The Moon and Jupiter

WCA member Dennis Havel sent me this cool photo of the moon and Jupiter taken a few nights ago. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Apparently, this is the closest that the two bodies will appear to each other until 2026. The phenomenon that causes the planets to look so close is called an appulse. That is an event that is caused by perspective rather than a change is the actual distance between the two. The moon is roughly 248,700 miles from the earth and Jupiter is 413.8 million miles away, Cool image Dennis, thanks for sending!

Perseids Meteor Shower

For those of you who don't know the peak of the Perseids Meteor Shower this year will be this Saturday night Aug 13th. For those of you who can get to an open view of the night sky this should be a great show. For more information you can go to the Wikipedia page for Perseids. Enjoy the show!!

Stargazing Event - NOT Friday Night

I just spoke with Alexander and he said we are definitely not going to do the stargazing event tonight because the weather is calling for possible thunderstorms. The NOAA site is saying clear skies for Saturday night so we are keeping our fingers crossed and trying for tomorrow night but with the weather being as unsettled as it has been it may change. I will keep everyone posted.

Stay tuned!
Carol