Sidewalk Astronomy this weekend

[Morris Jones]

These past couple of days the Santa Ana winds have brought us clear and 
very dry skies, along with very temperatures from the downslope wind.

The good transparency has made for fabulous views just after sunset of 
the thin crescent moon.  If you looked on Wednesday, then Thursday, you 
saw the moon creep closer to bright Venus in the western sky.

It's been a few months since we were able to set up telescopes on 
Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, our usual Friday night spot, but everything 
is good for tonight.

We're going to try to set up at about 6:00; our two targets, the moon 
and Venus, will be quickly sinking toward the western horizon.  By 8:00 
p.m. we're not likely to have a very good view, so it will be a short 
night for us.

We'll be set up on the north side of Colorado Blvd. near Delacey, 
somewhere in the two-block stretch between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we'll have our regular Monrovia star party, again 
featuring Venus and a slightly larger moon, starting at about 6:00 again.

If you can't join us, by all means look up to the west after sunset and 
enjoy the great views of Venus and the crescent moon.

And one more time -- the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers were very pleased 
to be the subject of JPL's International Year of Astronomy video, 
featured right here:  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=804

Clear skies!

Mojo
-- 
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mojo_la