Where:

Frosty Drew Observatory

When:

Friday August 15, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.

Cost:

$1 Suggested Donation per Person

Tonight's forecast is calling for mostly clear to partly cloudy skies with haze. The 70% waning gibbous Moon will not rise until 10:47 p.m. offering us stunning views of the cratered lunar surface. Our night starts off at 6:00 p.m. with sunspotting on the relatively quiet solar photosphere. Once the Sun sets we will direct our telescopes to the night sky. Our target list will start with Saturn then the Moon. Binary stars and a late night view of Uranus will be on display as the night progresses. The bright Moon will likely chase us out around 1:00 a.m – 2:00 a.m. Though there may be a few passing clouds, the night looks to be OK for stargazing. With the waning lunar phase, lingering Perseid meteors will be easier to spot as the shower continues to produce upwards of 40 meteors per hour. Stop in for a night of stargazing and meteor spotting at Frosty Drew Observatory tonight.

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Weekly Happenings
Scott MacNeill

Calling all citizen scientists! Over the past 50+ years astronauts have been taking high resolution photographs of our favorite place, planet Earth. With the versatility and readily available technologies that came on the heels of digital photography, the collection of Earth images has grown to nearly 1.8 million, of which, 1.2 million were taken on board the ISS. When these images were shot, no geographical information was given as the astronaut taking the photograph could have been shooting any number of locations that were in view of the ISS or mission spacecraft. Current processes used to georeference daytime photos shot in space do not address the complexity associated with night images, and this is where you come in. With the goal of studying light pollution to help identify and stop needless wasting of energy and prevent the destruction of a huge ecosystem, the help of thousands is needed. Distinguishing stars, city lights, and other points of light is difficult for algorithms to accomplish, though complex image analysis is a cake walk for the average digital geek. With three projects hailing from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), there is more than enough work to get your Earth-hugging on. Projects range from super easy to geographically challenging, though all are equally important. Visit DarkSkies, Night Cities ISS, and Lost at Night to learn more about how you can help. Light pollution affects us all in so many ways. Ranging from wasted energy caused by light blasting into the sky, economic stress to keep up with the costs of wasted lighting, and the loss of biodiversity; light pollution is a growing problem. This is your chance to take a stand and help bring back the night!

This Summer we have been enjoying some fantastic pre-dawn morning views of Venus, which has been playing the part of the “Morning Star” this year. These past few weeks a newcomer has joined the early morning celestial starscape in the East, Jupiter. Each passing night, Venus creeps a little lower towards the Eastern horizon and Jupiter creeps a bit higher. Well this coming Monday (August 18th) at 5:00 a.m. these two beautiful points of light will pass within 15 arcminutes of each other from our point of view, making for a stunning conjunction of spectacular proportions. An arcminute is a unit of angular measurement equal to 1/60 of 1 degree (60 arcminutes in 1° of distance). Not only does this mean they will appear to nearly touch in the sky, but also they will make for a fascinating view in binoculars and even better in a telescope since they will both be visible in the same field of view. When looking through a telescope, expect Venus to be sporting a sexy 95% waxing gibbous along side Jupiter and its bright Galilean Moons. For those of you with digs in astrophotography, this is an excellent opportunity to score a killer shot! The view will be super low on the Eastern horizon and likely not visible at Frosty Drew. I will certainly be at Point Judith, Rhode Island on Monday morning waiting for that celestial moment of awesomeness!

-Scott