Greetings, fellow astrophiles! The November & December 2011 edition of the Astronomical Chronicle has been posted at: astronomical_chronicle_nov_dec_2011.pdf Our 2011 Observing Year has come and gone, closing a year that saw the untimely passing of a brightest star in our organization but also increasing Darling Hill Observatory activity over 2010, increased membership, library and state park lecturing, school observing sessions, the return of the SAS Summer Seminar, and a plethora of observables. We thank all those who attended activities this year and look forward to an even “darker” 2012!
Observing Announcements
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Greetings fellow astrophile! I am thankful today that there’s predicted to be enough dark sky to warrant observing for what is the last official Public Viewing session for 2011. Darling Hill will open by 6 p.m. for as much final observing as we can, although we do plan on trying to open on December 10th for the lunar eclipse. Jupiter remains the most brilliant object in the night sky, Uranus is visible in decent-sized scopes, and Mars makes its return to our Public Viewing sessions (if you’re at the observatory around 1:00 a.m., which may or may not happen given […]
Greetings fellow astrophiles! As many, many news sources have reported, asteroid 2005 YU55 is making its closest approach to us tonight at 23:28 Universal Time (6:28 p.m. EST), where it will be flying through Delphinus, grazing Equuleus, and settling into Pegasus for a several hour stay. Darling Hill Observatory will open tonight in an attempt to see this 1/4 mile long object as it approaches within 85% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. NOTE 1: This is will be a dim object, visible as a pinpoint of light at even high magnification. Large binoculars and +6″ scopes […]
Greetings fellow astrophiles, We’ll be opening the observatory tonight with the Moon past half-full, making for observing conditions that strongly favor the Moon (obviously), Jupiter, and brighter clusters. It will be quite cold (so dress for mid-winter temperatures) and is predicted to be quite clear. According to heavens-above.com, we’ll be having TWO passes of the International Space Station tonight, although we’ll only likely be able to see one of them. The better-seen of the two, starting at 7:43 p.m., will be low in the horizon from West to South, just below or between the radars of Corona Borealis, Hercules, Ophiuchus, […]