Kids will learn why it’s called “space” during our “Planet Walk” Wednesday July 9th at New Albany Floyd County Parks Math/Science Camp. The Planet Walk is an interactive model of the solar system which will give kids a true sense of what “space” really means. Participants will build a scale model of the solar system outdoors and must be able to walk 1 mile. For kids ages 6-13. Enrollment in NAFC Parks Math Science camp July 7-10 required. Following Planet Walk kids will observe the Sun through a telescope equipped with a special solar filter. To enroll visit the Southern Indiana Sports Center, 620 Park East Boulevard or NAFC Parks website.

Parents with questions about the Planet Walk may email me here.

Celebrate America’s birthday with StarGeezer Astronomy at the Town of Elizabeth Spirit Days street festival July 4th and 5th in “downtown” Elizabeth. We will have our telescopes set up to watch the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter on Saturday, July 5th at 9pm in the parking lot behind the Elizabeth Community Center. The Festival will include live music, food and vendor booths, a teen dance, watermelon eating contest and many other events. Come join the fun!

The waning crescent Moon will cross M45, the Pleiades asterism, during the early morning hours of Monday, June 30th. When one celestial body disappears behind another it’s called an occultation. Because it’s closest and has the largest apparent angular size for earthbound observers, lunar occultations of stars are most frequent. The Moon occults planets of the solar system less frequently. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are occulted by the discs of those planets almost daily. Occultations of stars by the planets of our solar system and asteroids are rarer by several orders of magnitude. But let’s get back to Monday morning’s lunar occultation of the Pleiades.

Observers in northeastern Canada and the eastern U.S. will have the opportunity to watch this event. The Pleiades will disappear behind the Moon’s sunlit limb and reappear on the Moon’s dark limb.

If I’m reading the charts correctly the various stars disappearances will begin between about 0305 and 0448 UT (11:06 PM-12:48 AM EDT). For more specific information click here IOTA Pleiades 2008 or David Dunhams site. At the time this was written on 27 June the IOTA site had not been updated with current information.

Update,  June 29. The above listed times are actually EASTERN DAYLIGHT, not Universal time. This will be a pre-dawn event on Monday morning. Take a nap and get up about 3am if you want to watch this occultation of the Pleiades.

The Moon will not rise until after 0600 UT (2 AM EDT) so this one will be a late night event. For Moon and Sun rise/set times for your location visit the U.S. Naval Observatory website.

Will Comet Boattini Be a Naked Eye Object?

Comet C/2007/W1 was discovered in November 2007. It may brighten just enough to be a naked eye object for observers in the Northern Hemisphere in early July, but you’ll need reasonably dark skies and a clear view to the south.

I hope you  had an opportunity to observe the double shadow transit/occultation of Jupiter’s moons in the early hours of June 23rd. As I mentioned in the observer StarGuide this particular set of Jovian moon dances included transits and shadow transits of Galilean moons Europa and Ganymede plus an occultation egress of Io. I set up my 10” Dobsonian at about 0245 UT. The transit and shadow transit of Europa was more than 50% complete as Jupiter rose here in southern Indiana at approximately 0240 UT.

Unfortunately I set up the Dob on the wrong side of a tree and realized this at about 0255. While I was moving the Dob Io reappeared from it’s occultation behind Jupiter’s disc. By the time I had my gear moved it was about 0305 and when I got back to the eyepiece Io had emerged from it’s occultation. As Jupiter continued to rise out of the atmospheric murk I settled in to watch the transits and shadow transits of Europa and Ganymede. I live about two miles west of the Ohio river and the temperature inversions over the river keep the atmosphere low near the horizon very unsteady.

At 0305 Europa’s shadow transit had about 40 minutes remaining, Europa was transiting and Ganymede’s shadow was about 1/3 across Jupiter’s disc but I wouldn‘t see it until nearly 30 minutes later. Just a few minutes after Io’s reappearance it was easy to compare it’s size and Ganymede. At moments of good seeing the two moons seemed to take on a three-dimensional quality and I had the sense that Ganymede was closer than Io. I never caught a glimpse of Europa’s shadow. The atmosphere was too unsteady.

I tried various eyepiece and filter combinations and averted vision watching for Ganymede’s shadow. I began seeing hints of it around 0325-0330. As Jupiter climbed higher just before 0400 UT Ganymede’s shadow began popping clearly into view during moments of good seeing. I’d settled on a 15mm Plossl eyepiece with a 2x barlow and 82A soft blue filter. The next event was Ganymede’s ingress across Jupiter’s disc. I was able to discern Ganymede on Jupiter’s limb until 0415.

A few minutes later (0430) it was time for Europa to egress it’s transit of Jupiter’s disc. I watched as it appeared at Jupiter’s western limb at approximately 04:30:15. I continued to observe for a few minutes more. Ganymede’s shadow was very distinct during moments of good seeing. I stayed at the eyepiece until Europa cleared 4th contact with Jupiter’s disc.

In about 100 minutes at the eyepiece I watched Ganymede’s shadow transit, Ganymede’s transit ingress, Europa’s transit egress and Io’s reappearance from behind Jupiter. What an amazing show.

Like to share your reports about recent observations? Email me

All times are coordinated Universal Time.

Is it Lunacy? Effects of the Summer solstice..or is the “Giant” full Moon on Wednesday, June 18 due to some special celestial effect? Find out in this special NASA report.

Mars and Saturn move toward July “rendezvous”

While they’ll actually be about half a billion miles apart Mars and Saturn will APPEAR to rendezvous in the evening sky during late June and early July. On June 30th Mars will glide less than one degree north of Regulus and on July 10th the Red planet will appear less than a degree south of the Ringed Giant. Of course these planets are actually hundreds of million miles apart but, from our vantage point on Earth they appear to be near each other.

After the Moon, Venus and Mercury, Mars is the planet nearest Earth. Right now it’s about 200 million miles distant. Because Mars is relatively close to us it’s movement against the background of stars is fairly easily detected. 

If you’d like to see Mars’ motion for yourself here’s a little exercise for you. Take a look at the sky chart which appears to the left. On any clear evening go outdoors at dark look to the southwest and, using the chart, find the constellation Leo and the Lion’s “heart” star, Regulus a bluish magnitude 2 star. Look a few degrees left of Regulus for Saturn’s yellowish disc (about 3 finger widths at arms length). Make a fist and extend your arm. Sight down your arm and place Regulus against the left side of your fist. Mars ruddy red disc will appear at the right (western) edge of your fist or on the knuckle of your little finger (if you’re right handed). Perform this exercise at about the same time from night to night and see whether Mars is closing on Regulus. You might even consider making a drawing of your results. Check it out and send me a message to let me know what you observed. The chart was produced using Starry Night Pro Version 6 from Imaginova.

Click on any of the images to enlarge them.

Clear skies!