Category Archives: Uncategorized

Double Cluster – an observing session doesn’t feel complete without a view of the double cluster. This is a set of clusters physically located together in space, they are bright and known since antiquity where Hipparchus catalogued it and Ptolemy, writing in his Almagest, noted them as a Little Cloud or Misty spot. The DoubleContinue reading “Episode 444 – Focusing on Perseus Show Notes”

4th Mercury Stationary 5th Venus 1.7 below Moon this evening 6th 7 Iris at opposition (m=8.1) Iris was discovered on August 13, 1847, by J. R. Hind from London, UK. It was Hind’s first asteroid discovery and the seventh asteroid to be discovered overall. It was named after the rainbow goddess Iris in Greek mythology,Continue reading “Episode 442 – Observer’s Calendar for August 2024”

July 1st- Today is Canada Day Mars 4-degree below Moon this morning July 2nd – Uranus 4-degrees below Moon this morning July 3rd – Jupiter 5-degrees below Moon this morning July 4th – is Independence Day in the USA and the 970th anniversary of the Crab Supernova Explosion July 4th is also New Moon JulyContinue reading “Episode 438 – Observer’s Calendar for July 2024 Show Notes”

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”

March 2nd – Last quarter Moon March 3rd – Asteroid Juno at opposition magnitude 8.7 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 largestContinue reading “Episode 404 – Observer’s Calendar for March 2024 Show Notes”

Arthur Koestler: The Sleepwalkers, in which Western civ gets stuck in geocentricity for 1500 years Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Some dated conventions, but a fascinating sociological study of avant-garde science. This classic gave us the now-overused term “paradigm shift.” Michael Hoskin: The History of Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction Dava Sobel: TheContinue 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”