SUDDEN CHANGE: BUSINESS MEETING POSTPONED; STAR PARTY MOVED
With apologies for the omissions suggesting something were brewing, and for the sudden notice now, the business meeting originally set for tomorrow night (Saturday, April 30, 2016) is postponed, and the star party is moved to DRA. Sorry; it turns out that Colin will unable to attend, and he was central to both events.
We’ll start the star party at 8:30pm, which may be a bit early for complete darkness, but leaves enough daylight for setting up easily. Besides, Jupiter will be high in the sky by that hour, so there will be something bright to see early. Mars and Saturn ought to be visible on the hillside by 10:30pm, maybe a little later, so it should be a good night for planets. Mars has been shockingly bright when I’ve seen it from my windows late at night at home. It is a full two magnitudes brighter than it was last year!
Star Party — Saturday, April 30, 2016, 8:30pm
Damariscotta River Association Community Land Trust
110 Belvedere Road, Damariscotta, ME 04543
http://damariscottariver.org/
There may be two other opportunities for viewing earlier in the day, as explained below.
MERCURY AS A CRESCENT?
Mercury should be visible by sometime shortly after 7:00pm. It is currently a thin crescent (7% on Saturday night!), if one tantalizingly difficult to view. I have been trying to see its rapidly shrinking phase from home for some weeks now. Mercury itself is easily found, but through the turbulence of the thick atmosphere low to the horizon, it has always appeared only as a boiling disk. Bridgit and I are currently uncertain how early we may arrive at DRA, but if time allows, I shall be making yet another attempt at seeing even just hints of the crescent. Perhaps now that it is such a sliver, luck will be with me! Anyone else who wants to try this, look just above and to the left of the Sun. Mercury is the bright object seen as twilight progresses. Just be warned: Mercury is frightfully near to the Sun. Accidentally catching the Sun in the eyepiece is dangerous. As a card carrying, careful coward, I recommend waiting to see Mercury until after the Sun sets, which regrettably places it lower on the horizon, in thicker, more obscuring atmosphere. Trained observers have other ways of viewing Mercury safely earlier, when it is higher in the sky, but I will not begin to explain nor advocate for them in something as short as a newsletter.
SOLAR VIEWING?
There may be solar viewing in the afternoon, or perhaps early evening. If that occurs, another email will be sent. Anyone wanting to attend that, please let me know. The sooner we know for certain that someone with solar gear would be at DRA in the hours before the evening’s star party, the sooner we could confirm.
After a lifetime of hearing warnings about the dangers of catching the Sun in one’s eyepiece, many are scared of solar observing. The difference is that, for solar viewing, the telescope is filtered nearly to the point of opacity. The Sun is so bright that it is safe and comfortable to the eye only when all of the ultraviolet and 99.9999% of the while light are blocked. Several CMASians have the right filters. Last I checked, the Mother of All Sunspots was crossing the face of the Sun, a vast magnetic storm larger than the entire Earth! Join us if you hear we’ll be there!
