Sky conditions appear great for tonight, so Frosty Drew Observatory will be open this evening, beginning after sundown. The Moon won’t be visible until late in the evening, as it’s three days shy of a 3rd quarter phase, so the viewing emphasis could be anywhere from the two planets, Uranus and Neptune, that are in the sky but not visible to the naked eye, to a number of other, deep-sky objects that are present right now. Also, our largest planet, Jupiter will rise out of the eastern horizon, but it will be later in the night.

The Moon rocks and meteorite samples have been returned to NASA, with a note that we will be able to borrow them once more in the future. If you were not able to view them this time, we will request them again next year.

The Curiosity craft is doing great things on our neighboring planet Mars. It has discovered that more water was present on the planet than previously believed. Also, this week, it will pick up its first sample of martian dirt; however, to assure that the material being studied is actually from Mars and not some leftover Earth stuff, the sample will be cleaned several times before the new dirt will be allowed into the body of the craft.

Frosty Drew is privileged to be located in Charlestown, which has the darkest skies in Rhode Island.

-Francine Jackson

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Tonight, the forecast is calling for clear skies until 1:00 a.m. after which partly cloudy skies with fog will be moving in. The 66% waning gibbous Moon will rise tonight at 9:44 p.m. giving us dark evening skies for what could be some great observation. We will open the observatory and telescope tonight at 7:00 and will begin our observation session with some binary stars and star clusters. Later in the evening we will point our telescope towards the planet Uranus. Once 10:00 p.m. passes we will take a look towards Jupiter and the Moon.

This Sunday night (October 7) the Draconid meteor shower will peak. The constellation Draco the Dragon, where this meteor shower will appear to originate, is high in the northern sky at dusk and will offer great meteor views during the evening hours up till early morning. The bright 47% waning crescent Moon will rise at 11:29 p.m. and will brighten up the sky a bit resulting in more difficult meteor observation. The Draconids are usually a sleeper, producing only a handful of meteors per hour. Though this shower has a history of sporadically producing hundreds of meteors per hour. Be sure to grab a reclining lawn chair or blanket, a pot of hot apple cider and sit out under the skies on Sunday night. Perhaps you will catch a glimpse at some beautiful shooting stars.

Rumors have begun to fly around about the possibility of a very bright comet becoming visible October - January next year. Comet C/2012 S1 also known as Comet ISON should become visible in binoculars and small telescopes during August 2013 and become naked eye visible late October - early November 2013. If Comet ISON stays intact during its close approach to the Sun (on November 28, 2013) and is made up of highly reflective elements it could become quite bright, possibly close the brightness of the full Moon. Predicting a comets brightness is very difficult, especially a comet like ISON which will pass so close to the Sun (a distance of 1,100,000 miles). Let's hope for a bright comet during the 2013 holiday season!

-Scott MacNeill