Public Observation Night
- Where:
- Frosty Drew Observatory
- When:
- Friday August 3, 2012 at 8:30 p.m.
- Cost:
- Free! Donations Appreciated.
- Share:
Once again, we seem to be getting conflicting weather reports for tonight, so please either keep checking our web site, or wait for our onsite update on Twitter (@FrostyDrewOBSY) to determine our sky conditions. But, regardless of weather, at 7:30 P.M., we will have a short presentation on the exciting space craft set to land on Mars this weekend. The Mars Science Laboratory, nicknamed Curiosity, a lander as big as an SUV, will set down on the Martian surface, in an at least two-year quest for any possible way life could have existed on our nearby planet neighbor. Curiosity will also be experimenting with a new way to land on a surface, a trial the engineers are calling “Seven minutes of terror.” Come see a short introduction to the first of hopefully many more landers on the Red Planet Mars. Also, if conditions allow, Mars is present in our night sky, although it is moving away from us, and sky visibility won’t be the best, but you can still see the ruddy color that gave Mars its name. Also, very near Mars is our beautiful ringed planet Saturn. That also will be available if the sky stays clear.
The Moon will be in its last quarter phase Thursday afternoon, which will means by next weekend it will be rising out of the eastern horizon late in the evening, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective. What this means for those of you who might want to view what is usually considered one of the best meteor showers of the year, the Perseids, might have a much better chance to see a rather large number of them, compared to last August, when their peak time was during Full Moon. The constellation Perseus, where the majority of the meteors appear to originate from, rises around 10:00 P.M. at this time, so be prepared to spend some time late in the night, perhaps on a blanket or lawn chair.
There is also another set of space craft being readied for launch this month, Radiation Belt Solar Burst, or RBSP for short. These twin craft will travel within the major radiation sections around the Earth, the Van Allen belts. Tentative launch date for them is Monday, August 13th. We will have more on these next week.
Frosty Drew Observatory is located in Charlestown, home to Rhode Island’s darkest skies. We thank all who have worked to continue to keep the rural nature of the community, which also allows us to keep to our mission of dark-sky astronomy.-Francine Jackson-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tonight's weather forecast is all over the place, but largely is calling for partly cloudy skies followed with fog. In Ninigret Park we are quite vulnerable to fog considering we are half surrounded by the ocean. This is usually a concern in the Spring and Autumn but this year takes the cake! We have had fog almost every Friday this summer. With this type of forecast it is difficult to make the call on our public observation status. So we will open the observatory at 8:30 p.m. if the sky permits.Tonight we will have the company of the Seafood Festival in the park. This event will put off some artificial light making observation of deep sky objects difficult. We will also have our closest neighbor hanging over head, the Moon, in 97% waning gibbous fashion from 8:40 p.m. on. So tonight is not the night for enthusiasts to come out with expectations of the vast observing opportunities in Sagittarius towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy.Next weekend (Saturday night - Sunday morning) is the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower. This is one of the better meteor showers of the year, producing upwards of 90 meteors per hour. This meteor shower is quite known not only because of the viewing possibilities but also because it happens during the late, warm summer nights. Another equally fantastic meteor shower (The Geminids) happens during December which nobody ever shows up for. We plan to open the Observatory on Saturday, August 11th overnight into Sunday morning for the Perseid meteor shower. We will have the 16" telescope open till 11:00 p.m. after which we will all head outside to observe the beautiful meteor shower overhead. Come out with blankets, lawn chairs, binoculars (not needed to view meteors), and photographic equipment. Be sure to keep your fingers crossed for clear skies. This year has been taboo for meteor showers with clear skies-Scott MacNeill
The Moon will be in its last quarter phase Thursday afternoon, which will means by next weekend it will be rising out of the eastern horizon late in the evening, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective. What this means for those of you who might want to view what is usually considered one of the best meteor showers of the year, the Perseids, might have a much better chance to see a rather large number of them, compared to last August, when their peak time was during Full Moon. The constellation Perseus, where the majority of the meteors appear to originate from, rises around 10:00 P.M. at this time, so be prepared to spend some time late in the night, perhaps on a blanket or lawn chair.
There is also another set of space craft being readied for launch this month, Radiation Belt Solar Burst, or RBSP for short. These twin craft will travel within the major radiation sections around the Earth, the Van Allen belts. Tentative launch date for them is Monday, August 13th. We will have more on these next week.
Frosty Drew Observatory is located in Charlestown, home to Rhode Island’s darkest skies. We thank all who have worked to continue to keep the rural nature of the community, which also allows us to keep to our mission of dark-sky astronomy.-Francine Jackson-------------------------------------------------------------------------Tonight's weather forecast is all over the place, but largely is calling for partly cloudy skies followed with fog. In Ninigret Park we are quite vulnerable to fog considering we are half surrounded by the ocean. This is usually a concern in the Spring and Autumn but this year takes the cake! We have had fog almost every Friday this summer. With this type of forecast it is difficult to make the call on our public observation status. So we will open the observatory at 8:30 p.m. if the sky permits.Tonight we will have the company of the Seafood Festival in the park. This event will put off some artificial light making observation of deep sky objects difficult. We will also have our closest neighbor hanging over head, the Moon, in 97% waning gibbous fashion from 8:40 p.m. on. So tonight is not the night for enthusiasts to come out with expectations of the vast observing opportunities in Sagittarius towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy.Next weekend (Saturday night - Sunday morning) is the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower. This is one of the better meteor showers of the year, producing upwards of 90 meteors per hour. This meteor shower is quite known not only because of the viewing possibilities but also because it happens during the late, warm summer nights. Another equally fantastic meteor shower (The Geminids) happens during December which nobody ever shows up for. We plan to open the Observatory on Saturday, August 11th overnight into Sunday morning for the Perseid meteor shower. We will have the 16" telescope open till 11:00 p.m. after which we will all head outside to observe the beautiful meteor shower overhead. Come out with blankets, lawn chairs, binoculars (not needed to view meteors), and photographic equipment. Be sure to keep your fingers crossed for clear skies. This year has been taboo for meteor showers with clear skies-Scott MacNeill
