From jane at whiteoaks.com Tue Jul 1 01:15:25 2008 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Tue Jul 1 01:15:25 2008 Subject: the summer solstice Message-ID: <4869E79D.3050609@whiteoaks.com> Hello intrepid stargazers! You might have noticed our weird weather lately . Well, I can"t really explain the weather, but I can talk about the sun a little bit. Here is my monthly NASA podcast. My idea is to share the sun with you. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/whatsup/whatsup20080630/ Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org From jane.h.jones at jpl.nasa.gov Wed Jul 9 18:12:50 2008 From: jane.h.jones at jpl.nasa.gov (Jane H Jones) Date: Wed Jul 9 18:13:06 2008 Subject: Planets this week, Sidewalk Astronomy this weekend Message-ID: Step outside when the sun sets this week for a nice pairing of red rocky Mars and gassy giant Saturn. Then turn yourself around and watch bright Jupiter rising low in the southeast. You won't need a telescope to see these three planets. You just need good horizons, clear skies, and the ambition to step outside. Here is a little feature I wrote for the JPL website explaining what's going on this week: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2198 . I hope you'll share it with your friends. Our Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers website also features these star charts, and July's monthly astro roundup. http://www.otastro.org/ And speaking of the Sidewalk Astronomers, weather permitting, we'll be out with telescopes this weekend. I say weather permitting because there is a slight chance of monsoon thundershowers this weekend here in southern California. You can follow the weather forecast yourself if you'd like to, but we'll update our webpage (top right box) with a weather cancellation if it is warranted. LA weather from NOAA: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=LOX&llon=-118.968747&rlon=-117.578747&tlat=34.802084&blat=33.414584&smap=1&mp=0&map.x=174&map.y=119 Weather permitting this weekend: Friday July 11 Colorado Blvd 7:30 - 10 p.m. but we may not be able to see Mars and Saturn or Jupiter - buildings and palm trees may be in the way. Beautiful view of the moon, however. Saturday July 12 Myrtle and Lime, Monrovia 8:00 p.m. - 10 p.m. same planetary disclaimer as above. . Over and out, Jane -- Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 818-393-6435 jane.h.jones@jpl.nasa.gov Cassini SOC http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm What's Up? http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/amateurastronomy/index.html From mojo at whiteoaks.com Fri Jul 11 14:50:16 2008 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Fri Jul 11 14:50:15 2008 Subject: Yucky astronomy weather tonight Message-ID: <4877D598.7020503@whiteoaks.com> The monsoon conditions this week bring us heat, humidity, clouds, and increasingly this weekend the threat of thunderstorms. While it's unlikely that we might actually get caught in a thunderstorm tonight on Colorado Blvd., these aren't conditions conducive to sidewalk astronomy. So tonight's outing is canceled. I'll revisit the forecast tomorrow for Monrovia, though at this time the conditions look about the same. Cheers, Mojo -- Morris Jones http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers http://www.otastro.org http://twitter.com/mojo_la From mojo at whiteoaks.com Sat Jul 12 15:07:53 2008 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Sat Jul 12 15:08:01 2008 Subject: We're going to try a little sidewalk astronomy tonight Message-ID: <48792B39.4090008@whiteoaks.com> We have a milky sky in Monrovia, but expect the moon to be visible at least most of the time. So we'll bring some telescopes out to Myrtle & Lime in Monrovia tonight, maybe with abbreviated hours, given the sky conditions. Our only telescope target will be the moon. Saturn is setting quickly in the evening twilight, and Jupiter rises just a little too late. There are a few isolated thunderstorm cells near San Bernardino and Riverside. If our site looks threatened when I check the radar at about 6:00, we'll call it off. So it's not a night to make a special trip to look through a telescope. Save that for next month, when we'll have Jupiter joining the moon. Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org From jane at whiteoaks.com Wed Jul 16 21:16:24 2008 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Wed Jul 16 21:16:32 2008 Subject: Nice view of Moon and Jupiter tonight Message-ID: <487EC798.7000007@whiteoaks.com> Step out tonight (I'm writing this at 9 p.m.) and have a look at the moon and Jupiter - both rising in the southeast! Look at their positions tomorrow night too! And since I have your attention :-) the Cassini Mission website has a great feature written by Todd Barber, our Cassini Lead Propulsion Engineer, who often operates one of out telescopes for sidewalk astronomy in Pasadena. Todd spent last week at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington DC, and he shares some of this thoughts about the event in a lovely "Insiders Cassini" piece. The recent pictures aren't too shabby either! http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm Jane Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org