Yeah, we've had some pretty red sunsets, but the other night I watched the moon rise and it came up so red and huge I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first.

Well, the small amount of space geek in me completely flipped out this morning. NASA has released several pictures from Mars and they're sooo cool. Hopefully this link will work. Me and Yahoo don't always get along.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/the-surfac ... nails-view

Those are such cool photos, fantasia. Wow! Mars seems to me such a mysterious planet. (As I guess they all are ... even ours in many ways. )

I just realized I hadn't posted about our Venus transit experience. We ended up not going a few towns over to view it with others, but had such fun at home showing various neighbours the progress through the solar glasses. What a thrilling sight! The clouds that were forecast never developed and Nellie and I even ended up chasing the setting sun into the West, although we were always just a bit behind and never 'caught' it again before it fell below the distant horizon.

It was great hearing about your respective viewings of the transit.

Soooo...who's up for the next one? It's only 105 years, 6 months away.

I am! Although it will be from the Other Side and right with y'all and the Creator, Himself! Probably an even better view.

Mother-Music, those sketches are really special. As 'gazer said, in this age of modern technology for drawings, even, there is nothing like the good ol'-fashioned pencil and paper. Good job! Let us know how this progresses.

stargazer, that video of the transit of Venus was spectacular. *goosebumps!!!*

Well, we saw sunspots yesterday. It took a good half minute for our eyes to adjust to looking clearly at the sun, even through the glasses, but sure enough, this grey-black spot did not fade. So cool!

We've had some good Iridium flares recently (when the air hasn't been too humid with haze ), but ISS passes have dropped to none for our area until next week.

A friend (you know who you are) gave me a book awhile back, The Heavens: Intimate Moments with your Majestic God. It's a devotional-type book, and with every page, I am amazed more and more of the greatness and creativity of our Creator-God. Truly, the heavens declare His glory!

Thanks for posting that link, fantasia! I remember watching the first pics from the old Mariners, when we were surprised to find out Mars was cratered and didn't have all those canals Lowell drew. We've sure come a long way!

Recent days (and nights) have been so 'soupy' (between the high humidity and the smoke Puddleglum mentioned) that I've not been outside much. And the dearth of ISS passes and Iridium flares hasn't helped. The ISS won't return to convenient viewing hours (for us night owls, anyway) until next month. Shy, I guess.

Planetary highlights this week include bright Jupiter and Venus, fairly close together in the east before dawn, and dim Mars slowly closing in on Saturn low in the south these summer evenings (for the Northern Hemisphere).

Great that you saw those sunspots, jo! Spaceweather does show a big grouping on the sun now. I think I'll try to see them a little later today.

A friend (you know who you are) gave me a book awhile back, The Heavens: Intimate Moments with your Majestic God. It's a devotional-type book, and with every page, I am amazed more and more of the greatness and creativity of our Creator-God. Truly, the heavens declare His glory!

Ditto! Thanks to the friend who recently gave me this book as well. I've quite enjoyed reading it, and the pictures are beautiful!

We've succeeded in seeing that large sunspot group with unaided (but protected eyes). Pretty impressive!

Northern (and Southern) Lights have been reported in many areas this weekend, thanks to a large CME from that sunspot. They were seen as far south as Kansas, so if your sky is clear (and reasonably transparent), check it out! (Photos are available in the Aurora Gallery on spaceweather.com).

Once it gets dark here I'll give it a shot...even if the sky is rather hazy from the summer humidity.

Recent days (and nights) have been so 'soupy' (between the high humidity and the smoke Puddleglum mentioned) that I've not been outside much. And the dearth of ISS passes and Iridium flares hasn't helped.

Ditto here! The vast number of thick, humid nights makes it virtually impossible to enjoy any good stargazing. Plus the ISS and flare dearths, as you mentioned, don't help. Actually, there are some very decent flares in the next week or so, but they're past my bedtime. I look forward to Autumn when the evenings get darker earlier and the nights are much clearer with the improved air quality.

We were tempted to drive a bit north to see if we could catch a glimpse of the northern lights during that peak time, but never actually managed to fit it in. That would have been awesome seeing that glorious spectacle, though!

I see that book is gradually making its way 'round some of NarniaWeb.

Excellent about seeing the sunspot group, stargazer! Quite thrilling, it is! We just picked up a few more pair of solar glasses yesterday. It's nice having them on hand to share with others, many of whom the idea of looking at the sky is something new! I feel like telling people as I pass them by on the sidewalk to look UP more!

Random obscure fact of the day, gleaned from the latest issue of Astronomy magazine:

Brian May, guitarist/vocalist for the rock band Queen, holds a PhD in astrophysics.

It looks like the sun has quieted down for the moment, so no Northern Lights for a while. But with solar maximum coming, keep looking up (as jo mentioned).

(Ironically, I remember finding out, some time back, that it isn't 'normal' to always look up and check the sky - day or night - upon going outside).

Tomorrow morning I'll venture out for an excellent (magnitude -3.3) ISS pass, the first I'll have seen since the Ohio Moot back in June.

Keep an eye on the southwest sky at dusk the next few weeks, as Mars approaches, and then passes between, Saturn and Spica (currently to its left). (More here)

Tomorrow morning I'll venture out for an excellent (magnitude -3.3) ISS pass, the first I'll have seen since the Ohio Moot back in June.

There's an awesome pass here next week! It's a -3.3 too, and it'll traverse the entire sky! Can't wait to see it on August 8th.

Tomorrow morning I'll venture out for an excellent (magnitude -3.3) ISS pass, the first I'll have seen since the Ohio Moot back in June.

There's an awesome pass here next week! It's a -3.3 too, and it'll traverse the entire sky! Can't wait to see it on August 8th.

When will it pass on the West Coast? I'd love to see it.

~Riella

There are several ways to get satellite predictions for your hometown; the one I use most is www.heavens-above.com

Near the top of the homepage, under Configuration, there's a link for selecting your observing site from the database. Use this link, enter your country and town name, and then select the right town from those offered.

This will return you to the homepage, which you can bookmark for convenience. The ISS, Iridium flare, and other predictions will all be personalized for your use.

A cold front brought lots of rain last night, and now we have much less humid air around. Stargazing tonight and tomorrow night should be a pleasure...even if we are just past full moon.

Haven't been able to do much stargazing lately, but I did attend a bit of the Austin Under the Stars (AUTS) event last Saturday. This event is either an annual or a semi-annual event--I'm not sure because there are TWO on their calendar, but one back in March was cancelled. It is one of the Austin Astronomy Club's outreach events.

Basically a lot of the members bring their scopes, the Austin Planetarium brings their "mobile dome", and some speakers are arranged. They meet at a private school on the edge of Austin on the playing field, and even set up a "scavenger hunt" for the kids, where the kids have to go from telescope to telescope to find all the things on their card, then they get a prize.

The reason I decided to go was: a) it didn't look difficult to get to (like the monthly meetings, which are in central Austin, a very scary place to drive); b) they announced that one of the speakers would be an expert sketcher and c) it was FREE, and I might get to talk to some of the telescope owners about eye pieces.

Here's the link: http://www.austinastro.org/AUTS

I was able to accomplish all my goals! It was quite warm, but not miserable when we arrived. My daughter and I were nearly the first guests to arrive, so the sun was still above the trees and we were able to look through one telescope that was set up to view the sun. There was a view with a green filter (?) and a red filter, which I was able to confirm was an H-alpha filter. There were spots to be seen, so I was excited about that.

The seminar on sketching was led by Erika Rix, co-author of this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387262407/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d6_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=1GVJK4H0M8Y93A7M3J3B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846. She had a very nice Power Point presentation on sketching and several of her own and others' sketching to show. Mostly she presented moon sketching, which is way too advanced for me--I'd better just stick with dots and smudges!--but she was available for questions afterward, and I also was able to discuss eyepieces with her, since she was so friendly.

Once the sun went down and the moon came up, we decided to leave. The moon was too bright for even the huge 16 and 20" telescopes to pick up many DSO's, the light dome from Austin is a big deterrent (since I have much better skies back home) and we had church the next morning.

I see that the ISS iridium flare for me this week will be -3.4! While I've seen several satellite passes, I've maybe seen one flare, and I didn't know what it was. I am going to try to catch this one, though it will pass over after the sun has risen. Can anyone give any tips as to the best way to find/watch it? I have the following information on it:
09 Aug -3.4 0736 10° NW 0749 69° SW 0702 10° SSE

Will it only flash once during that time? Will I be able to see it without any optical assistance?

Thanks.

mm

Sounds like a great time, M-M! I love observing alone or with small groups of friends, yet there's something special about gathering a bunch of like-minded people together as well.

To answer your satellite questions, while heavens-above does offer daytime ISS and Iridium flare predictions, it defaults to observable predictions - ones between sunset and sunrise. It also defaults to a position at 0 degrees latitude and longitude until you select your location. I suspect that ISS prediction you have is for that location.

Using Austin as a hypothetical location (since you mentioned it), the next good ISS pass is Sunday evening:

05 Aug -3.5 2102 10° SW 2115 73° SE 2159 25° NE

(Note that clicking the date links to you a page with a star chart showing the path of the satellite).

The ISS is a lot like other satellites you've probably seen in your stargazing sessions - only much more spectacular. Good passes, like this one, mean a white-golden object moving majestically across the sky, brighter than Jupiter but dimmer than Venus. While its brightness will vary during each pass - and between different passes (usually being brightest when it's highest in the sky) - if you have good horizons you have plenty of time (almost 5 minutes in this case) to watch. Once you've seen the ISS you'll be able to pick it out again in the future; it's like no other satellite.

I've found these predictions to be very reliable over the years. In this example, look to the SW (between Scorpius and Saturn) for the station, and watch it climb until it's quite high and bright in the SE. It'll then gradually fade as it moves into the NE (the Summer Triangle) until it enters the earth's shadow "below" Deneb.

Iridium flares are different: they're a short, very bright flash that last just seconds, so precise timing is very helpful (your cellphone works wonders here, as it always 'knows' the exact time). Unlike ISS passes, which can be enjoyed by people far apart, Iridium flares are very sensitive to location changes of only a few miles.

As it happens Austin has a dearth of Iridium flares right now (they're cylical, as are ISS viewing opportunities); the next one is:

14 Aug 2012 -2 40° 347° (NNW) Iridium 14

With practice and a reasonably dark sky, you may be able to spot the satellite as a dim object before and after it flares. If you're familiar with the alt-azimuth system, you'll be able to find the place to look (40-347 in this case). Again, the flares are often bright enough so that looking in the right general area is sufficient.

Ah. That's funny...I could have sworn I was logged in when I viewed those predictions. Now that I've made sure I'm logged in, the chart looks much different.

Silly me...I assumed that Iridium flares were what was being predicted, since there was an apparent magnitude associated with it. I still have much to learn.

Now I see that I was only looking at satellite passes and that there is another link for flares.

Thank you

mm

Tomorrow morning I'll venture out for an excellent (magnitude -3.3) ISS pass, the first I'll have seen since the Ohio Moot back in June.

There's an awesome pass here next week! It's a -3.3 too, and it'll traverse the entire sky! Can't wait to see it on August 8th.

-3.3, very nice, stargazer. Hoping Wednesday night is clear for you, DiGs. I love when the ISS goes right overhead, as it cuts through constellations and travels past various night-sky objects. We have a -3.5 pass tomorrow morning at 4:23, and I am tempted to set my alarm, especially since the humidity has broken for now and the overnight hours look clear. There is -7 flare on Wednesday morning (just after 4 a.m.), but I may pass on that one. 'Tis hard to though.

Mother-Music, that's really cool about Austin Astronomy Club's event! I hope you can see both the ISS and an Iridium flare sometime soon. stargazer explained everything so well. There is something thrilling about both. I use heavens-above and, as 'gazer mentioned, the predictions are very reliable. In fact, the few times I have thought them to be wrong, it was actually me who made the mistake (wrong time, date or whatever ).

The Perseid Meteor Shower is coming up (it peaks in the pre-dawn hours of August 12th), released by the Comet Swift-Tuttle. If the sky is clear, I will be getting up to observe this, for sure!

It was nice seeing the ISS the other morning; its pass was pretty spectacular. Even better, there's a -3.5 coming up this evening - finally, a return to good night passes that are more convenient for the night owls among us!

Hopefully the skies will be clear - and not full of summer humidity or haze - for that Perseid maximum. If so I may be rising far earlier than usual next week.

Lastly, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this picture of the Curiosity rover and its parachute about a minute before landing on the Red Planet yesterday. Good timing!

Sadly, I think we'll be having a mostly cloudy sky on the night of the 11th/12th. Still, that could change, and if there is any chance of even a brief glimpse of the meteors, I'm arisin' too.

That is a very cool shot of Curiosity!

Last night around 21:45 EDT I had a memorable treat: a NarniaWebber and I, about 538 kilometres apart, were watching the same ISS pass, an especially bright one, at -3.5 magnitude. 'Twas a beautiful sight as it passed high overhead at 85° alt, eventually traversing just above the Summer Triangle (Vega, Altair, and Deneb). Other times I and another NarniaWebber even further away (approx 1,274 kms apart—driving distance, not as the crow flies—and a time zone apart) have watched the same pass. There is something so special about this! And isn't there a line in a song about that? "And even though I know how very far apart we are/It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star"