********Beginning Astronomy Class******* O
bserving the Moon with Dave North Friday, March 18th, 2005 7:30 PM in the
hall at Houge Park
Having trouble finding the straight wall? The San Jose Astronomical
Association Observational Astronomy Class is here to help you! This informal
monthly series will teach basic astronomy, the constellations, the movement
of the sky, and the use of the telescope. It occurs every third quarter moon
Houge Park Star Party Night until November, except for this month when we
hopefully get to see the 1st quarter moon after the class! No Reservations
needed and you can join the class at any time. The class is a free public
service provided by the SJAA.
Tonight's (Friday, March 18) class starts at 7:30 PM in the hall at Houge
Park. Lunartic Dave North treats us every month with his article Mooning in
the Ephemeris newsletter and brings his lunar observing expertise to this
months class. The class finishes with a "Sky Tour" by SJAA President Mike
Koop, pointing out how to find the constellations and planets.
Weather permitting, after the class we will be pointing out the
constellations, in addition to viewing the moon, planets and other deep sky
wonders through telescopes.
This class will occur rain or shine.
********Houge park Star Party***********
On Friday March 18 the SJAA will host its public observing session on the
grounds at Houge Park.
Families are welcome to attend. Feel free to bring your scope and share
views with others. The evening star party will start about 7:00 PM and last
to 10:00PM.
As of this writing there is a chance of rain on Friday. If the club does
decide to cancel the evening we will post a message on our hotline 408
559-1221. Otherwise members will be there.
Weather for Houge Park:
http://www.sjaa.net/weather/sites.html#Houge-Park
Moon and Sun
The following information is provided for Los Gatos, Santa Clara County,
California (longitude W122.0, latitude N37.2):
Friday
18 March 2005 Pacific Standard Time
SUN
Begin civil twilight 5:48 a.m.
Sunrise 6:14 a.m.
Sun transit 12:16 p.m.
Sunset 6:18 p.m.
End civil twilight 6:44 p.m.
MOON
Moonrise 10:37 a.m. on preceding day
Moonset 2:21 a.m.
Moonrise 11:29 a.m.
Moon transit 7:20 p.m.
Moonset 3:09 a.m. on following day
Phase of the Moon on 18 March: waxing gibbous with 60% of the Moon's
visible disk illuminated.
First quarter Moon on 17 March 2005 at 11:19 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
You can follow this link for a map of tonight's sky
http://skymaps.com/skymaps/esmn0503.pdf.
Note this map gives the location of comet Machholz. The comet is now
dimming, but should visible with a telescope at mag 6+. The comet is now
located near Polaris. Soon it will be too dim to see from the city.
Comet Machholz @ 9PM Mar 18
Magnitude: 7.0
Distance: 0.9583 AU (143.4 million km)
Right Ascension: 9h 48m 3.5s
Declination: +82° 58' 58"
Constellation: Camelopardalis
Altitude: 44° 1'
Azimuth: 2° 51'
Object visibility for 21:00 on Fri 04 Mar 2005 (From the SAC Urban 110)
Object Type Con Alt Az Hrzn Rise Tran
Set Dir
------ ---- --- --- -- ---- ---- ----
--- ---
Object visibility for 21:00:00 on Fri 18 Mar 2005
Sunset: 18:17
Twilight: 19:45
Darkness: 03:09 - 04:45
Twilight: 04:45
Sunrise: 06:12
Object Type Con Alt Az Hrzn Rise Tran
Set Dir
------ ---- --- --- -- ---- ---- ----
--- ---
iota Cancri Star Cnc +81° 170° +66° 13:25 21:07
04:48 S
M 44 Open Cluster Cnc +72° 180° +57° 13:55 21:00
04:05 S
M 97 Planetary Nebula UMa +58° 43° +43° --:-- 23:34
--:-- NE
M 81 Galaxy UMa +57° 12° +41° --:-- 22:15
--:-- N
M 82 Galaxy UMa +56° 12° +41° --:-- 22:16
--:-- N
M 37 Open Cluster Aur +56° 275° +40° 10:10 18:13
02:12 W
M 35 Open Cluster Gem +55° 259° +40° 11:03 18:29
01:52 W
M 36 Open Cluster Aur +53° 279° +38° 09:46 17:57
02:04 W
M 38 Open Cluster Aur +52° 283° +37° 09:29 17:49
02:06 W
NGC 1907 Open Cluster Aur +52° 282° +36° 09:31 17:49
02:02 W
NGC 2251 Open Cluster Mon +50° 232° +34° 12:27 18:55
01:22 SW
NGC 2169 Open Cluster Ori +49° 245° +34° 11:39 18:29
01:14 SW
NGC 2324 Open Cluster Mon +48° 217° +32° 13:19 19:24
01:29 SW
NGC 2252 Open Cluster Mon +47° 229° +32° 12:37 18:55
01:13 SW
NGC 1528 Open Cluster Per +42° 309° +27° 05:31 16:36
03:37 NW
Mel 111 Open Cluster Com +41° 86° +26° 17:15 00:44
08:14 E
zeta Ursae Majoris Star UMa +40° 45° +25° --:-- 01:43
--:-- NE
M 51 Galaxy CVn +37° 55° +22° 16:02 01:49
11:36 NE
beta Monocerotis Star Mon +36° 222° +21° 13:09 18:49
00:29 SW
24 Comae Berenices Star Com +36° 93° +20° 17:54 00:54
07:55 E
NGC 2215 Open Cluster Mon +35° 223° +19° 13:02 18:41
00:21 SW
sigma Orionis Star Ori +32° 237° +17° 12:05 17:59
23:53 SW
eta Persei Star Per +32° 319° +16° --:-- 15:12
--:-- NW
of any of these objects may be obtained at http://www.ngcic.org/pubdb.htm
And http://www.seds.org/messier/
Saturn will be at about 68 degrees in the SW Sky at 9 PM
Rob Hawley
Received on Thu Mar 17 21:21:48 2005