Looking forward to share this cool hobby with you all! We'll be doing our Imaging SIG meetings online until further notice. But the night sky is still there, and there's still lots to learn. So we'll do this online. Skip to content. SJ Astronomy. San Jose, CA. Organized by Sukhada P. Request to join. See all. Online event. Sukhada P. Past events Aapjit S. Anil K. Photos Members 4, Craig C. But with strong leadership, all the club business was addressed, decisions were made, and nearly all world problems were nearly solved.
Seven thirty PM arrived, and the popcorn started to pop, and the lemonade began to tart. A 24" fan was placed face down on the unit, cooling the massive heat sink for the duration of the evening. Again, engineering prowess demonstrated. During social half hour, trailers from the upcoming movies were played until eight PM, the official start time of the meeting. Prez Rob spoke a few introductory words before quickly sitting down, and the Play button was hit.
Only at a 50s-era drive in was Forbidden Planet seen on a bigger screen. Upon the first film concluding, bio breaks were taken, more corn was popped, then Play was hit once again to bring up Star Wars IV in all its original 70s fx glory.
Han and Leia never looked so good at Houge Park. The second feature ended around midnight, the room emptied quickly, and cleanup and gate locked by half past. It was a fun night, we may have to do it again.
Just in case of clouds at the party, I packed my 10x50 binoculars, tripod, and camp stool, so I could go northern Arizona star gazing every clear night.
I also knew the moon would have a bigger impact each night. I was taking a Road Scholar program, an educational tour consisting of astronomy lectures by professors of Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff , field trips to Lowell Observatory and Meteor Crater , and culminating with the Grand Canyon Star Party. I made separate blog posts for Lowell Observatory and Meteor Crater. The first night in Flagstaff , elevation around , was cloudy.
But I called and was told that it was so windy that they could not open the Clark dome. Mercury is barely visible at a 45 degree angle to the left and above Venus. I photographed this scene over and over as the sky darkened. People asked me what I was doing, and I got to point out Mercury to many people who had never seen it before. Using Venus as a guide, everyone was eventually able to spot it. Sitting with my binoculars at Mather Point watching the canyon darken and the stars come out was absolutely the highlight of my trip.
The moon was out, and I could see my shadow clearly, so I felt no fear that I would accidentally fall into the canyon. Also there are big strong metal railings at Mather Point. By all the green laser lights pointed to the sky, I could see that the Star Party had begun, but I did not want to leave the glorious vista of horizon to horizon bright stars above and the moonlit canyon below with only one small light at Phantom Ranch It was hard to do, but eventually I pulled myself away from the canyon and walked in the moonlight and the light of my flashlight to the Star Party.
By the time I got there, the crowds had thinned, and I got to see fabulous views through the big telescopes. The night was very short so close to Summer Solstice, and I didn't get up in time to see the sunrise.
The South Rim gets quite hot by midday, so I was up hiking a little ways down the Bright Angel Trail before breakfast and before the sun got very high.
I got to see solar prominences, but no sun spots. View of Grand Canyon from Powell Point on Hermit Road The weather was beautiful, and the daytime sightseeing spectacular, especially strolling along the Rim Trail and enjoying many viewpoints along Hermits Road. Not having a car was no problem due to the excellent free shuttle buses.
Then it was time for the second night of star gazing at the Grand Canyon Star Party. The area is several hundred feet from the rim, so there is no danger of anyone falling into the canyon. I was very impressed with the large reflecting telescope whose mirror you can see to the right of the tall ladder.
The view of the M13 globular cluster from that telescope was fantastic! To me it looked just like the photo of M13 in my star gazing app. Star Party has just begun In this photo the ranger talk was just over, the crowds were arriving, and Star Party had just begun.
I took this photo with ISO , exposure time 1 sec, so the scene appears light, but it was actually quite dark, and the astronomers were sharing very good views of Mercury and Saturn. I estimate there were forty telescopes, mostly set up by amateur astronomers from Tucson , although I spoke to one who made an almost annual trip from Texas.
At first the crowds were heavy, and the lines at the telescopes were quite long, but they thinned out after 10 PM. The evening also included a bright Iridiuim flare , a very nice pass by the International Space Station , and hourly green laser Constellation Shows, all announced ahead of time by the astronomers. I had a wonderful time, and I especially loved sitting at Mather Point watching Mercury and Venus sink while the canyon got dark and the stars appeared.
One thing that I missed was watching the Milky Way rise over the canyon.
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