Canceled: Star Party At Night Owl Observatory

Today is the first day that we in Maine may see Comet Panstarrs 2011L4. The Sun sets at 5:38pm. The comet will be where the Sun was, skimming the horizon until it, too, sets at 6:33pm. You’ll need a good vantage point with a clear view, but with any luck, the comet will be visible…

Please be aware that, at this time of year, star parties can be canceled even when skies are clear. If deep snow melts for three days in 40-degree weather, the gravel roads and parking areas of Night Owl and Foss Hill Observatories may become impassable. Check your email, the Website, or Facebook for confirmation before…

Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight at DRA! The list at the Doodle Poll has grown. My weekend-away-on-business got postponed, so Bridgit and I will be there after all. If you have not responded to the poll, adding your name may attract other friends; or, since we know we’ll be meeting anyway, just show and…

The officers of CMAS confess uncertainty about whether there will be a star party this weekend, due to the remnants of a tropical storm about to creep up the East Coast to Maine. Nevertheless, in the grand CMAS tradition of blithely ignoring extended weather forecasts and canceling only at the last minute, if hopeless weather…

With the unseasonably warm weather and clear skies we’re enjoying this Saturday afternoon (November 2), one might expect tonight to be the perfect night for a star party, but the Clear Sky Chart and many other weather predictions admonish against that. By shortly after nightfall tonight, predictions are for heavy cloud cover with high humidity…

Whatever the weather, be sure to peek through the clouds tonight! Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction, at only 0.3º apart. “Sky and Telescope” describes this as “about the width of a chopstick at arm’s length.” There is no magic to a conjunction; it’s just a chance alignment, from our point of view, of objects…