[CMAS] January Star Parties

[Central Maine Astronomical Society]

Hello, CMAS!


A busy remainder of January and start of February lie ahead. Lots of
opportunities for observing… or perhaps for canceling a record number of
star parties due to clouds!



STAR PARTY AT BROWER OBSERVATORY
MOON OCCULTS MARS
Monday, January 13, 2025

The unusual weekday scheduling is correct. On this Monday night, the Moon
will occult Mars. This delightful and unusual event could be seen from
anywhere. If you must stay home on a weeknight, see it with your naked eyes
or with whatever optics are at hand. Ordinary binoculars used for birding
or sporting events would improve the view of Mars’s slipping behind the
Moon, even through closed windows from inside of one’s house. A backyard
telescope would be even better. For those who can get to Brower
Observatory, the plan is to use some of its many high-powered planetary
telescopes to see the occultation in greatly magnified detail. If
conditions are right, we could see features on the surface of Mars, while
watching Mars slip behind craggy mountains on the Moon!

Because both the disappearance of Mars behind the Moon and its reappearance
are so brief, at about thirty-five seconds each, it will not be possible to
share telescopes to see them. To help us set up enough telescopes, if you
wish to join us at Brower Observatory and request to use one of Brower’s
telescopes, please respond to:

       maineastro at gmail.com



TIMING OF OCCULTATION OF MARS

For Central Maine, the times are:

 9:29:52pm — Occultation begins (Mars touches the Moon before vanishing
behind it)
10:44:38pm — Mars reappears (the edge of Mars is first seen emerging)

For the hour-and-a-quarter in between these times, Mars will be behind the
Moon.

In the days of Internet time servers synchronizing quartz clocks on our
phones and computers, we tend to assume that those clocks are exactly
correct. In reality, they can be off by a minute or so, a quirk of the
economics of synchronizing so many phones and computers. Exact timings also
may be earlier or later depending upon how far one’s viewing location is
from wherever the timings shown were calculated. To avoid missing the
occultation, be sure to start watching for both of its parts a few minutes
early. If you are a CMASian snowbird spending the winter far from Maine,
your timings will be significantly different!



STAR PARTY AT GALAXY QUEST OBSERVATORY
Saturday, January 18, 2025, 5:30pm

The early sunsets of winter allow us to schedule star parties on nights
that will be fully dark until a bright moon rises after hours of observing.
With Orion high in the sky, this is an opportunity to see its pinks and
blues in the 18-inch Big Dob with your own eyes, colors that smaller
telescopes only show in photographs. We’ll have five hours until a
not-quite-full Moon rises at 9:41pm. For those who want to catch a bite to
eat before the star party, the former Lincolnville Center General Store is
under new ownership as Owen’s General Store. The menu is similar to what it
was before, with the excellent wood-fired pizza and a special every night.
It currently closes at 5:00pm on winter weekend nights, so plan on eating
before the star party, not after.

       https://owensgeneralstore.com



STAR PARTIES AT BROWER AND FOSS HILL OBSERVATORIES
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Saturday, February 1, 2025

Mark the dates since we know them. Which observatory on which night to be
decided. The new roll-off roof observatory at Foss Hill in Rome is
approaching its time for a grand opening, so as soon as it’s ready, we’ll
meet there!



DIRECTIONS

By now, you know the racket: Follow these links for correct directions, or
become lost in the ice mountains forever. Internet mapping services often
get street addresses wrong in rural Maine, but these links are to the
correct, specific locations on Google Maps. They will take you to the
entrances off the main roads for the access roads into the observatories.

Brower Observatory
<https://www.google.com/maps/place/6C5Q%2BMVV,+Whitefield,+ME+04353/@44.2083762,-69.5632785,577m>

Foss Hill Observatory
<https://www.google.com/maps/place/64+Foss+Rd,+Rome,+ME+04963/@44.5893413,-69.850528,468m/>

Galaxy Quest Observatory
<https://www.google.com/maps/place/8WRP%2BQP6,+Lincolnville,+ME+04849/@44.3416206,-69.0647822,162m>

If you do get lost, call CMAS’s hotline for help:

       (207) 619-2627
       (207) 619-CMAS



Clear skies!

Jon Silverman, President
Central Maine Astronomical Society

www.maineastro.com
MaineAstro at gmail.com
207/619-CMAS
207/619-2627

* Public star parties at observatories in Whitefield, Lincolnville, and
Damariscotta
* Presentations at schools, clubs, and civic organizations
* Technical and legislative aid in preserving dark skies
* Assistance to beginners
* Fellowship for experts

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/475695055925182/

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