" The destination used to be my main question, then I looked and all I was searching for was present. - Blackalicious "
Moon Phases
• New: July 14, 6:04 a.m.; Aug. 12, 5:03 p.m.
• First Quarter: July 22, 12:29 a.m.; Aug. 20, 5:54 p.m.
• Full: July 29, 6:48 p.m. (Buck Moon); July 7, 10:54 a.m.
• Last Quarter: Aug. 5, 3:20 p.m.
Moon Phases
• New: July 14, 6:04 a.m.; Aug. 12, 5:03 p.m.
• First Quarter: July 22, 12:29 a.m.; Aug. 20, 5:54 p.m.
• Full: July 29, 6:48 p.m. (Buck Moon); July 7, 10:54 a.m.
• Last Quarter: Aug. 5, 3:20 p.m.
Susan and I spent most of the spring camping in the shadow of one of the world's best known observatories, Palomar. We got to visit the famed facility on several occasions - and peer through one of its research telescopes. While Palomar is best known for the 200-inch Hale scope, it is also home to several other instruments taking part in a variety of major research projects, including the study of gamma-ray bursts and searches for Kuiper Belt objects, supernovae and quasars. The observatory is owned by the California Institute of Technology and is located on a mountaintop in a remote corner of San Diego County. While light pollution has definitely encroached into the area, the beautiful setting - among live oaks and incense cedars - still shields the scopes from the worst of the glow from the megalopolis to the west. Observing through one of the scopes is a rare experience. Since all the scopes are fitted with digital optics, feeding data directly to computers, real old-fashioned viewing requires disassembling those optics and retrofitting the scope with an eyepiece. The second largest scope on the mountain, a 60-incher, is the instrument of choice. On a handful of nights each year, members of the nonprofit Friends of the Palomar Observatory are invited to take a look. We joined Friends and accepted the invitation. The view was impressive. The Hercules globular cluster and Sombrero and Whirlpool galaxies seemed close enough to touch. It was one “wow” after another as one person after another took her turn at the eyepiece. We also got close-up views of Venus and Saturn. You don't need a 60-inch scope to appreciate our planetary neighbors, and for August's annual night sky spectacular, the Perseid meteor shower, you won't need a scope at all. Venus passed Saturn in the evening sky in early July, and both will soon be lost in twilight as they head toward the sun from our vantage point. Say “goodbye” to them in late July. Venus will return to the morning sky in late August, and Saturn in mid-September. Jupiter is the evening's spotlight planet, glowing at magnitude minus 2.5, as it drifts westward in Ophiuchus, not far from the 1st-magnitude star Antares in Scorpius. Jupiter ends its retrograde motion on Aug. 6. It's quite low in the southern sky but still worth a look, especially in a telescope to watch the ever-changing dance of its four Galilean moons. The morning sky brings us Mars and Mercury. The Red Planet moves from Aries into Taurus around the end of July and passes between the Pleiades and Hyades asterisms in mid-August. Capella is the bright star about 30 degrees to the northeast. Mars is still too far from Earth to provide any detail in a telescope, though it's quite a bit more evident than it has been for months. Keep an eye on it, however. By November, it'll attract more attention. Mercury will be near the horizon in the east-northeast before dawn from mid-July until early August. A telescope might reveal its illuminated side, resembling a tiny half moon. There'll be no moon up to interfere with this year's Perseid meteor shower, so make plans to be up and out in the wee hours of Aug. 13 when the shower is expected to peak. Find a dark-sky site, bundle up and watch the show. An average of a meteor a minute (or more) is typical. Serious observers will want to pull an all-nighter, beginning before midnight on the 12th and staying up until dawn's twilight on the 13th. While you're marking your calendar, make a note to watch the total lunar eclipse on the morning of Aug. 28.
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