Astronomy Workshop
PSWIRL Week,
deBenneville Pines, Angeles Oaks, California
August
1211-176,
2012
Date
Time
Monday, 8/138
8:00-10:30 p.m.1 Viewing Through Telescope2 **
Parking Lot
Tuesday, 8/149
8:30-10:30 p.m.1 Advanced Telescope Viewing3 **
Parking Lot
Wednesday, 8/1510 3:30-5:15
p.m.1
Astronomy Questions Answered4 Craig's Cabin
Thursday, 8/167
1:30-5:15 p.m.1
Big Bear Solar Observatory
Trip5
Parking Lot
|
1Please wear warm
clothing and shine flashlights down. |
Angelus Oaks (34.1460°N, 116.9820°W) |
2Perseid
Meteor Shower, Double stars, Milky Way
galaxy, Earth satellites, Saturn
and Mars setting at sunset
3Perseids,
Viewing unusual nebula,
globular and open star clusters and galaxies (Messier
objects)
4Black holes, planetary
probes, asteroid-Earth collisions, how telescope works,
how
solar system moves, origin of universe,
life on Mars, why few planets visible, etc.
Anything you always wanted to know about
astronomy but were afraid to ask!
Request astronomy information and sample
question handouts from Peter.
5Carpool to
Request a map from Peter. Also, see BBSO web
reference below.
6 Mars
passes 2.9 degrees from
Saturn, Comet
C/2011 P2 (PANSTARRS) Closest
Approach to Earth (5.800 AU)
7 Mercury at its Greatest Western Elongation (19 degrees), Asteroid 3533 Toyota Closest Approach to Earth (1.293 AU)
8 Moon
Occults Venus, 370th Anniversary (1642), Christiaan
Huygens' Discovery of Mars' South Polar Cap
9 Asteroid
293 Brasilia Closest Approach to Earth (2.204 AU)
10 Venus at its Greatest Western Elongation (46 degrees),
11 Perseid Meteor Shower Peak, Cassini, Distant Flyby of Telesto, Asteroid 37655 Illapa Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)
--->Available satellite sightings to be added just prior to PSWIRL week
**Beware of Celestron
C8
telescope electrical cord on ground and telescope tripod
legs.
Other
Astronomical Events in 2012 (click on
hyperlinks for more information)
January 4 Earth At Perihelion (0.983 AU From Sun) (Earth nearest to Sun)
March 19 Vernal
Equinox (days
and nights equal time)
May 20 Partial Solar Eclipse, Starts in Tokyo, Redding, CA to Albuquerque, NM
June 4 Partial Lunar Eclipse
June
5 Transit
of Venus visible
from LA 3:06-6:26 pm (next one in 2117!)
June 20 Summer Solstice (longest day in northern hemisphere)
July 4 Earth At Aphelion (1.017 AU From Sun) (furthest from Sun)
August 1 Full Moon
August 9 Last Quarter Moon
August 12 Perseid Meteor Shower Peak
August 17 New Moon
August
24 Neptune
at Opposition
(closest approach to Earth)
September 22 Autumnal
Equinox, (days and nights equal time)
September 28 Uranus At Opposition (closest approach to Earth)
November 13 Total Solar Eclipse Visible Australia to South Pacific
November 28 Penumbrial Lunar Eclipse
December 2 Jupiter At Opposition (closest approach to Earth)
December 21 Winter
Solstice (longest night in northern hemisphere)
Interesting
Links
http://www.bbso.njit.edu/
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/ Space calendar of astronomical events
http://www.heavens-above.com/
Satellite visibility from
http://nasascience.nasa.gov/ NASA space science news
http://www.astronomy.com/ Latest issue of Astronomy Magazine
http://www.skypub.com/ Sky and Telescope Magazine
http://pswirl.org/ PSWIRL 2012 information
http://debenneville.org/ or http://uucamp.org/ Camp De Benneville Pines information
http://www.lafn.org/~bf684/index.htm#Astro Landecker’s Home Page astronomy
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html Earth Moon phases
Night Sky at deBenneville, August 13, 2011 at 8 p.m. PDT from http://www.heavens-above.com/
| Planet | Distance (in AU) from | Speed (km/s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Earth | ||
| Mercury | 0.34 | 0.83 | 53.65 |
| Venus | 0.73 | 0.69 | 34.88 |
| Earth | 1.01 | 0.00 | 29.40 |
| Mars | 1.53 | 1.70 | 24.09 |
| Jupiter | 5.02 | 5.29 | 13.52 |
| Saturn | 9.75 | 10.17 | 9.43 |
| Uranus | 20.06 | 19.36 | 6.50 |
| Neptune | 29.99 | 29.00 | 5.45 |
| Pluto | 32.28 | 31.55 | 5.70 |
Locations of planets in our Solar System, from http://www.heavens-above.com/
Above data applies to August 13, 2012