Click here for a Printer-Friendly version

Astronomical Observing at Fishcreek - Friday 7/04/2008

Tonight's event will feature a moonless sky for us all night since it sets at 10:35pm this evening.  We'll be able to see the beautiful planet Saturn, 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 galore will be available to us until the Moon rises above the trees around 2:15am.  Saturn is beautiful beyond words!  If you've never seen Saturn through a telescope, you owe it to yourself to do so.  See it now while the rings are still visible - it is heading into the west earlier and earlier in the evening and in 2009, the rings will be edge-on and almost totally invisible.  It's said that one picture is worth a thousand words, but no picture can match the majesty of the real thing!  Jupiter will be visible, if you stay after 11:00pm or so when it will be high enough to clear the trees to the east of our observing field.

for a list of DeepSky Objects that will be available to us this session.

We hope to see you here for a night under the stars - now in our fourteenth year!

For observing conditions at our site, please click on the link below: 
ClearSkyClock for Fishcreek Site  (the darker blue the squares are, the better)

Quick links:
    Inner Solar System     Outer Solar System    General Information about our events

Moon data   Rises: 7: 31am Transits: 3: 10pm - Time of highest position in the sky, due South Sets: 10: 35pm Constellation:   Cancer Phase:   5.44% illuminated (waxing crescent) Distance:   0.00245913 AU = 367,880 km = 228,590 miles = 1.23 light-seconds Magnitude:   -6.4 Apparent size:   32.47 arcminutes in angular diameter Elongation from Sun:   26.90 degrees (evening sky) Age:   2.00 days since last New Moon Next Phase:   First Quarter Moon on Thursday July 10, 2008 at 0:35am Next Lunar eclipse:   Total eclipse (100%) on Sunday Sept 27, 2015 at 10:10pm EDT On 7/4/2008 at 10:17:31pm the Moon will be just 1.7º above the west horizon but will look like this at 10:00pm... (back to 'Quick Links')

Jupiter data   Rises: 9: 07pm Transits: 1: 49am July 5 - Time of highest position in the sky, due South Sets: 6: 31am July 5 Constellation:   Sagittarius Phase:   99.99% illuminated Distance:   4.16527795 AU = 623,116,712 km = 387,186,779 miles = 34.69 light-minutes Magnitude:   -2.7 Apparent size:   47.33 arcseconds in angular diameter Elongation from Sun:   175.44 degrees (morning sky) On 7/4/2008 at 10:17:31pm Jupiter will be 9.6º above the east-southeast horizon Next transit of the Great Red Spot: Saturday July 5, 2008 0:36am GRS longitude: 123.7º Jupiter moons activity:       None tonight Jupiter and its four visible moons will look like this at 10:17:31pm tonight... (back to 'Quick Links')

Inner Solar System - the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth
(Created using Software Bisque's TheSky software)

(back to 'Quick Links')
 

Outer Solar System - the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
(Created using Software Bisque's TheSky software)

(back to 'Quick Links')
 

General Information you should know about our events - Q&A of Where, When and What


Very sincerely yours,
Dave Jessie
Time spent observing the heavens is not deducted from your life span

(back to 'Quick Links')

Back to home page