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Tues. Sept. 1 - For meteor shower fans who enjoyed August's Perseid meteor shower, there will be a more modest treat in the pre-dawn hours this morning. 'Aurigid meteors' are definitely in the minor league, but this morning they will peak in the northeast sky before dawn, unfortunately with a just past full Moon sharing the sky. Aurigids typically produce only a handful of meteors per hour, but there have been outburst years.
Thurs. Sept. 3 - With the earlier arrival of dusk, those wishing some serious fun observing might consider the 'Milky Way Marathon'. In the same way that the maximum number of Messier objects can be seen in the course of a night in March, it is possible to see virtually all of the Milky Way that is visible from Canada during September. The idea is to begin in the evening with Sagittarius on the southern horizon, and work your way up the Milky Way through Scutum, Cygnus and overhead. As the night wears on the perspective changes as the Perseus arm begins to swing overhead and more and more of the 'other side' of the Milky Way rises, culminating with the appearance of Taurus and Orion and the outside view of our galaxy during the pre-dawn hours. Our Okanagan Observatory with its excellent Milky Way dark sky view would be a perfect place for this all night campaign.
Fri. Sept. 4 - Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation in the western sky tonight, however due to the southern slope of the ecliptic it will appear very low in the sky at dusk.
Fri. Sept. 4 - If the sky is clear, get set for a night of observing at the Okanagan Observatory on Big White Road (full directions at www.okanaganobservatory.ca). OC RASC members invite the public to join them for an audio/visual program, a guided tour of the sky, and observing with member telescopes and the club's 25" telescope. A Go/No Go message will be posted by 3pm each Friday on the Observatory Event Phone 250-300 8SKY (8759).
Sat. Sept. 5 - The Zodiacal Light is something that is most often mentioned in the spring months when the Sun illuminates dust particles in the equatorial plane of the solar system, producing a faint triangle of light extending into the western evening sky. The same applies to fall, however in this case the glow is seen in the pre-dawn eastern sky. The coming weeks will offer an opportunity for early risers to view and identify the fall Zodiacal light.
Sat. Sept. 5 - This is Last Quarter Moon night with the half orange coming over the horizon after midnight. It is a welcoming reminder of the coming dark moon period for deep sky observing, sketching and imaging.
Please send your comments to trailspublishing@telus.net.
Main website links:
Okanagan Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.ocrasc.ca
Okanagan Observatory www.okanaganobservatory.ca.
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