Author Archives: Shane

June 2nd Moon at Perigee Closest to earth 368,102 km / 228,728 mi June 3rd Asteroid 43 Ariadne at Opposition (Magnitude 9.1) 43 Ariadne is the second-largest member of the Flora asteroid family. It was discovered by N. R. Pogson on April 15th 1857 and named after the Greek heroine Ariadne. At almost twice asContinue reading “Episode 429 – Observer’s Calendar for June 2024 Show Notes”

Friday May 3rd Saturn 0.8- of a degree left of the Moon this morning Sunday May 5th – Eta Aquaria Meteor Shower ZHR=50 Monday May 6th – Mercury and Moon ~ 4-degrees Tuesday May 7th – New Moon Week of May 5th to 11th – Saturn Mars and Mercury line up in the morning skyContinue reading “Episode 421 – Observer’s Calendar for May 2024 Show Notes”

April 1 – Zodiacal light visible in West for next 2 weeks. April 2 – Last quarter Moon April 6 – Mars, Saturn and Moon form a Triangle in East at dawn April 7- International Dark Sky Week April 8 – Total Solar Eclipse April 10 – Jupiter and Uranus 4-degrees below the Moon thisContinue reading “Episode 414 – Observer’s Calendar for April 2024 Show Notes”

Juno (minor-planet designation: 3 Juno) is a large asteroid in the asteroid belt. Juno was the third asteroid discovered, in 1804, by German astronomer Karl Harding. It is one of the twenty largest asteroids and one of the two largest stony (S-type) asteroids, along with 15 Eunomia. It is estimated to contain 1% of theContinue reading “Episode 404 – Observer’s Calendar for March 2024 Show Notes”

What are some popular books on planetary science, astrophysics, and cosmology that are high up on your list of must reads? I think you even mentioned some poems? (is there a particular short passage that might be suitable to read?) References What are some other useful books? What do you keep handy at your desk?Continue reading “Episode 399 – Astronomy Books With Chris Wilcox Show Notes”

5899 Jedicke https://www.rasc.ca/asteroids-canadian-connection https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mpc.html https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/ https://www.psi.edu/blog/tag/asteroids/

Jan 3- Earth at perihelion – 147,100,632km (91.4 mill miles) Jan 4 – Quadrantid meteors peak at 4am EST ZHR 60-200)- but moon interferes as it’s last quarter on this night – Radiant is between Bootes and Draco Jan 7 – Double Shadows on Jupiter at 9:08 pm EST Jupiter is high in the SouthContinue reading “Episode 386 – Observer’s Calendar for January 2024 Show Notes”

(Dave Chapman, 2023) Focussing on classic Greek-Roman names with occasional indigenous references. The classic names are used in some GoTo telescope software for sky alignment (e.g. Sky-Watcher SynScan and Celestron). Spectral classes O B A F G K M — Annie Jump Cannon References: Star Tales (2018) Ian Ridpath Star Names (1963) Richard Hinckley AllenContinue reading “Episode 380 – Stars You Should Know – Southern Skies Edition with Dave Chapman”

Dec 4th – Mercury at greatest Elongation in evening sky 21-degrees Dec 5th – Last quarter Moon Dec 6 – Curtis X visible – Day of Darkness Dec 9 – Venus 4-degrees North of Moon Dec 10 – try to spot Uranus at M=5.7 this week in Aries Dec 12th – New Moon December 14Continue reading “Episode 379 – Observer’s Calendar for December 2023 Show Notes”

References: Star Tales (2018) Ian Ridpath Star Names (1963) Richard Hinckley Allen Sky Safari 7 Pro (star lore by Jim Kaler) A Concise Dictionary of Astronomy (1991) Jacqueline Mitton Stars You Should Know—Fall 11 bright stars —from mag. 1.2 to mag. 3.5 (most OK to find, even in the city) —8 are used for celestialContinue reading “Episode 364 – Fall Stars You Should Know with Dave Chapman Show Notes”