Community Observatory

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? We will have a mostly-full gibbous waxing moon this weekend. That won’t make for optimal seeing. The weather also isn’t cooperating with “considerable cloudiness” forecast for both Friday and Saturday night. So, please be sure to check out our website before you make the trip up the hill. We will delay cancelling until it is clear that we won’t have decent seeing. If we are going to close, we will announce that by 3 PM on the day of the event. You may have heard of the “planetary parade”   or “planetary alignment” on social media. Well, it is partially true but most of the posts are hype. Both Mercury and Venus have moved into the evening sky but they will be quite low in the west. Saturn and Neptune are also quite low in the west. Objects close to the western horizon are difficult to see because they are only up when the Sun has recently set and they set soon after the Sun. Jupiter and Uranus are the ...

    What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? We’re heading into another weekend that  could  be promising for stargazing — but  weather looks like the wildcard  once again.     Weather Outlook     We could have clear skies this Friday and Saturday. The weather forecasts that we monitor are not agreeing with each other and the weather this week has been volatile. As always with mid-February in the Sierra foothills,  conditions can shift quickly , so please  check communityobservatory.com   before you head up the hill. We typically wait until around 3 PM on the day of the event to announce closures if clouds or rain make observing impractical.    What’s in the sky?     Moon Phase:  This weekend is still close to the  new moon window , which generally makes for excellent observing condit...

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? This is the weekend closest to the new moon which should make for excellent seeing. Unfortunately, the weather isn’t cooperating with “considerable cloudiness” forecast for both Friday and Saturday night. So, please be sure to check out our website before you make the trip up the hill. We will delay cancelling until it is clear that we won’t have decent seeing. If we are going to close, we will announce that by 3 PM on the day of the event. You may have heard of the “planetary parade”   or “planetary alignment” on social media. Well, it is partially true but most of the posts are pure hype. Both Mercury and Venus have moved into the evening sky but they will be quite low in the west. Saturn and Neptune are also quite low in the west. Objects close to the western horizon are difficult to see because they are only up when the Sun has recently set and they set soon after the Sun. Jupiter and Uranus are th...

What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? We have a potentially good weekend for viewing the sky. The waning gibbous moon won’t rise until almost 11 PM on Friday and it will be an hour later Saturday. The weather forecast predicts some clouds with average seeing. Saturday looks to be a bit better than Friday. At worst, if it is like last weekend, we will be able to see only the brightest objects. So, please be sure to check out our website before you make the trip up the hill. If we are going to close, we will announce that by 3 PM on the day of the event. The stellar sights will continue to be Jupiter and Saturn. Both will be well positioned and magnificent even if we have high thin clouds (our norm lately). Jupiter’s cloud bands and 4 bright moons will be easily seen. Those of you with excellent eyes may be able to see the Great Red Spot. Saturn is moving lower into the west and will be less impressive than it has been. Nevertheless, its yellow orb and ed...