Community Observatory

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? We will not be open this weekend due to a construction miscue where the power to the observatory was cut off. A solution is planned, but the weather has slowed progress. It is our hope to be open on the two days after Thanksgiving but there are no guarantees. Be sure to check our schedule on communityobservtory.com mid-week next week for our progress. We will also post updates on Facebook. In the meantime, consider joining us at the Museum of Science and Curiosity (MOSAC) between 10 AM and noon on Saturday for a chance to see the Sun through our dedicated solar scopes. MOSAC also has a planetarium where you can see a realistic looking night sky and learn about the cosmos. We will have white-light scopes there that show the sunspots and other features on the surface. We will also have H-Alpha scopes that allow you to see many more details including the prominences and flares. The image today is an H-Alpha image...

What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? Sadly, we will be closed this weekend. A construction crew accidentally cut off our lights and water. We are unable to provide a safe environment for our visitors. The weather will also a factor this weekend. We are hoping to have a resolution by the following weekend. Did you see the Northern Lights this week? We didn’t expect much based on predictions. The aurora forecast for Tuesday night was for a good show as far south as Idaho or Oregon. What we got was one of the most impressive shows I have seen at this latitude. There are even reports showing the display in Texas and Arizona. We saw a bright red or pink display in Placerville. There was also a green section near the horizon. The images here are from our docents. The aurora was caused by a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection). A CME is a massive burst of solar plasma ejected from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The CME sends a stream of charged particles out into space ...

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend?   This won’t be the greatest weekend to visit the observatory. Friday looks very cloudy with high humidity. Humidity fogs up the mirrors and lenses on our scopes. Saturday looks a bit better. Another issue is that the just-passed full Super Beaver Moon will still be very bright affecting our seeing.   The Moon appears exceptionally bright when it is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, making it approximately 14% larger and up to 30% brighter than usual. It rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, and its proximity to the horizon creates an optical illusion that enhances its size and brightness. This position also increases the Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth, resulting in higher tides known as “king tides,” which can cause significant issues in coastal areas, especially during storms.   The two comets should still be visible but they will not be very bright. Rumors of them beco...

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend?   Happy Halloween! We will be hosting a spooky sky night on Friday with costumes and candy for the kids. We will have a special slide show featuring some spooky deep sky objects. Costumes are optional. The image today is the “Ghost Nebula.”   We are expecting a gibbous waxing moon this weekend.   The full Harvest Moon falls next Wednesday so the moon for both this and next weekend will be quite bright. Nevertheless, clear, cold skies are expected. We should still see some excellent objects. Bring your jacket and a knit cap.   Our big tarmac scopes will give some excellent high-power views of the gibbous moon. The craters and mountains on the moon will be sharply defined. Saturn is also magnificent in our scopes. Expect to see its edge-on rings. It looks like a line through the center of the planet rather than a ring. This is a phenomenon that occurs every 15 years as the rings al...

What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend?   The excitement for the next month is all about COMETS. With a 6:23 PM sunset and an 18% Moon that does not rise until after 2:00 AM we should have dark enough skies to start seeing them by our 7:30 PM opening. Expect it to be clear and cold with nighttime temperatures in the 50’s.   We currently have two relatively bright comets that will likely be visible soon after we open. Both will be near the horizon so you need to come early if you expect to see them. Neither will be naked-eye visible but they should be visible in binoculars and in our telescopes. Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) is below the bright star Arcturus and it will set around 10:30 but will likely be too low to see from the observatory well before that. Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) will be below the tail of the Big Dipper and will set around 9 PM, Both comets are getting higher in the sky each night and prime viewing will be later next week.  We...

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend?  October 10-11, 2025   Grab your jackets! Fall is here and the weather is variable. It looks like both Friday and Saturday should have clear enough skies for us to open. DO get in the habit of checking communityobservatory.com or our Face Book page after 3 PM on the day you plan to visit. If we are going to close, we will announce it by then. The full moon was Monday and the waning gibbous moon won’t rise until close to 9 PM on Friday and later on Saturday. With the Sun setting around 6:30, we should have some nice dark skies as we open at 7:30 and throughout the evening.   The Earth’s evening skies are facing an interesting part of the sky. The Big Dipper is receding into the northwest and the “W” shaped asterism of Cassiopea has moved overhead. The Great Square of Pegasus is below Cassiopea and, with a bit of imagination can be seen as a flying horse. The Pegasus Globular Cluster is one of ...