as they are posted from around the world, here; and you can tune in to live AFM*Radio updates from Newbury Astronomy’s Adrian West and Nic Fleet, here.
This exciting event is especially well-timed. Not only is this week’s Moon visible during daylight hours, it will be positioned very near Jupiter over the next two nights. So, when we look up to share our views of the Moon with others, we’ll be treated to a little extra sparkle!
Venus/Saturn Conjunction!
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Tomorrow’s sunrise sky offers a special treat for early risers. Not only will four bright planets be visible, two of those planets will appear less than 1/2 degree from each other, and another will be less than 3 degrees from the waning crescent Moon.
Just before sunrise, watch for Venus and Saturn to rise as a pair on your East horizon, with Mercury rising very close behind. Looking straight overhead, you’ll find ruddy Mars with a 38% illuminated Moon. That bright star to the pair’s right is Canis Minor’s brightest star, Procyon; while the night sky’s brightest star, Sirius, is positioned just a little further right, or towards your West horizon. Dropping straight down from Sirius, to your South horizon, you’ll find the 2nd brightest star in the night sky, constellation Carina’s Canopus.
September Sky 2009
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009This is the first edition of a new monthly feature which hopes to provide our readers with a monthly sky-at-a-glance calendar for the northern hemisphere. You’ll find each month’s events chronologically listed within sub-categories of Early Evening, Late Night, and Early Morning. Many of the events include a click-on sky graphic with local dates/times noted, and all of the events include icons indicating unaided eye 
, binoculars 
, or telescope 
.
Through the coming months, we will evolve this feature to meet the needs of our readers, so all comments and suggestions are encouraged!
You can also download a printable and portable version in PDF format here.
Early Evening Highlights:
01 thru 08 – Mercury on your West horizon at sunset. Saturn will be there as well, but will likely be lost in the Sun’s glare. Use caution when trying to view either of these planets this week and never look directly at the Sun without a proper solar filter. Sky View
Sky View01 and 02 – Waxing gibbous Moon with Jupiter on your South horizon after sunset.
05 – Waning Full Moon less than 1 degree from the planet Uranus on your E horizon after sunset. SkyView
07 – Waning Full Moon occults Eta Piscium (constellation Pisces’ brightest star) on your ENE horizon after sunset. SkyView
20 and 21 – Waxing crescent Moon (6% and 12% illuminated) on your West horizon at sunset.
24 - 0600 UT – Star Antares 0.8 degree south of Moon; occultation: Eastern portion of China, Taiwan, Japan, southeastern portion of Russia, western portion of the Pacific Ocean.
29 – Waxing gibbous Moon with Jupiter on your South horizon after sunset.
