2019 Week 18: (April 28-May 4)

This week the Spring month of May begins and with it the end of true night for the Summer.  If you can find a clear evening it will be well worth it to sit outside under the stars and enjoy the sights above.

Date	Event
April 30	Saturn Stationary
May 2	Venus 4°N of Moon
May 3	Mercury 3°N of Moon
May 4	New Moon

Saturn will begin retrograde motion in the sky on Tuesday and appear to move westward compared to the background stars.  This has no scientific significance even if astrologers go nuts over this sort of thing.

Saturn

Our Solar System's two innermost planets, Venus and Mercury, will be in conjunction with the slim waning crescent Moon and you might be able to catch them in the early morning before sunrise.  Saturday will herald the New Moon and eliminate a significant portion of the natural nighttime light pollution.  Most observing nights take place around this time.

There are two rockets scheduled to be launched this week.  A Falcon 9 rocket will be lifting a cargo payload up to the International Space Station on Friday.  The following day an Electron rocket will be taking off from New Zealand with a set of three small satellites.

Date	Event
May 3	Falcon 9 - SpaceX CRS17 (01:11)
May 4	Electron - STP-27RD (0:00)

There will be one public event happening this week that you will not want to miss.  The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory will be hosting its annual 'How to Astronomy' evening.  This is an opportunity to bring any binoculars or telescopes you may have and learn how to better use them.  If you don't have optical equipment, come anyway and try out a vast array of telescopes that will be available for public use.  For more details check out the following webpage:

https://www.ucalgary.ca/rao/event/2019-05-04/how-astronomy-2019

Date	Event
May 4	How to Astronomy 2019

No matter what you may find yourself doing this week, always take the opportunity to look up and see the wonders of space!

2019 Week 17: (April 21-April 27)

This week in the sky we have a meteor shower and our largest planets in conjunction with the Moon.

Date	Event
April 22	Uranus in conjunction with Sun
April 22	Lyrid Meteors Peak
April 23	Jupiter 1.6°S of Moon
April 25	Saturn 0.4°N of Moon
April 26	Last Quarter

On Monday, (April 22) the Lyrid Meteor Shower will radiate from a location pointed at with a line drawn through Epsilon and Alpha Lyrae.

Lyrid Meteor Shower (Image Credit: Yuri Beletsky)

 Lyra will be in the northeastern sky around midnight.  The best time to see meteors will be when the constellation reaches a higher location in the sky.  If you are casually looking at the sky during this evening all you need to know is look northeast and hope for a meteor sighting!

Lyrid Meteor Shower Radiant

Although not as prolific as some of the other major showers we may be lucky to see 5-10 per hour from suburban Calgary.  The table below shows the approximate hourly rate based on observing location.

City	Suburbs	Rural	Optimal
3	5	10	18

Jupiter and Saturn will both be in conjunction with the Moon and visible in the early morning.  Check out the southern sky a couple hours before the Sun rises and you will see our largest planets dance with the Moon on April 23 and 25th.

Jupiter/Moon Conjunction (April 23, 2019)

Saturn/Moon Conjunction (April 25, 2019)

The end of the week brings a last quarter Moon which will allow dark skies throughout most of the night.  This is a perfect time to get out to a dark site with binoculars, telescope or just your eyes to see what the sky has to offer.  With the weather warming up and the majority of the bugs absent this is some of the best viewing of the year.

2019 Week 16: (April 14-April 20)

There will be an incredible free public event this week that you are not going to want to miss!

Date	Event
April 19	Full Moon

The sky is quite free of significant events but that should not stop you from getting out under the stars and enjoying the setting of the Winter constellations and the reign of the Spring.  The Moon will be full on the 19th so get out your neutral density filters if you want to see all of the regions with your scope!

Full Moon

This is a good chance to start working on your Explore the Moon certificate as you'll be able to see all of the significant maria during the Full Moon phase.  A link to this program can be found below.

https://www.rasc.ca/observing/explore-the-moon-observing-certificate

There is one single rocket launch schedule for the week.  An Antares rocket will launch some cargo to the International Space Station.  This will take place early in the afternoon on Wednesday.

Date	Event
April 17	Antares - NG-11 (14:46)

On Thursday we will be hosting a great event at the Calgary Public Library.  Join us at 8pm at the Central Branch for a discussion on the Aurora and the newly discovered phenomenon known as STEVE.  Researchers from the University of Calgary will guide us through their groundbreaking work on what is commonly known as the 'Northern Lights'.  A link to this event can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/316915398927619/

Date	Event
April 18	The Aurora and STEVE - Central Branch, Calgary Public Library (8pm)

This event is completely free and open to the public.  It will be well worth the trip for a chance to see the amazing research being done.  You may also pick up some tips on how to best see the Aurora from right here in Calgary!

The Aurora over De Winton

We hope to see you there!  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest events!

2019 Week 15: (April 7-April 13)

This is going to be a very exciting week for astronomy!  There are two public events scheduled that you may be interested in attending!

Date	Event
April 9	Mars 5°N of Moon
April 9	Venus 0.3°S of Neptune
April 10	Jupiter Stationary
April 11	Mercury Greatest Elongation West (28°)
April 12	First Quarter
April 13	Moon in Beehive Cluster (M44)

We have quite the week in the sky with mainly clear skies early and late in the week.  Mars will be in conjunction with the thin waxing crescent Moon on Tuesday.  Look to the southwest sky to take in this sight.  Jupiter will be stationary and then begin its retrogade motion in the sky as it will appear to move east through the background stars in Ophiuchus.

The first quarter Moon will delight us on Friday and provide great viewing of amazing craters along the terminator line.  The next day the Moon will transit through the Beehive Cluster and appear just to the east of it later in the evening.  This is a perfect opportunity to get out to Fish Creek Park and see this through the many telescopes setup for your enjoyment.

First Quarter Moon

There is only one rocket launch schedule for this week and it is the Falcon Heavy.  Postponed from last week it will takeoff just before dinnertime on Wednesday, April 10.  This will be the second time the Falcon Heavy has flown, the first being February 2018 when it took a Tesla Roadster into space.  Live launches can be seen at the following website: https://spaceflightnow.com/

Date	Event
April 10	Falcon Heavy - Arabsat 6A (16:35)

There are two public events happening this week that you are not going to want to miss.  The TELUS Spark is hosting a science fiction night for adults.  There are many great activities and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will have a booth, so stop by and say hi!

Date	Event
April 11	TELUS Spark Adults Only Night - Science + Science Fiction
April 13	Fish Creek Park Star Night

Two nights later there will be a free public star night in Fish Creek Park.  Between 7pm and 10pm bring yourself and your kids or friends to have the opportunity to look at the sky though many telescopes.  You will see the fine details on a first quarter Moon and catch a glimpse of some wonderful star clusters.  At this phase, Plato should be visible along with the Alpine Valley that bisects the Lunar Alps.  You can see these features in the picture I took from the backyard below.

Plato and Vallis Alpes

Links to these events can be found below.

TELUS Spark Science Fiction Adults Only Night

http://sparkscience.ca/experience-telus-spark/events/science-and-science-fiction/
https://www.facebook.com/events/785686118462618/

Fish Creek Park Star Night

https://calgary.rasc.ca/fishcreek2019a.htm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1983770341752439/

We hope to see you out enjoying the wonders of the universe!

2019 Week 14: (March 31-April 6)

This week in the sky there will be some conjunctions in tight close to the Sun and difficult to see.  The weather is looking to be ideal for early Spring viewing!

Date	Event
April 1	Double Shadow Transit on Jupiter (05:54 MDT)
April 1	Venus 3°N of Moon
April 2	Mercury 0.4°N of Neptune
April 2	Mercury 4°N of Moon
April 5	New Moon

If you can catch Jupiter around 6 in the morning on the 1st you will be able to catch a double shadow transit across its face.  I remember the first time I looked at Jupiter through a telescope I saw two black spots on it.  I didn't know what it was at the time.  I had fortunately caught a double shadow transit with two of the large planet's moons casting a shadow.  This is like a solar eclipse with our Moon casting a shadow on the Earth.  The image below captured by world famous planetary astrophotographer Damian Peach illustrates this phenomenon.  This is a real picture taken from Earth.

Double Shadow Transit on Jupiter (March 25, 2019) Image Credit: Damian Peach

This week there will be several rocket launches, including a Falcon Heavy.  You may remember this rocket taking a Telsa Roadster into space more than a year ago.  It now begins commercial launches on the 7th.  This is certainly a launch you do not want to miss.  See it live at the link below.

https://spaceflightnow.com/

Date	Event
April 4	Soyuz - Progress 72P (05:01)
April 4	Soyuz - O3b F5 (10:30)
April 7	Falcon Heavy - Arabsat 6A (16:36)

There will be two Soyuz launches on the 4th with one resupply mission to the ISS and another taking more communication satellites into orbit.

If you are in the mood for public astronomy events you may want to check out the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory's Open House this Saturday, April 6.  A link to the event is provided below.

https://www.ucalgary.ca/rao/event/2019-04-06/astrophysics-cutting-edge-open-house-2019

Date	Event
April 6	RAO Open House - Astrophysics on the Cutting Edge

Stay tuned next week for a free observing evening in Fish Creek Park!  This is a perfect event to bring the kids to and learn about the many amazing things in our night sky!