Summer Stargazing Program: DEBRIEFING

Info on stuff we looked at on Friday night, 

July 8th, at the South Park Wave Pool...

MOON PHASES 
Here's that Moon-phases cheat-sheet (click this LINK)

MOON MAP
Here's a very cool and easy to use online Moon-map (LINK)
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(image: NASA/Hubble)

M-57 The RING NEBULA  in the constellation Lyra, the lyre
(that "FUZZY-DOUGHNUT" thingy...)   (LINK)
Yep, it's about 1 light-year across (6 trillion miles!) and the light from it, 
traveling 186,000 miles per second, finally reached your eye after it left it 2300 years ago. 
You just looked back in time and saw it, as it was, 2300 years ago...
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Earth/Saturn sizes compared (image: NASA/JPL)
SATURN: 

Checkout the huge storm that's been raging on Saturn !

See:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20110706.html

IRIDIUM FLARES:
Those amazing satellites that occasionally glint a blaze of sunlight our-way, reflecting
it off their huge solar panel arrays. This website (LINK) allows you to easily calculate
upcoming Iridium flares occurring in your line of sight.... (other cool stuff there too).

 

South Park STARGAZING Program: Friday July 8th

WHEN:    9-11 PM, Friday July 8th, 2011
 

WHERE:  South Park Wave Pool parking lot

Our annual stargazing program for the South Park Nature Program will find us there for the duration with several  big telescopes, demonstrating how to find the planets and how to use star-maps, constellation identification, learning the cycle of the Moon's phases and more.

Featuring:  SATURN with its rings, and, the FIRST QUARTER MOON (the "best" phase for viewing!)

((Of course, that's all hinging on IF THE SKY IS CLEAR... ))
Yep; we'll be there, even if only the Moon or only one star is visible...