All posts by Jim Knoll

32 inch Cassegrain Project, General Astronomy

Planets of the Month: OCTOBER 2019

by Erich Karkoschka

Planets for October 2019

	Mercury is 7 degrees left and slightly above Venus for most of the month. During the last week of October, it moves below Venus. MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the transit of Mercury on November 11th.
	Venus is back in the evening sky visible before 6:30 pm.
	Shortly after New Moon, the Moon is near Venus on the 29th and near Jupiter on the 31st.
	Mars becomes visible again around the 19th during dawn. On the 26th it is 5 degrees below the thin lunar crescent.
	Jupiter shines above Antares in the southwest during the early evening. Its distance from Venus shrinks from 50 to 25 degrees
	Saturn is 25 degrees to the east of Jupiter. By the end of the month only 20 degrees.
	Uranus is in opposition on the 267th in Aries, visible with very good eyes.
	Neptune can be found with binoculars in Aquarius, 45 degrees west of Uranus.
	The Orionids meteors are best visible during the morning of the 22nd.

32 inch Cassegrain Project, Astronomical Events, General Astronomy, Solar System

Planets of the Month: Summer 2019

by Erich Karkoschka

Planets for Summer 2019 (June – September)

	Mercury is visible all June until July 3 in the evening to the WNW just after sunset. In mid-June, it is the most obvious object in the western sky. August 3 -24 it is visible during dawn in the east.
	Venus is a difficult dawn object until July 18. It will reappear September 18 low at dusk.
	The Moon is New on June 3, July 2, July 31, August 30, and September 28. First Quarter Moon is June 10, July 9, August 7, September 5. Full Moon is June 17, July 16, August 15, and September 13. There is a partial Lunar Eclipse on July 16, visible in South America and further east.
	Mars is above Mercury in early June. On June 18, Mercury passes close to Mars. Then, Mars slowly gets lower during dusk until it disappears in the glow of the Sun at the end of June for the rest of the summer.
	Jupiter comes in opposition to the Sun on June 10 and is a great evening object all summer. It is moving toward Antares.
	Saturn is just 30 degrees east of Jupiter. It is in opposition July 9 and will be a great evening object most of the summer as well. The brightest parts of the Milky Way are between Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky.
	The distant, faint planets come in opposition September 8 (Neptune) and October 28 (Uranus).
	There are two eclipses in July. A Total Solar Eclipse July 2, visible in South America, and a Partial Lunar Eclipse on July 16, visible in South America and further east.

Star Parties

Evening Under the Stars – at the Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (CAC) April 13

The next Evening Under the Stars at the TAAA Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (CAC) is scheduled for Saturday April 13, 2024

The gate will be open at 6:30 pm with the program starting at 7 and we will be observing until around 9:30. If you are still thinking whether to attend, this is a fantastic opportunity to view celestial objects under some incredibly dark skies using several large telescopes. We have a 40″ mirror Dobsonian, a 9″ lens Refractor, and a 14″ mirror Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope that will be open for observing. We will also have several other telescopes open to observe through.

You will see galaxies millions of light years away, star clusters, multiple star systems, nebulae, and lots more. Many of these are visible to the naked eye under our dark skies.

Definitely a family event that is a great opportunity for kids. Although it is a bit of a drive from Tucson, you can spend the day at the Chiricahua National Monument, grab something to eat, then come over to our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (CAC) for an evening of telescope observing. CAC is only about 15 miles from the Chiricahua National Monument.

There is no cost to attend but reservations are required so we can notify you by email how to get to CAC and let you know if there are any weather issues. Please email John Kalas to make reservations: euts[at]tucsonastronomy.org not later than Wednesday April 10th (PROVIDE number of attendees, vehicles, and contact email for notification of any event changes). We will also post any updates on our Evening Under the Stars Facebook Event page, so follow the event for any real-time updates. Hopefully we will see you at CAC!

Preparing for evening viewing through the 9 inch refractor

Gathering to hear the observing plans for the evening

Astronomical Events

Planets of the Month: May 2019

by Erich Karkoschka

	Mercury starts its best evening apparition of 2019 on May 30.
	Venus rises during dawn and remains very low before sunrise.
	The Moon is New on the 4th, barely visible on the 5th before 8 pm, near Aldebaran on the 6th, and near Mars on the 7th. The next first sighting of the crescent after New Moon will occur on June 4, when it will be easier to spot than on May 5th, but still be very thin.
	Mars is visible during the early evening near Elnathm, passing MN35 in Gemini on the 19th.
	Jupiter rises at 10 pm, when Mars sets, but by 8 pm at the end of May.
	Saturn is 28 degrees east of Jupiter and a good morning object.
	Dwarf planet Ceres is observable in binoculars. It is magnitude 7, moving from Ophiuchus into Scorpius.

32 inch Cassegrain Project

Planets of the Month: April 2019

by Erich Karkoschka

	Mars is still an evening object until 10 pm. It moves from the Golden Gate, between Aldebaran and the Pleiades, all the way through Taurus.

	Jupiter transits at dawn.
	Venus is further east and does not rise until 5 am during dawn.
	Saturn is 26 degrees east of Jupiter, the closest since 2001.
	Mercury races with Venus. The first half of April, it is slower than Venus, so Venus catches up to 5 degrees distance. Then is faster and gets slowly further away from Venus until it disappears after the 28th.
	The minor Planet (2) Pallas is 8th Magnitude and high up in Bootes.

32 inch Cassegrain Project, Star Parties

School, Non-Profit, & Public Events

(by Jim Knoll)

2018 was another successful year for our School, Non-Profit, & Public Events. Here is a summary:

To request a school or non-profit star party, visit our Community Involvement, Star Party Page.

Star Parties

January & February Astronomy Events

(By Jim Knoll)

We have quite a few public events in the next two months and are all free unless otherwise noted below. All are weather dependent and could be cancelled if we have extensive cloud cover. They are also posted on the TAAA Calendar so you can get directions and additional information. The All our public events are also posted on then TAAA Facebook Page as an Event and you can follow one and get weather and other updates in real-time.

January 12. Catalina State Park. 6:30 – 9:30 pm. State Park entrance fee required.

January 19. Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic area. 6 – 8 pm.

January 20. Total Lunar Eclipse. University of Arizona Mall just south of Flandrau Science Center. We will have several telescopes set ups to view the total eclipse. Partial begins 8:33 pm. Total from 9:41 – 10:43 pm, and partial again after that. We will have telescopes operating from 8 – 11 pm. Flandrau Science Center will also be open late.

February 2. Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic area. 6:30 – 8:30.

February 9. Two events scheduled

— Tucson Star Party, co-hosted with Astronomy Magazine. Pima Community College East
Campus. Solar observing 10 am to 5:30 pm. Evening observing from 6:30 – 9 pm. Astronomy Magazine Blog Post: http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2019/01/02/the-tucson-star-party-will-be-a-day-of-sun-and-stars.aspx.

— Agua Caliente Park. 6:30 – 8:30 pm.

Come join us for any of these events. They are a lot of fun and really good for a family activity.

32 inch Cassegrain Project, General Astronomy, Star Parties

Comet 46P Wirtanen from CAC

We have a naked eye (from a dark site) comet visible (arrow). It is Comet 46P Wirtanen. Ed Foley, one of our TAAA members, took this picture from our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex dark-sky site during last weekend’s events (Saturday December 8, 2018). You can see one of our observatories as well. Those present observed it through several telescopes. It was also observed at last Saturday’s Ironwood Picnic Star Party and will be observed at this coming weekend (December 15) Agua Caliente Park star party.

General Astronomy

Astronomy on Tap / Space Drafts

Want to have a fun astronomy night in downtown Tucson? Hear interesting talks focused on Astronomy? Tucson is participating in a national astronomy program called “Astronomy on Tap” or “Space Drafts”. This program is sponsored by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and UA Lunar & Planetary Lap (LPL). The Astronomy on Tap Space Drafts website is: https://astronomyontap.org/locations/tucson-az/.

The next Space Drafts will be Wednesday November 14, 2018 at 7 PM with the talks starting at 7:30. The event is held at Borderlands Brewing Company, 119 E Toole Ave, Tucson, AZ. The two scheduled talks are:

“Amateur Astronomy in Tucson” by Jim Knoll, Star Party Coordinator for the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.

“The first galaxies: coming soon to a space telescope near you” by postdoc Dr. Christina Williams, Steward Observatory.

You're Invited!

ASTRONOMY FESTIVAL

Saturday April 13, 2019 at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, 3480 E River Road (River & Alvernon), Ramada A from 3 PM to 9 PM. Come join Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and other astronomy related industries celebrating Tucson Astronomy. In addition to interactive exhibits and door prizes, we will have Solar Telescopes for safe viewing of the Sun plus lots of telescopes in the evening to observe star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, planets, and much more. Bring your personal telescope if you want some help learning to operate it. For real-time updates, follow the event on our Facebook Events page at: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/ or click on the Media link above. By following TAAA on Facebook, you can get updates on all our public stargazing and other astronomy events.