When you want to see the stars, find someplace dark
Sky events
New Moon will occur today at 11:04HST.
Saturday Feb. 2nd was the best star party weekend this month, while the weekend of the 9th provides a five day old Moon. March 2nd and 9th both offer good observing weekends.
Continue reading “New Moon”With the Moon only a half a degree from Venus this morning, it should be relatively easy to spot the brilliant planet high in the daytime sky.
Spotting planets in the daytime is not that difficult, both Jupiter and Venus are bright enough to seen in full daylight. Venus is currently near maximum brilliance at about -4.3 magnitude, easily bright enough to see in a clear sky. There are a few helpful hints to make this easier.
Today the Moon will make finding Venus quite easy. The planet is only half a degree above the Moon, just above the slim crescent. Keep in mind that the Moon is half a degree across, the planet will be half a Moon diameter above the unlit side, easy to spot in the mid-morning sky. Having the Moon nearby will not only aid in locating the Planet, it will also provide your eyes something to focus on.
Tomorrow morning will feature a very close pairing of a 15% crescent Moon and a brilliant Venus just
½° apart. The pair will be situated between Jupiter above and Saturn rising below.
The Moon is close to ½° across, thus the planet will lie quite close to the tip of a beautiful, slim crescent. Shining at a brilliant -4.2 magnitude the planet is also a match for the bright Moon.
A beautiful lineup of Moon and planets should make it worth the effort to rise early and enjoy the pre-dawn spectacle.
Today Mercury is passing through superior conjunction, passing around the far side of the Sun as seen from our earthbound vantage point. This fast moving planet will reappear in the sunset in about a week, rising towards maximum elongation on February 26th.
This will be a modest apparition, with the planet only 18° from the Sun at maximum. The next evening apparition in June is much better, reaching over 25° from the Sun.
| Mercury Events for 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Apparition | Date | Elongation | Magnitude |
| Evening | Feb 27 | 18.1°E | -0.2 |
| Morning | Apr 11 | 27.7°W | +0.6 |
| Evening | Jun 23 | 25.2°E | +0.7 |
| Morning | Aug 9 | 19.0°W | +0.3 |
| Evening | Oct 20 | 24.6°E | +0.1 |
| Morning | Nov 28 | 20.1°W | -0.3 |
| Data from the Mercury Chaser’s Calculator by John Walker | |||
I had a plan for this eclipse.
I needed a quiet day to work on some code in the Keck 2 dome control PLC. One problem, every time I load code the dome lights go out. Guys working in the dome tend to object to the lights going out randomly.
Answer? Go up on a weekend when there as only a couple guys on duty and not a lot of work going on. I can have the whole telescope and dome to myself most of the day.
There is also a total lunar eclipse.
Continue reading “Shadow on Shadow”Full Moon will occur today at 19:16HST.
This evening look for the Moon rising in the east just as the Sun sets in the west. Across the Big Island this can often lead to moonbows as the low elevation moonlight interacts with fog and clouds.
This full moon will feature a total lunar eclipse. For the islands the eclipse will just be starting as the Moon rises with all of totality visible.
Continue reading “Full Moon”
This evening will feature a sunset total lunar eclipse visible across the islands. The eclipsed Moon will rise just as the Sun sets on the opposite horizon.
The eclipse will be just underway as the Moon rises on Hawaii island, with the Moon rising at almost exactly 18:00HST and the total phase of the eclipse starting 41 minutes later. Maximum will occur at 19:12HST with the Moon 14° above the horizon.
| January 20, 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Contact | UT | HST | |
| Penumbral Begins | P1 | 02:36:28 | 16:36:28 | |
| Partial Begins | U1 | 03:33:55 | 17:33:55 | |
| Total Begins | U2 | 04:41:18 | 18:41:18 | |
| Greatest Eclipse | Max | 05:12:18 | 19:12:18 | |
| Total Ends | U3 | 05:43:18 | 19:43:18 | |
| Partial Ends | U4 | 06:50:42 | 20:50:42 | |
| Penumbral Ends | P4 | 07:48:05 | 21:48:05 | |
| *Data from Fred Espenak’s eclipse website | ||||
An easy to view evening eclipse, no reason not to get out and view this one, no need for an alarm clock!
This evening will feature a 6 day old crescent Moon 5° from Mars. Look for a bright orange object a few degrees above and to the north of the Moon to spot the planet.
New Moon will occur today at 01:28HST.
A partial solar eclipse will occur across parts of the North Pacific and Japan during this new Moon.
Continue reading “New Moon”
Today Venus is passing through maximum elongation, the highest elevation it will attain in the dawn sky for this apparition.
The planet is currently 47° ahead of the rising Sun. After today the brilliant planet will slide back into the glow of dawn headed for superior conjunction on August 13th, and an evening apparition starting in mid-September.
