Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Stargazing

Star Party-Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Area
Tucson, AZ (West)
Viewing Location: Second Restroom area approximately 3/4 of the way in on Hal Gras Road.
Information: Great dark skies in Western Tucson. Star Party open to the Public. Cost: FREE. Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more. Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes. Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page (https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/).

Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Stargazing

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Check back here for the link as we get closer.

Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Stargazing (CANCELLED)

CANCELLED – Pending COVID-19 Status
Star Party-Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic Area
Tucson, AZ (West)

WE CANCELLED EVENT DUE TO COVID-19 AND INSUFFICIENT SPACE TO SOCIALLY DISTANCE.

Viewing Location: Second Restroom area approximately 3/4 of the way in on Hal Gras Road.
Information: Great dark skies in Western Tucson. Star Party open to the Public. Cost: FREE. Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more. Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes. Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page (https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/).

Chiricahua National Monument Stargazing

TAAA Stargazing to view amazing solar system and deep sky objects from the Dark Sky Park. You will see planets, nebulae, star clusters, double stars, and lots more. We will have several telescopes for public viewing. Observing location will either be Echo Canyon Trailhead or the Faraway Ranch just inside the entrance gate. A talk may be scheduled before observing at Bonita Campground Amphitheater. Please try to use red light flashlights and minimize white light (to include cell phones) that will hinder your night vision. Chiricahua National Monument website: https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm. Weather dependent — Follow the event on the TAAA Facebook page to get weather and other updates: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/.

Check back here or on Facebook closer to the event for any updates.

Chiricahua National Monument Stargazing (Tentative)

REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Call the Visitor’s Center to register: 520-824-3560, ext 9302.
Star Party at Chiricahua National Monument. We will have a Laser Walk Around the Night Sky starting 7:30. At 8:15 we will have a telescope set up to view objects through a monitor. Event will be held at Far Away Ranch, 1 mile inside the entrance gate. Please try to use red light flashlights and minimize white light (to include cell phones) that will hinder your night vision. Chiricahua National Monument website: https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm. Weather dependent — Follow the event on the TAAA Facebook page to get weather and other updates: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/.

Oracle State Park Stargazing (VIRTUAL)

VIRTUAL

CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK

Star Party-Oracle State Park
Tucson, AZ
Viewing Location: ONLINE
Information: Great dark skies just north of Tucson at Oracle State Park. Star Party open to the Public. This event will be streamed online to the Oracle State Park Facebook Page and/or YouTube Channel. Additional details to follow.

Anticipate an introduction with music, a talk by the International Dark Sky Association, and a Star Party by Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.

Virtual Star Party Stargazing

Join Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association for a Virtual tour of the Night Sky. We will explore planets, Nebulae, Star Clusters, Galaxies, and much more. The event will be streamed from our Facebook Page (TAAA Facebook Live)

Solar System

Planets of the Month: AUGUST

by Erich Karkoschka

Mercury is up at dawn far below Venus, but not much longer. The last naked-eye visibility ends August 7.

Venus rises at 2:30 am and is more than 40 degrees up at sunrise. It is at greatest elongation on the 12th, 46 degrees from the sun. It still is brighter than average and can be seen after sunrise, especially on the 15th when the lunar crescent is nearby. Of course, this pairing is best observed before sunrise.

The best night to watch the moon move is August 8/9, right next to Mars. When they rise, they are 1.6 degrees apart, narrowing to 1.3 degrees later and back up to 1.9 degrees at sunrise. A challenging first moon after New Moon will be visible on the 19th, but visible with naked eye only if it is completely clear, shortly after sunset.

Mars rises around 10 pm and is 60 degrees up at dawn. By the end of the month, it is even brighter than Sirius. In a telescope, its 15-19 arc-sec disk shows detail. During many years, it does not get that big.

The first minor planet Ceres is in opposition in southern
Aquarius, but with magnitude 8 not as bright as at other oppositions.

Jupiter and Saturn are well up all evening, just a few weeks past opposition. Saturn trails Jupiter by 8 degrees in their diurnal motion and also their current retrograde motion across Sagittarius. Ganymede will cast a shadow onto Jupiter on the 14th until 11 pm. On the 21st it will transit
8 – 11 pm and then show its shadow after 11:30. Another transit will start at 11:30 pm on the 28th. The night before one can see Callisto transiting 8:30 – 12:30, which will look like a shadow due to its dark surface.

August is the best month for watching meteors. The Perseids show up during the first three weeks, peaking on the night of 11/12. During dusk, the radiant is just rising, creating few meteors, but they can go for several seconds across the whole sky. By Dawn, we are heading right into the stream with up to 1 meteor per minute, but they only last less than half a second typically. The moon will rise at midnight on the peak night, so the evening will be dark.

Virtual Star Party

ONLINE – General Meeting – September 2020

TAAA’s next monthly meeting will be held online. We will have a 6:30 P.M. presentation open to the general public. This will be followed at approximately 7:15 P.M. by some activities for TAAA members only. To view the meeting, please visit https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

Title: Using Stars to Understand Saturn’s Atmosphere

Speaker: Zarah Brown is a 4th year graduate student at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. She studies Saturn’s upper atmosphere using Cassini data with her adviser, Tommi Koskinen, and did her undergraduate research on Saturn’s rings. She has degrees in both astrophysics and fine arts and helps run LPL’s annual Art of Planetary Science show.

The upper atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are all hotter than would be expected if they were heated in the same way that Earth’s upper atmosphere is heated—a longstanding unanswered question in planetary science called the “energy crisis.” In the months before the Cassini spacecraft’s final plunge into Saturn, it made a series of observations of Saturn’s upper atmosphere to try and understand the origin of the additional heat. In a technique called stellar occultation, Cassini used the passages behind Saturn’s upper atmosphere of stars in Orion and Canis Major to provide detailed information about the ringed planet’s density and temperature. This unique set of observations has shed light on the outer planet energy crisis and was published in Nature Astronomy this April.

7:15 pm (Approx) – Other Activities

Title: TBD

Speaker: none

To be determined