Where:

Frosty Drew Observatory

When:

Friday August 2, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.

Cost:

Free! Donations Appreciated.

Skies are looking variable for this evening, so the Observatory will be open tonight. Check in with the Frosty Drew Observatory Twitter for status updates before heading out. Featured will be the beautiful ringed planet Saturn, and because the Moon is on its way to its New phase next week, the telescope will be able to venture to some of this season's deep-sky objects. Sorry to say, though, that the International Space Station won't be making an appearance, and there are no iridium flares, but, with no Moon, there's also a chance we might be able to make out a meteor or two. Meteors, also called shooting or falling stars, are tiny bit of space material that is passing through our atmosphere and breaking up as they are doing so. We see a bright flash of light that normally only lasts a second or two, although some meteors can last longer.

Also, we have a meteor shower coming up very soon. The Perseids, probably the most famous of all the yearly showers, is ready to peak next weekend. And, because the Moon will be in its waxing crescent phase, it won't hinder our observations of these normally higher number of shooting stars per hour. Skies willing, we should be spending more time at Frosty Drew to try to catch as many as we can.

Remember to put on your schedule next week's planetarium program. At 6:00 and 7:00 P.M. next Friday, August 9th, the URI planetarium will present "Seven Wonders," a look into the past at some of our most historic monuments. Admission, to benefit both the planetarium and Frosty Drew Memorial funds, is only $5.00, and includes a quick tour of the Skies of Frosty Drew, plus, as an extra added bonus, will have a short feature on Light Trespass, an award-winning presentation produced by many organizations committed to keeping the skies as dark as possible.

Also, we have been asked when the next showing of The City Dark will take place. It will be Friday, August 16th, at 7:00 P.M. This award-winning look into the skies around the world, and some of the consequences of over-lighting, is a great way to understanding the many ways that artificial lighting affects people, animals, research, and our pocketbooks. This program is free, and will be shown in the John Drew Sky Theatre, right across from the Observatory and next to the Nature Center.

Our thanks go to all who made our Sea Star Marketplace a success for the third straight year. The artisans were incredible, and we owe special thanks for all who participated in the enjoyment of the day. We hope to see you all this time next year.

Frosty Drew Observatory is proud to be located in Charlestown, which, because of its desire to keep their town rural, enacted a lighting ordinance. We are grateful to all who do their part to keep the skies as dark as can be.

-Francine Jackson

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Tonight's forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of a thunderstorm before midnight with fog setting in over night. The slim 10% waning crescent moon will not rise until 3:00 a.m. offering us dark skies. Aside from tonight's variable forecast I would say we were good for great dark sky observation but the annual Seafood Festival will be in the park tonight letting off some artificial light to make up for the loss of moon light. We will open this afternoon at 6:00 with views of the sun's photosphere showcasing any visible sunspots. Then at 8:30 we will open the observatory telescopes with views of Venus, Saturn, and a host of nebulae and star clusters. Then around 10:00 we will attempt our first view of Neptune for this year. Lets hope that conditions allow for a good night of celestial observations.

Heads up on one of the most known meteor showers of the year! Next weekend will bring the start of the Perseid meteor shower peak. The Perseid meteor shower will bring with it a blast of 50-100 meteors per hour during it's peak period which starts on the night of August 10 and will continue until dawn on August 12. Though I have regularly witnessed a large increase in meteors for up-to a week after the Perseid peak. Perseid meteors originate from the remnant debris trail left by the rather large comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseid shower, which actually begins on July 17 and continues till August 24, is also known to produce the ever elusive and coveted fireball meteors which are super bright, long lasting, and at times explode as they pass. This year we will have no Moon overhead during the best viewing hours making this a fantastic year for observation with a reasonable expectation of up-to 60 meteors per hour.

This month we have a couple of conjunctions happening in the sky. A conjunction is when multiple planets and / or the Moon come within a close visual proximity of each other. We see conjunctions rather regularly with a period of increased activity. This next couple weeks we can expect two evening conjunctions. Friday, August 9 just after sunset, Venus and the Moon will be within 5° of each other in the western sky. Then again on Monday, August 12, the Moon will be just below Saturn in the south western sky. If anybody snaps a shot of these conjunctions, be sure to post on the Frosty Drew Observatory Facebook page.

Somebody in town upgraded the event lights in Ninigret Park to full cutoff, dark sky compliant fixtures. Whoever was responsible for this move – You are AWESOME!! Thank You!!

-Scott MacNeill