What can you expect to see this weekend at the Community Observatory?

This could be a great opportunity to see the night sky at the Community Observatory. Clear skies with less than 20% cloud cover and a last-quarter moon that doesn’t rise until after midnight portend great viewing. We also have clear skies predicted for our Solar Viewing on Saturday morning.

Jupiter and Venus are putting on a show in the western sky, It is called a “conjunction” when two heavenly bodies are close to each other in the sky. June 9th features the two planets appearing at their closest, within about 1.5 degrees. Even though they appear to be close, they just fall within the same line of sight. Venus is about 100 million miles away while Jupiter is six times further. Early arrivers may also be able to see the elusive Mercury. The image today is an “orrery” (pronounced aw·rr·ee) which is a image version of a mechanical model of the Solar System. The planets to the left of the Sun are visible in the evening and those on the right are morning objects. Any planets that are behind the Earth are visible throughout the night, You will notice that there are no planets beyond Earth right now. That means that we are going to have a planetary drought this summer. Saturn will be visible again in the evening in September and Jupiter won’t be visible again until the first of 2027. The next few weekends may be your last chance to see Jupiter for a while.

We have some great deep-sky objects to view right now. The Supernova SN2026kid should still be visible in a galaxy 53 million light years away. We have several great globular clusters and many galaxies to view as well.

The Sun has been pretty active lately and you should expect to see some great sunspots, prominences, and flares at our Solar Saturday at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden. Join us from 10 AM until Noon.

It is probably still a good idea to bring a sweater or coat; it could still be cold. The Sun is setting at around 8:30 and we can start viewing objects when we open around 9 PM. Be sure to check our website (communityobservatory.com) after 3 PM on the day you plan to visit. If we are going to have a weather or smoke closure we will announce it by then. Expect to pay the college $2 to park.

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