You’re invited to our “Welcome Summer Star Party” Saturday evening, June 27th, at Shiloh United Methodist Church, 9611 West US 42 (at KY 1694) in Goshen, KY. Our star party program for the evening will include a visual tour of the early summer evening constellations, Leo, the Summer Triangle, Scorpius, the “Big Dipper”, “Birthday Stars” and telescope views of Saturn and the almost First Quarter Moon.

The program will begin at 9:30pm, please arrive 15 minutes early. Free night sky star charts for late June-early July will be available while supply lasts.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galilleo’s first telescopic observations, 2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy.

 For information on this event or scheduling your own a private astronomy event contact me here.

June brings the summer solstice for those of us living in the Northern hemisphere and winter in the Southern hemisphere.  The solstice on June 21st brings the longest day (most hours of daylight) here in the north and shortest day south of the Equator.

But it doesn’t happen all at once. The earliest sunrise, at latitude 40 degrees north, was June 14th and the latest sunset June 27th.

The seasons, and hours of light and darkness change because Earth is tilted 23 degrees on it’s axis. As we orbit the Sun our hemisphere tilts toward (Summer) and away (Winter) from the Sun. When it’s Summer here our hemisphere is tilted into the Sun, the Sun tracks much higher, or further north, across our sky.

You can observe this for yourself. Go out at sunrise or sunset, get your bearings and make a mental note of how far north of east (sunrise) or west (sunset) the Sun is. When Fall or Winter come around again make the same observation and compare how much farther south the sunrise/sunset is on your horizon.

If you’re impatient and can’t wait until December check out the composite panorama image below. This image is a composite of 3 images I took looking west at sunset. Look closely at the sky and it’s easy to see where the images join. The sunset to the left was taken in November, the middle near the equinox in September and the Sun glinting through the trees to the right was taken at the summer solstice on June 21st.

Click on the image to enlarge it. Try this for yourself and enjoy the changing of the seasons!

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.

From NASA releases

May 25, 2008: NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars at 7:38 PM EDT, Sunday, 25 May to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander’s robotic arm.

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light.

This is an approximate-color image taken shortly after landing by the spacecraft’s Surface Stereo Imager, inferred from two color filters, a violet, 450-nanometer filter and an infrared, 750-nanometer filter.

 Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Among those in the JPL control room was NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who noted this was the first successful Mars landing without airbags since Viking 2 in 1976.

“For the first time in 32 years, and only the third time in history, a JPL team has carried out a soft landing on Mars,” Griffin said. “I couldn’t be happier to be here to witness this incredible achievement.”

The center of the red circle on this map shows where NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander eased down to the surface of Mars, at approximately 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude. Before Phoenix landed, engineers had predicted it would land within the blue ellipse.

The map shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units — categories based on the surface textures and contours. The geomorphic mapping is overlaid on a shaded relief map based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Washington Univ. St. Louis/JHU APL/Univ. of Arizona

During its 422-million-mile flight from Earth to Mars after launching on Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix relied on electricity from solar panels. The cruise stage with those solar panels was jettisoned seven minutes before the lander, encased in a protective shell, entered the Martian atmosphere. Batteries will now provide electricity until the lander’s own pair of solar arrays spread open.

“What a thrilling landing! But the team is waiting impatiently for the next set of signals that will verify a healthy spacecraft,” said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission. “I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. The first landed images of the Martian polar terrain will set the stage for our mission.”

This view of one of the footpads of NASA’s three-legged Phoenix Mars Lander shows a solid surface at the spacecraft’s landing site. As the legs touched down on the surface of Mars, they kicked up some loose material on top of the footpad, but overall, the surface is unperturbed.

Each footpad is about the size of a large dinner plate, measuring 11.5 inches from rim to rim. The base of the footpad is shaped like the bottom of a shallow bowl to provide stability.

This image was taken by the spacecraft’s Surface Stereo Imager shortly after landing, at 17:07 local time on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona 

Shown here is one of the first images taken by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander of one of the octagonal solar panels, which opened like two handheld, collapsible fans on either side of the spacecraft. Beyond this view is a small slice of the north polar terrain of Mars.

The successfully deployed solar panels are critical to the success of the 90-day mission, as they are the spacecraft’s only means of replenishing its power. Even before these images reached Earth, power readings from the spacecraft indicated to engineers that the solar panels were already at work recharging the spacecraft’s batteries. Before deploying the Surface Stereo Imager to take these images, the lander waited about 15 minutes for the dust to settle.

This image was taken by the spacecraft’s Surface Stereo Imager on Sol, or Martian day, 0 (May 25, 2008). This image has been geometrically corrected. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of  Arizona

Another critical deployment will be the first use of the 7.7-foot-long robotic arm on Phoenix, which will not be attempted for at least two days. Researchers will use the arm during future weeks to get samples of soil and ice into laboratory instruments on the lander deck.

The signal confirming that Phoenix had survived touchdown was relayed via Mars Odyssey and received on Earth at the Goldstone, Calif., antenna station of NASA’s Deep Space Network.