Mother’s

Day EditionThe Sky This Month

RASC Recreational Astronomyfor Apr 24th to May 21st

Prepared by: Bryon Czarnik

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Location: M.A.M.A.

Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/moons.html

• Luna [Gr. Selene] rides her chariot across the night sky, while her brother, Sol [Gr. Helios], rests

🌕 Full 🌹 Moon

5:11 pm

🌑 New Moon

6:45 pm

🌓 First Qtr 9:12 pm

🌗 Last Qtr 6:18 pm

Moon Apogee 404,576 km

2:21 pm

Moon Perigee 369,015 km

5:54 pm🌹

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Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and Milk Moon Tigmiyikvik (Inuit), “time when ducks & geese return from south” Blue Moon (3rd full moon in astro. season with 4 full moons) Hunter’s Moon (S Hemisphere)

Luna and Sol Dates .

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Mother’s

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Int’l Astronomy Day

Earth Day

Mothers Day

Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/moons.html

• Luna [Gr. Selene] rides her chariot across the night sky, while her brother, Sol [Gr. Helios], rests

🌕 Full 🌹 Moon

5:11 pm

🌑 New Moon

6:45 pm

🌓 First Qtr 9:12 pm

🌗 Last Qtr 6:18 pm

Moon Apogee 404,576 km

2:21 pm

Moon Perigee 369,015 km

5:54 pm🌹

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Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, and Milk Moon Tigmiyikvik (Inuit), “time when ducks & geese return from south” Blue Moon (3rd full moon in astro. season with 4 full moons) Hunter’s Moon (S Hemisphere)

Sunrise / Sunset (Daylight) Astronomical Twilight (Night)

Apr 24 6:20 am / 8:11 pm (13:51) 4:32 am / 10:00 pm (6:32)

May 21 5:46 am / 8:41 pm (14:55) 3:39 am / 10:49 pm (4:50)

Luna and Sol Dates .

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Mother’s

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Int’l Astronomy Day

Earth Day

Mothers Day

Mothers in the Solar System .

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Mother’s

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Gaia “Mother Earth”

• Venus [Aphrodite], mother of Cupid and Aeneas; affair with Mars [Ares]

• Juno [Hera], jealous wife separated from Jupiter [Zeus] in asteroid belt

• Jupiter [Zeus]

• Io led a life tortured by jealous Hera. Was an ancestor of Hercules

• Europa kept captive on and populated Crete. Source of name for Europe

• Callisto transformed by Hera with son into Bear: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

• Leda, mother of Castor and Pollux

• Amalthea, foster mother of Zeus

• Saturn [Chronus]

• Tethys, Titan daughter of Uranus & Gaia, and mother of Oceanus of river gods

• Calypso, sea nymph, kept Odysseus on island, till freed by Zeus

• Dione, Titan mother of Venus [Aphrodite]

• Phoebe, mother of Leto

Mothers in the Solar System .

!3CalypsoDionePhoebe

Tethys

Mother’s

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Earth Moon

Fit all 700,000+ asteroids here since only ≅ 4% Moon’s mass!

4 Largest Asteroids

You can fit all the planets in the Solar System back to back into the distance from the Earth to the Moon (about 384,400 km), with room to spare (8,030 km.)

Ref: https://www.universetoday.com/115672/you-could-fit-all-the-planets-between-the-earth-and-the-moon/

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πλανήτης (planēt) or Wanderers .Mother’s

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Mother’s

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A “Star” for Luna

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• Mercury is low and past its prime for viewing (Apr 24th rises 4:30 am). Superior conjunction on May 21st

• Venus is best observed over the next couple of weeks (-3.9 Mag, 11” size, gibbous)

• Mars visible in Taurus (WNW) after sunset (1.6 Mag, 4” size)

Conjunctions with crescent Moon:

Mars within 5°

May 6th & 7th 9:47pm

Venus (-4 Mag) within 5° but grazing horizon (5°)

Pre-dawn May 2nd

Mother’s

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A “Star” for Luna

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• Mercury is low and past its prime for viewing (Apr 24th rises 4:30 am). Superior conjunction on May 21st

• Venus is best observed over the next couple of weeks (-3.9 Mag, 11” size, gibbous)

• Mars visible in Taurus (WNW) after sunset (1.6 Mag, 4” size)

May 19th @ 10:30 pm (Alt. 8°)May 18th @ 10:30 pm (Alt. 8°)

LowLow

Mother’s

Day EditionGas Giants

• Jovian Events • Apr 26th: Io eclipsed 12:46 am and occultation ends 3:54 am;

Europa and shadow transit from 3:33 am • May 11th: Io and its shadow transit Jupiter; starting 2:32 am✓May 18th: Ganymede exits occultation 2:16 am; Io & shadow transit Jupiter, from 3:44 am• Great Red Spot (GRS) transits around 12:30 am on May 3rd and May 15th

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• Uranus and Neptune make poor morning targets • Uranus (+5.9) is lost in sun’s/dawn’s glare. Visibility of May 18th Venus conjunction (≅1°) unlikely

• Neptune (+7.9) rises by 5 am on Apr 24th. By May 21st, it rises 1½ hr earlier

Moon within 5° of Saturn

Apr 25th @ 4:00 am

@ +0.5 Mag, 18” (36”) size, 24° ring tilt

(Also, May 22nd)

• Jupiter and Saturn rise in the SE at 12:30 am and 2:15 am, respectively, on Apr 24th. Both rise 2 hr earlier by the end of May

May 20th @ 4:00 am

Moon within 5-6° of Jupiter@ -2.5 Mag, 45” size

21st

• Moon (6 da old) crosses Beehive May 10th

Lunacy

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9:45 pm 10:45 pm 11:45 pm

Mother’s

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Lunacy

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Mother’s

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Ref: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-women-on-the-moon/article29128012/

• Only 27 of 1,600+ craters (<2%) are named after women, such as Leavitt, C. Herschel, Sklodovska (Marie Curie)

TC• Young and Old craters on May 13th 🌓 vs May18th 🌕

“Youthful” Tycho “Ancient” Clavius

Age108 M yr from Apollo 16 ray samples. Formed by 8-10 km asteroid during Earth’s Cretaceous Period (Dinosaurs)

4 B yr old, almost as old as our Solar Sys. One of the older craters. Well preserved

Physical Characteristics

Bright ray system extending up to 2,000 km. 86 km wide by 4.8 km deep

2nd largest; 231 km wide by 3.5 km deep;Unique counterclockwise arc of 5 interior craters of diminishing size from Rutherfurd

Astronomer 16th C Danish Tycho Brahe 16th C German supported geocentric model; peer of Galileo

Fame Site of alien monolith (2001: A Space Odyssey) Lunar Admin Base (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Lunacy

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/full-moon-is-tycho-time/!8

Rutherfurd

• Meteors [Gr. ta meteōra: “the celestial phenomena” or “things in heaven above”] —> η (Eta) Aquarids

• Asteroids. [Gr. asteroeides: “star-like”] —> Pallas

• Comets 💫 [Gr. komētēs: “long-haired (star)”] —>

• Zodiacal Light [Gr. zodiakos: “circle of animals”] —> ?

• ISS Passes starting Apr 28th, evening & morning

Space Debris

ISS May 15th, 5am -3.1 ISS May 17th, 5am -3.7 ISS May 17th, 11pm -3.4 ISS May 18th, 10:19pm -4

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Mother’s

Day Edition

www.heavens-above.com

Source: SkySafari

If you can’t wait until 2061 for Halley’s Comet to return, catch the Eta (η) Aquarids (or Orionids in October)

Origin: a stream from 1P/Halley 100’s of years ago• Broad 5 da maximum centered on May 6th

• Less than 40/hr (<1/min) with swift and persistent trains

Low in the pre-dawn sky from 3am to 5am …… radiant rises to 25°by twilight

Victoria Day Fireworks? …Mother’s

Day Edition

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No Moon

!

Yeah!

Brightening

Twilight!

Boo!

Mother’s

Day EditionAsteroids

Sources: NASA, Wikipedia Commons; Heavens Above, Stellarium, https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/do-we-have-pieces-of-pallas-on-earth05062015/

• (2) Pallas (8.4 mag) well placed evenings in Coma Berenices• 2nd asteroid discovered (1802) after Ceres. Protoplanetary remnant?

• 3rd most massive @ 7% of mass of asteroid belt (10-30% < Vesta)

• About 500 km diameter

• Pallas meteorites on Earth?

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Mother’s

Day EditionAsteroids

Name a KBO!

Enter by May 10th To name 2007 OR10

“Gonggong", "Holle" or “Vili” (Chinese, European and Nordic mythological figures)

An icy, rocky reddish Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) of an estimated 1,250 km diameter,

making it one of the 10 largest discovered

https://2007or10.name

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Star Struck

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Source: SkySafari for Wed May 8, 2019 10:30pm

Mother’s

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Celestial Mothers

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Mother’s

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Source: SkySafari

• Jewelry

• Flowers

• Chocolate

Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Mother’s

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• Jewelry

• Flowers

• Chocolate

Diamond Ring Ast Ursa Minor 45’ around Polaris

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565

Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111

Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335

Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57

Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

Polaris

Hj1470

Fairy Ring

1 DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring 167818492

ref. Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html

Notes: Ast (Asterism), OC (Open Clustr), G (Galaxy), N (Nebula), PN (Planet Nebula), A (Asteroid), C (Constellation)

Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Mother’s

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• Jewelry

• Flowers

• Chocolate

Diamond Ring Ast Ursa Minor 45’ around Polaris

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565

Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111

Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335

Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57

Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

Polaris

Hj1470

Fairy Ring

1 DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring 167818492

ref. Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html

Notes: Ast (Asterism), OC (Open Clustr), G (Galaxy), N (Nebula), PN (Planet Nebula), A (Asteroid), C (Constellation)

Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Mother’s

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Rosette Nebula N/OC

Monoceros Caldwell 49 w OC NGC 2244

Iris Nebula N/OC Cepheus NGC 7023

Caroline’s Rose OC Cassopeia NGC 7789 86 Asteroids named after Flowers and Plants

A Asteroidse.g. Begonia, Petunia, Camelia, Azalea, Orchis, Tulipa

• Jewelry

• Flowers

• Chocolate

Diamond Ring Ast Ursa Minor 45’ around Polaris

Berenices Hair Clip G Coma Berenices NGC 4565

Coma Star Cluster OC Coma Berenices Mel 111

Crown C Corona Borealis / Australis

Fairy Ring Ast Cygnus 22’ ring of faint double stars incl Hj1470/HD190466/SAO69335

Ring Nebula PN Lyra M57

Little Gem Nebula PN Sagittarius NGC 6818; visible in morning

Polaris

Hj1470

Fairy Ring

1 DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring 167818492

ref. Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html

Notes: Ast (Asterism), OC (Open Clustr), G (Galaxy), N (Nebula), PN (Planet Nebula), A (Asteroid), C (Constellation)

Celestial Mother’s Day Presents………Mother’s

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Rosette Nebula N/OC

Monoceros Caldwell 49 w OC NGC 2244

Iris Nebula N/OC Cepheus NGC 7023

Caroline’s Rose OC Cassopeia NGC 7789 86 Asteroids named after Flowers and Plants

A Asteroidse.g. Begonia, Petunia, Camelia, Azalea, Orchis, Tulipa

“Chocolatey” Dust Lanes G Galaxies e.g. Milky Way, Hamburger

(NGC3628), Sombrero (M104)

“Hamburger”

Hj1470

Fairy Ring

DSantiago, Pbase, Fairy Ring 167818492

Fairy Ring aka Chaple’s Arc

Find H1470, a double star a degree NE of 25 Cygni between Ɣ (Gamma/Sadr) and η (Eta) Cygna

H1470 and three similar-looking pairs form an arc less than ½ degree across.

More dimmer stars complete the Fairy Ring (Dim in 70mm refractor at 68x)

Celestial Mother’s Day Presents

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Mother’s

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Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv6),

Doubles from W to E: • SEI 825 (mag 10.0 and 10.8, separation 6.9"), • A 1412 (9.0 and 9.3, 0.8"), • H1470 (7.4 and 9.2, 28.6"), and • PAN 17 (8.3 and 11.4, 16.6”)• The remaining doubles are fainter

Markarian’s Chain taken 2016 by Steve McKinney

M44 Cnc 👓Beehive Cluster or Praesepe. 75 ⭐ s in binos, 350⭐ s in 🔭 . One of closest @ 610 LY. Same origin as Hyades?

M81, M82 UMa 🔭 Bright Bodes Nebula (M81) and thin smudge, Cigar Galaxy. @ 12M LY

M66, M65, NGC 3628 Leo 🔭 Leo Triplet. Spiral galaxies. NGC3628 is Hamburger. M66 brighter. @ 40M LY

Markarian’s Chain Vir 🔭

Curved chain of galaxies in Virgo Cluster. Most appear to have similar motion. Includes two Messier (M84, M86) and half a dozen NGC's.

M104 Vir 🔭 Sombrero edge on galaxy. Prominent dust lane. Large bulge. +8.2 Mag. @28M LY

Melotte 111 Com 👓4.5° Coma Star Cluster @ 400M yr old; 288 LY, 3rd closest after Ursa Major Cluster and Hyades

Cor Caroli CVen 🔭 Watch out Albireo. Double @ 19” separation, 115 LY

Gobs of Globulars

Multiple 🔭

Globular clusters rising over the evening into morning - e.g. M3 (Canes Venatici), M5 (Serpens), M13 (Hercules), Ophicius, …

Leo Triplet taken May, 2013 by Steve McKinney

Star Struck

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Mother’s

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Markarian’s Chain taken 2016 by Steve McKinney

Star Struck

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Mother’s

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Powehi, “the adorned fathomless dark creation”

M87’s Black Hole

Mother’s

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In the Eyepiece: a Hamburger, Sombrero & Chain

Markarian’s Chain, M87 in Virgo ClusterBy Michael Vlasov, DeepSkyWatch.com on Apr 21-22, 2012, 0:300Location and conditions: Borot Lutz, Negev desert, Israel, ~6.9 NELM.Instrument: Skywatcher BKP250 10" F/5 Newtonian, Hyperion 31mm eyepiece, 39X, 1.86° TFOV.

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www.deepskywatch.com/index.html

bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

ChiGY

c56

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a ⭐’s Trek

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• Wolf 359, a red dwarf in Leo @ 13+ Mag and one of nearest ⭐’s @ 8 LY

• Huge proper motion of 5”/yr or ¼ width of Full Moon in a lifetime

• Star Trek, Battle of Wolf 359, 2367 AD• The Borg, human cyborgs, defeated the Federation, but Captain

Picard & the Enterprise defeated The Borg and saved Earth 😅

Mother’s

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Occultations

https://occultations.org/observing/occultation-predictions/ (incl RASC handbook predictions)

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Mother’s

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Space Missions

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Mother’s

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By Olaf Frohn - http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/charts/whats-up-in-the-solar-system-frohn.html

OSIRIS-Rex and Bennu

Space Missions

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JAXA’s Hayabasu II and RyuguSpace Missions

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SpaceIL’s Beresheet LanderSpace Missions

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• Starman and the Tesla Roadster are over 2 AU from Earth

• Orbital period around Sun is 557 days

• Exceeded its 36K mi warranty over 14K times

• Fuel economy of 0.06 l/100 km assuming 126K gal of fuel

• Listened to Bowie’s “Space Oddity” over 100K times

Location on May 10th, 2019

New Ride for Mom?

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Sources: https://www.whereisroadster.com

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Where is “Starman”?

Mother’s

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Space Launches

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Mother’s

Day Edition• Apr 30 CRS-17: Falcon 9 launch of 17th Dragon supply cargo to ISS

• May 3/4 tbd STP-27RD: Rocket Lab’s (US) Electron rocket will launch 3 satellites from New Zealand for the US military to demo commercial spacecraft capabilities (Army), avionics+software defined radio & space situational awareness (Air Force) and tracking of space debris (Air Force)

• NET May 10 DirecTV 16 & Eutelsat 7C: Ariane 5 double satellite launch of geostationary broadcast and TV communications satellites - DirecTV (USA) and Eutelsat (Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey)

• May 13 tbd Glonass M: Soyuz rocket launch of a Russian Glonass M navigation satellite

• NET May 16 Radarsat C1, C2 & C3: Falcon-9 rocket from Vandenberg AFB will launch Canadian Radarsats to provide weather, disaster management & ecosystem monitoring

• NET May 27 Amos 17: Falcon 9 launch of Israeli (SpaceIL) satellite to provide high-throughput broadband connectivity and other comm services over Africa, the Middle East and Europe

• May 29 Yamal 601: Proton launch of Russian communications satellite

• May tbd RISAT 2B: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch by India of Earth radar imaging satellite

• NET May (likely July) Chandrayaan-2: India’s 2nd robotic Moon mission launched by GSLV Mk II. Consists of Orbiter, Lander & Rover (1st mission was orbital from Oct 2008 - Aug 2009)

• Goals: soft-land & operate rover; study lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice

Space Launches

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Sky at a Glance

🌕 Full 🌹 Moon 5:11 pm

🌑 New 6:45 pm

Tigmiyikvik (Inuit), “time when ducks & geese returned from south” Blue Moon (3rd full moon in season with 4 full moons) Hunter’s Moon (S Hemisphere)

🌓 1st Qtr 9:12 pm

Moon - Saturn

Legend: Morning events are in Italics Native Full Moon Names: http://americanindian.net/

🌗Last Qtr 6:18 pm

Moon Apogee 2:21 pm Moon - Venus

💫 Eta Aquarids 4:00 am

Moon - Mars Moon - Beehive

Moon Perigee 5:54 pm

Moon - Jupiter Moon - Saturn

Jupiter Io Transit Int’l Astronomy Day

Jupiter Io Eur Transit

Jupiter Io Gan Transit

Celsius d. 1744 (42yr)

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🌹

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Jan Oort b. 1900

Otto Von Struve b. 1819

Williamina Fleming d. 1911 (54)

Hubble Launched 1990

Venera 5 Lands On Venus 1969

Star Wars Day “may the 4th …”

Mother’s

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Earth Day

Mothers Day

• RASC Observer’s Handbook 2019

• Astronomy, SkyNews: Mags, Web Sites

• SkySafari, Stellarium: Planetarium S/W

• www.aerith.net Comet Information + www.heavens-above.com ISS, Satellites, Comets, Asteroids, etc.

• Birren, Peter, Objects In The Heavens (OITHv5), http://www.birrendesign.com/astro.html in PDF or “pocket” book. Excellent! Objects to 10th Mag by constellation, plus handy ref lists, moon phases

• http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/marathon.html Machholz, Don, The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon, New York: Cambridge Univ Press, 2002

• https://occultations.org/observing/occultation-predictions/ Lunar and Asteroid Occultations (incl. RASC data)

• http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/charts/whats-up-in-the-solar-system-frohn.html by Olaf Frohn, Map of Space Missions

• https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/launch-schedule/ https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch-schedule/ Space Launches and Missions

• https://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi? Calculation of various astro/space events (e.g. GRS) for selected time periods

• http://www.skymaps.com for monthly star chart, observing highlights & visual/bino/telescope targets

• www.deepskywatch.com/index.html Sketches + bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/Galaxy viewing with binoculars.php

References

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Mother’s

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Mother’s

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Objects in the Heavens

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Objects in the Heavens

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Mother’s

Day EditionHappy Mother’s Day

Clear Skies!