Community Observatory

  What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this Weekend? The weather this week has been unsettled but Friday and Saturday nights are predicted to be mostly clear. We do have a full moon on Sunday and it will be quite full both Friday and Saturday. This weekend is a “Blue Moon.” That doesn’t mean that it will be colored blue, it means that it is the second full moon in the same month. That happens because there are only 29.5 days between each full moon and most months are slightly longer. Each month’s full moon has a name. The “Full Flower Moon” fell on May 1 st , and the second full moon that occurs on May 31 st doesn’t have a name , so this moon gets the generic name of “Blue Moon.” Our “once in a blue moon” phrase reflects the fact that this doesn’t occur often. By the way, it is possible for one month to have a “Black Moon” where there is no full moon. Can you guess which month can have a black moon? This is also a “Micro Moon.” That means that the Moon i...

    What can you expect to see at the Community Observatory this weekend? The forecast is for clear skies with good seeing. The 33 to 44% moon will not be too bright and will not interfere significantly with our seeing. On top of that, it may not even be very cold or windy. Why don’t you consider joining us this weekend? We are in the transition between the Spring “Galaxy Season” and the Summer “Milky Way Season.”   There are still some great galaxies to view from our inside scopes. Vega and Antares, two of the bright Summer stars will be peeking over the Eastern Horizon by the end of our viewing session. Our excitement last weekend was seeing a new supernova in the distant galaxy NGC 5907. That is an edge-on galaxy that is also known as the “Knife’s Edge” or the “Splinter Galaxy.” It lies about 46.5 million light years away. The supernova was discovered on April 22 nd by the   ATLAS automated telescope. ATLAS stands for the “Asteroid Terrestrial-impact ...

For the evenings of May 15th and 16th, 2026, between 9 PM and 11 PM in Northern California, the sky should be especially rewarding because the Moon will be at or near new phase, giving us dark skies for deep-sky observing. Evening Highlights Venus -- Brilliant in the West Venus will dominate the western sky shortly after sunset, shining as the brilliant "Evening Star."  It will still be visible during the early part of our observing window, especially around 9 PM, low in the west. Jupiter -- Bright and Easy to Find Jupiter remains one of the brightest objects in the evening sky and should be well placed for telescopic viewing. Through binoculars or a telescope you may see the Galilean moons and cloud bands. Spring Galaxies at Their Best Because the Moon is essentially absent, this is prime "galaxy season." Dark skies favor deep-sky observing: The Leo Triplet in Leo The Virgo Cluster M 64 Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices M 3 high overhead Milky Way The brighter cor...

The Moon won’t rise until the early morning hours on both Friday and Saturday, giving us dark skies and excellent viewing conditions. These darker skies are especially helpful for observing deep-sky objects, which is perfect timing since we are in the heart of “galaxy season.” Speaking of galaxy season, here’s a stunning image captured by Docent Logan Brewer using our East Scope. On the left is Messier 108 (known as the “Surfboard galaxy”). M108 is a barred spiral galaxy & received its nickname because it's seen nearly edge-on. It is located about 46 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major.  On the right side of this picture is Messier 97 (“Owl Nebula”). M97 is a glowing shell of gas expelled by a dying star known as a planetary nebula. This name can be misleading because it doesn’t have anything to do with planets! When astronomers looked at these nebulas through early telescopes, they observed the planet-like round shape of these nebula & that’s where the...