This Saturday, May 2nd, is Astronomy Day. MOSI will be celebrating Astronomy Day and the International Year of Astronomy with astronomy related activities throughout the day and during the evening. The M.A.R.S. Club, our local astronomy club, will be here to answer questions and provide information. We will have astronomy themed demonstrations by MOSI's interactors. You can look at the Sun through MOSI's solar telescopes during the day (weather permitting). Saturn and the Moon will be two of the sights during SkyWatch from 8 to 10 p.m. (weather permitting).

The offerings in The Saunders Planetarium will include the new full-dome show "Two Small Pieces of Glass". Two students attending a local star party learn how the telescope has helped us understand our place in space and how telescopes continue to expand our understanding of the Universe. They learn about the history of the telescope and the discoveries these wonderful tools have made. The students see how telescopes work and how the largest observatories in the world use these instruments to explore the mysteries of the universe. Explore the Galilean Moons, Saturn's rings, and spiral structure of galaxies while learning about the discoveries of Galileo, Huygens, Newton, Hubble and many others. The show includes an interactive tour of our night sky including the current position and phase of the moon and the position of planets currently visible at night.

Hello fellow SkyWatchers:

We are now well into the International Year of Astronomy’s (IYA) world wide celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope to view objects in the night sky. The 100 Hours of Astronomy event runs from Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 5. At locations all around the globe, individuals, astronomy clubs, and institutions are setting up telescopes to let the general public view the heavens. Details are at, http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/index.php .

MOSI is participating by holding our SkyWatch event from 8:00 pm until 10:00 pm, Saturday, April 4th. So far, the weather looks very promising.
We will have our telescopes out by the BioWorks Butterfly exhibit, weather permitting. Saturn and the Moon will be prominent.
This event is free and open to the public.

You can get updates on our SkyWatch events, and other astronomical happenings at MOSI through:
1. Emailing me at steven@mosi.org and ask to be placed on my MOSI SkyLights email list.
2. Following my Tweets at http://twitter.com/MOSI_sky_guy
3. Checking out my Blog here.

And, on the evenings of the SkyWatch events, if the weather looks questionable, I update the voice mail outgoing message at 813-987-6338.
This message gives the date and time of the next Skywatch event. If the weather causes cancellation of SkyWatch, I change the message at least one hour before the scheduled start of the SkyWatch to indicate that the event has been cancelled for that evening due to weather.

I look forward to seeing you at MOSI.

March SkyLights

Hello fellow SkyWatchers:

For the next few weeks, the standout object of the night will be the ringed planet, Saturn. Look due east after sunset. The brightest object that looks like a star, fairly low in the East, and the first object that becomes visible in the East after sunset will be Saturn. If you don’t have too much light pollution, you can tell it has a pale, butter yellow color. If the weather cooperates and the sky is clear, Saturn will be prominent for our next scheduled SkyWatch event at MOSI, Saturday April 4th from 8 pm until 10 pm.

We will also have the telescopes out again, weather permitting, Saturday April 11th beginning at 8 pm for the “400 Years of the Telescope” event we are having in cooperation with WEDU. We will be part of the world premier of the new documentary of the same title, and will also debut the new full-dome planetarium show “Two Small Pieces of Glass”. Tickets will be on sale soon and seating will be limited, so keep an eye out for your opportunity to purchase tickets.

Venus is about to leave our evening sky and transition to a morning object. However, there is an unusual opportunity on the 25th of March to see Venus in both the morning sky and the evening sky on the same day. You will need clear skies and a very low horizon both to the East and the West. If you look 5 degrees (half the width of your closed fist held at arms length) above the horizon in the East just before sunrise (7:28 am), and 5 degrees above the horizon in the West just after sunset (7:44 pm), you should be able to see Venus glowing in the twilight at both times. This opportunity only happens every 8 years. Venus is a thin crescent now, and you may need to use binoculars to find it in the twilight glow. Once you locate it with the binoculars, you should be able to see it with just your eyes. Be very, very careful not to look at the Sun with binoculars, a telescope, a camera, or for more than a quick glance with just your eyes or you will permanently damage your retina.

Also, spring officially begins at 7:44 am this Friday, March 20. This is the time of the Vernal Equinox, when the Sun crosses the plane of Earth’s equator moving from South to North. On that day, the day and the night will be almost exactly the same length (measured from sunrise to sunset, and vice-versa.)


MOSI Sky Guy

Welcome

Welcome to the MOSI Sky Guy blog. Here, I will be posting comments and information about what is happening in the sky, interesting objects to view, what's happening at MOSI in The Saunders Planetarium, MOSI SkyWatch and other space science related events.