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| - | ====== Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for JUNE 2015 ====== | + | ====== Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for NOVEMBER 2016 ====== |
| - | * June 2 -- Full Moon (the "Rose Moon" or "Strawberry Moon")\\ | + | * November 8 -- First Quarter |
| - | * June 6 -- OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 9:00 pm\\ | + | * November 14 -- Full Moon |
| - | * June 9 -- Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)\\ | + | * November 21 -- Last Quarter |
| - | * June 16 -- __**New Moon**__\\ | + | * November 17 -- General Meeting, Mater Dei Catholic School, 7 pm. Join us! |
| - | * June 20 -- possible OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, 9:00 pm - (check later)\\ | + | * November 19 -- **Open House** at Farpoint Observatory, 7:30 pm to ? Join us! |
| - | * June 24 -- First Quarter\\ | + | * November 29 -- New Moon |
| - | * June 25 -- NEKAAL GENERAL MEETING, Topeka Library, 7:00 pm | + | |
| - | * June 30 -- Venus and Jupiter within 1/3 degree! (see Extras, below) | + | |
| - | ===== PLANETS in June 2015 ===== | + | ===== PLANETS in November 2016 ===== |
| Evening Sky: | Evening Sky: | ||
| - | * **Venus** -- in west, very bright | + | * **Mercury** -- in southwest |
| - | * **Jupiter** -- southwest, very bright | + | * **Venus** -- in southwest |
| - | * **Saturn** -- southeast | + | * **Mars** -- in south |
| - | + | * **Saturn** -- in southwest | |
| - | Midnight: | + | |
| - | * **Saturn** -- in south | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Morning Sky: | + | |
| - | * **Mercury** -- in northeast | + | |
| * **Uranus** -- in east | * **Uranus** -- in east | ||
| * **Neptune** -- in southeast | * **Neptune** -- in southeast | ||
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| - | ===== CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during June 2015 ===== | ||
| - | North to South, at 9-11 pm: | ||
| - | * **Ursa Minor**, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper | ||
| - | * **Draco**, the Dragon | ||
| - | * **Ursa Major**, the Big Bear, also the Big Dipper | ||
| - | * **Canes Venatici**, the Hunting Dogs | ||
| - | * **Bootes**, the Hunter | ||
| - | * **Coma Berenices**, the Hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt | ||
| - | * **Virgo**, the Virgin | ||
| - | * **Corvus**, the Crow | ||
| - | |||
| - | ===== SKY EXTRAS in June 2015 ===== | ||
| - | * June 30, Jupiter and Venus pass within 1/3 degree of each other in the western evening sky. Such close conjunctions of very bright planets are quite beautiful, so don't miss this one. | ||
| - | * It's Saturn season. The next few months give the best evening views of the ringed planet, so get a look through binoculars or better still, a telescope (hint: if the sky is clear at our Open House, someone will have his telescope pointed at Saturn--you're guaranteed to get a good look). | ||
| - | * Venus will show a nice phase--half-lit, half-dark--through any small telescope this month. Evening twilight in the first half of June will be a good time to see it. | ||
| - | * The Summer Triangle of stars is back, too. In June evenings, look high in the eastern sky. | ||
| - | * Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) has faded too much to be visible in binoculars. It's just passed Polaris and will be in Ursa Minor all month, still fading. Catch it now if you can. | ||
| - | * Sorry, no meteor showers to speak of this month. We'll do better in August. | ||
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| - | ====== Sky Highlights for MAY 2015 ====== | ||
| - | * May 3 -- Full Moon (the "Milk Moon")\\ | ||
| - | * May 9 -- OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, beginning 9:00 pm\\ | ||
| - | * May 11 -- Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)\\ | ||
| - | * May 17 -- __**New Moon**__\\ | ||
| - | * May 25 -- First Quarter\\ | ||
| - | |||
| - | ===== PLANETS in May 2015 ===== | ||
| - | Evening Sky: | ||
| - | * **Mercury** -- in northwest | ||
| - | * **Venus** -- in west, very bright | ||
| - | * **Jupiter** -- southwest, very bright | ||
| - | * **Saturn** -- southeast | ||
| Midnight: | Midnight: | ||
| - | * **Jupiter** -- in west, very bright | + | * **Uranus** -- in southwest |
| - | * **Saturn** -- in southeast | + | * **Neptune** -- in west |
| + | |||
| Morning Sky: | Morning Sky: | ||
| - | * **Saturn** -- in southwest | + | * **Jupiter** -- in southeast |
| - | * **Uranus** -- in east | + | |
| - | * **Neptune** -- in southeast | + | |
| - | ===== CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during May 2015 ===== | + | |
| - | North to South, at 9-11 pm: | + | ===== CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during November 2016 ===== |
| + | North to South, at 8-10 pm: | ||
| * **Ursa Minor**, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper | * **Ursa Minor**, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper | ||
| + | * **Cepheus**, the King of Ethiopia | ||
| + | * **Cassiopeia**, the wife of King Cepheus | ||
| * **Draco**, the Dragon | * **Draco**, the Dragon | ||
| - | * **Ursa Major**, the Big Bear, also the Big Dipper | + | * **Lacerta**, the Lizard |
| - | * **Canes Venatici**, the Hunting Dogs | + | * **Cygnus**, the Swan |
| - | * **Leo Minor**, the smaller Lion | + | * **Sagitta**, the Arrow |
| - | * **Leo**, the Lion | + | * **Pegasus**, the Winged Horse |
| - | * **Coma Berenices**, the Hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt | + | * **Delphinus**, the Dolphin |
| - | * **Virgo**, the Virgin | + | * **Aquarius**, the Water Bearer |
| - | * **Corvus**, the Crow | + | * **Capricornus**, the Sea-Goat |
| - | * **Hydra**, the Water Snake | + | |
| + | ===== SKY EXTRAS in November 2016 ===== | ||
| + | * Still LOTS of evening planets in November! Check out the planet list above. Uranus is easily visible in binoculars, even visible naked-eye with deep dark-vision adaptation, from very dark skies. Jupiter's back with us, but you'll have to see it in the morning now, low in the eastern twilight. | ||
| + | * Best evening comet should still be C/2016 A8 (LINEAR), fairly high in the southern sky and large but fading slowly, so you'll need a scope of at least 8" aperture, an eyepiece giving low magnification...and patience. | ||
| + | * The Leonids meteor shower peaks November 17, but a nearly full moon once again washes out the show. | ||
| + | * And speaking of bright moons--the November 14 full moon is only 2.5 hours after the closest perigee (approach to earth), so this will be the largest full moon of 2016. | ||
| - | ===== SKY EXTRAS in May 2015 ===== | ||
| - | * Several planets grace the evening sky again in May. MERCURY pops up in the west-southwest sky for its best view of the year--but only in early May, best around May 6. VENUS remains high and bright in the west, Jupiter is higher still, and SATURN is back in the late evening--look southeast. | ||
| - | * Planet fans: At about 10:50 pm Kansas time May 27, Jupiter's moons Ganymede rudely eclipses another moon Io, so that their glows merge--and their shadows on Jupiter will merge at the same time. | ||
| - | * The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks the morning of May 6, and while it's a pretty active shower, there will be a nearly full moon to deal with. | ||
| - | * Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is still visible in binoculars in the north in Cassiopeia, but will fade all month. You might catch newly discovered comet C/2015 F3 (SWAN), also far in the north in Cassiopeia, but you'll need a 6-8 inch scope May 1 and a 10 inch scope by May 31. | ||
| - | * Remember: it's late springtime by day, but May evenings can be chilly, especially on the clearest ones. Take a jacket, and have more clothes than you think you'll need. But the skies are great--go look! | ||
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