Josef Chlachula – Page 2 – Rochester Astronomy Club

Mercury transit observed

November 30, 2019 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

The innermost planet Mercury was on November 11, 2019 transiting in front of the Sun. Many club member prepared for this rare event at Mayo High School. They were hoping, that weather would allow to observe dark silhouette of the Mercury against bright Sun. Event started at 6:35 AM and ended at 12:05 PM. Observers experienced all kind of weather […]

Jupiter rising

June 3, 2019 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Warm summer nights beckon many of us outside to observe the celestial wonders that appear above us in the starry skies. Long summer days and short nights may disappoint many amateur astronomers, yet summer skies dazzle us with some of the grandest objects in the sky. Jupiter rises just as the summer sun is setting. With its great Red Spot […]

Nice May night

May 14, 2019 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

RAC outreach program continues already the third year. Public observing is about once a month after dusk, when Moon is in about the first quarter. It’s mostly conducted from the Watson soccer field. This Winter we found, that soccer field parking would not be plowed, so we could not safely use it for observing, especially in such snowy Winter. Fortunately […]

Total Lunar Eclipse on Sunday January 20

January 11, 2019 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Rochester Astronomy Club is planing public observing event from 9 PM at History Center of Olmstead County, see https://rochesterskies.org/event/total-lunar-eclipse-observing-2019-01-20/ The first full moon of 2019 will be a great opportunity for observing a total lunar eclipse. The Moon will almost be at its closest distance to the Earth, close to the perigeum, which means it will be slightly bigger, and such […]

Earthrise from Apollo 8

December 5, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

In December of 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first people to leave our planet and travel to another body in space, to the Moon. Crew members Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders could see for the first time Earth rising above Moon. Now is obvious, that astronaut Williams Anders took that historic picture. Ernie Wright is […]

Cometary indulgement by end of 2018

November 13, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Updated 12/10,11/17. About four years ago we could observe by naked eye comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy). This year in December, we expect to see periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen. Now, we have actually chance to see two comets! Comet 46P/Wirtanen has period 5.44 years. This year it will be as close as just 0.08 AU from the Earth, and it could be […]

Galileoscopes in Rochester

November 11, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Night Sky Network invited member clubs with courtesy of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to online workshop From Pinholes to Space Telescopes: How Telescopes Work from from September 24 to November 9 . Accepted clubs were given an activity kit for workshop use, and Galileoscopes for use in educational programs. RAC participants John Martin and Josef Chlachula applied, were accepted, and completed […]

NASA iTech in Rochester

November 1, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Post updated, see below. — On Friday November 9 at 6 PM will speak in Rochester Kira Blackwell from NASA. The program “NASA iTech: An innovative way to work with entrepreneurs” is part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Rochester MN hosted by Mayo Clinic Office of Entrepreneurship and Collider Coworking at Mann Hall, 321 3rd Avenue Southwest, Rochester MN – Mayo […]

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

September 11, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

Would you like to see a comet? Now, in September 2018 is pretty good chance to see comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner by small telescope or even by binocular. Periodic comet 21P can be seen in in September the second part of the night. Below is path map till beginning of the October. About 2 AM is already high enough above horizon, and can […]

Smoky Mars

September 2, 2018 Josef Chlachula Comments Off

On Friday August 17th I was driving to the Watson Soccer fields, listening to the weather forecast on radio. They said “patchy smoke”, and I could not understand, what it means. That afternoon Sun was orange, even it was still high above horizon, and in my mind it was like filtered through high clouds fog. On Soccer fields, when getting […]