Category Archives: 32 inch Cassegrain Project

International Dark Sky Week Virtual Activities (April 19-26, 2020)

By Jim Knoll

Often referred to as one of the most brilliant and beautiful winter open clusters, M37--my saltshaker cluster--is the brightest of the Auriga clusters (M36, M37,M38) NASA Image — Often referred to as one of the most brilliant and beautiful winter open clusters, M37–my saltshaker cluster–is the brightest of the Auriga clusters (M36, M37,M38)
NASA Image

A few virtual events happening this week (April 19 – 26, 2020) in support of International Dark Sky Week on Facebook Live & You Tube. The Facebook pages below are public pages, so you do not need to have a Facebook account to view them. If you miss any live events, they will probably be available under Facebook Video’s.

Tuesday April 21. 11:30 am Arizona Time (GMT-7 or Pacific Timezone) on the Grand Canyon Conservancy Association (GRCA) Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/grandcanyonconservancy/). Ranger Rader Lane will discuss GRCAs journey to become an International Dark Sky Park.

Tuesday April 21. 8:00 pm Arizona Time (GMT-7 or Pacific Timezone) on our TAAA Facebook Page, we will be doing a Virtual Star Party, observing about 12 objects for an hour and half. TAAA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/. The live event may be located under the Videos section.

Thursday April 23. 12 pm (Noon) Arizona Time on the GRCA Facebook Page. Dean Regas will do a Live Virtual Tour of the Universe. If you don’t immediately see the live video when you go to the Facebook page at the appointed time, look under the Live or Video section of the page.

Friday April 24. 7 – 8:15 pm Arizona Time on the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. A nation-wide livestream Star Party. it will be presented on You Tube. The Whipple webpage is: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=112413

All Week. Log into the International Dark Sky Association International Dark Sky Week page for a schedule of presentations all week long. Many are specific for children and would be good for kids or grandkids. The link to the webpage is: idsw.darksky.org. Once there select schedule.

32 inch Cassegrain Project, Solar System

Planets of the Month: FEBRUARY 2020

by Erich Karkoschka

Mercury is easily visible in the first half of the month during dust in the west. It disappears after the 18th.

Venus is 40 degrees high at sunset and even 44 degrees by the end of the month. This is close to the maximum possible. It sets after 9 pm. The Moon will visit Venus on the 27th, a beautiful sight.

MAIN EVENT. Occultation of Mars by the Moon on the morning of February 18, well visible from Tucson before dawn in the southeast. It starts about an hour after Mars rises and lasts for another hour. Mars disappears behind the bright side of the Moon at 4:38 am and will reappear at 5:40 am along the dark side. The disappearance will be visible in binoculars as Mars slowly becomes invisible at the bright limb of the Moon. The reappearance will also take about 20 seconds. Since it occurs at the dark limb, it can be observed with the naked eye.

Uranus is 60 degrees high after dusk, visible in binoculars or a telescope.

Morning Sky. Mars rises at 4 am. Jupiter follows at 5 am, and Saturn at 6 am. These three planets will get closer to each other as the month progresses.

32 inch Cassegrain Project, General Astronomy, Star Parties

December 2019 Events

We have two Tucson public observing events this month.

– Agua Caliente Park (NE Tucson) on December 21st: CANCELLED
– Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Area (SW Tucson) on December 28 from 6 – 8 pm. Follow the Facebook event for real-time updates.

Meteor Shower. The Geminids peak early morning on December 14th or late evening on the 14th. There will be a bright Moon in the sky very close to Gemini which will limit what you can see. If possible put the Moon to your back and look for meteors in the opposite direction.

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.

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.

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.