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Rochester, Minnesota


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Observe Titan shadow transits

This year 2025, we still have a unique opportunity to observe Titan’s shadow passing across Saturn’s disk as we learned at the last members’ meeting from Bob Fealey. Below is an adapted table taken from Sky and Telescope. For mid transits, there are links to Saturn in stellarium-web.org , opens in new tab. Upcoming Titan shadow transits (UT/CDT) Date DoW […]
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Sun at RochesterFest

A public observation of the Sun at RochesterFest was planned for Tuesday 6/24 and for Saturday 6/28. Tuesday 6/24 we planned a public observation of the Sun at RochesterFest from 5 to 7 p.m. Actually, 2025 was the first year that RAC participated in RochesterFest. We were pleasantly surprised by the organizers, who provided transportation for our telescopes and other […]
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has indeed become very observable with the naked eye after all. It can be photographed quite well with smartphones. Of course, a camera with a larger aperture provides a better image, not to mention the quality lenses. How to find the comet in the sky is described quite well in the Sky and Telescope article  Comet […]
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Root River Park 2024

Root River Park is located south of Rochester and is owned by Olmstead County. It is a small but pretty park adjacent to the North branch of the Root river. Rochester residents don’t use this park much and that’s a shame. However, this park is beneficial to amateur astronomers. The sky is dark enough to observe faint objects on a […]
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Aurora on May 10, 2024

The night of Friday, May 10, was the first night for club members under the dark skies of Eagle Bluff after a long winter. To our surprise, it wasn’t even dark yet and already we saw something very special – the Northern Lights, and even in the south. A few minutes later, while it was still dusk, the International Space […]
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Total Eclipse 2024

Did you observe the last total solar eclipse on April 8? Do you have valuable photos, video or notes? Perhaps they are suitable for submission and certification by the Astronomical League. Here is the information you need for submission: Location of the observer’s site, including longitude and latitude* Date and time of the observations (either UT or local time)* Instrument […]

Submitted Photos

Forums RAC Main Forum General Discussion Observing tonight?

Viewing 15 posts - 616 through 630 (of 2,646 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #10862
    John Preston
    Participant

      Dean,

      Just got back from Bolivia and north shore dive trip and need some serious sky time, if the weather holds I would be up for one or two nights.

      #10863
      Jeff Newland
      Participant

        Moon rises at 10:16 on Friday and 10:38 on Saturday, still gibbous.  Seems a little too early in the evening.  Perhaps the next weekend?

        #10864
        Randy H
        Participant

          I'll be out of town this weekend, and the next, but not the next next.

          #10865
          Dean Johnson
          Participant

            It certainly looks like Friday won't happen and Saturday looks iffy.

            Next weekend for sure, if the weather co-operates!

            #10866
            Dean Johnson
            Participant

              I got out for three and a half hours on Saturday night. More out of town company, old buddy of mine from Texas with 3 teenage kids. They live in San Antonio and had never looked through a telescope before.

              I showed them Saturn, Venus, Mars, Polaris, M57, M13, M22, M8, M7, M6, Albireo, Antares and M4, and finished off the night with Jupiter and the Moon. The last two impressed them the most. (Saturn was low in the sky when we looked at it and didn't look the best). Jupiter showed all four of the Galilean Moons off to one side and had a background star on the other that almost looked like a fifth Galilean satellite. It was weird not seeing the south equatorial belt. It shows, but is very faint. The Moon was its usual spectacular self.

              The youngest kid, a boy named Bradley, was very excited about astronomy. I wouldn't be suprised if he gets a scope some day.

              BTW, nice shots of M16 John!

              #10867
              Captain Kirk
              Participant

                Been a bunch of cloudy nights here in AK.  Hope to get that out of my system by the STAR-BQ!

                #10868
                Captain Kirk
                Participant

                  Clear skies and auroras last night.  Too bad I missed it.  Reports are that it could be good again tonight.

                  Kirk

                  #10869
                  Randy H
                  Participant

                    Post if you see something!

                    #10870
                    Captain Kirk
                    Participant

                      Nice clear skies, but for the smoke and sparks coming from the ship's stacks.  Decent looks at Luna, Jupiter and Pleiades with Binos.  Otherwise, I got good practice blocking out ambient light with spare clothing. 

                      A little green and red showed on the horizon to the north around 3-4 in the morning, but I think that was night showing signs of fading into dawn.

                      Cloudy now, but we can always hope for better luck tonight.

                      Kirk

                      #10871
                      Dean Johnson
                      Participant

                        I called Eagle Bluff about a Friday night session and they don't have anything going on, so if anyone is interested, the big dark parking lot is available for tonight.

                        I can't make it though. My fellow bartender is taking her kids to the Milwaukee Zoo and tonight is a DJ night. (Good tips) I want to build up some extra cash for next weekend.

                        Right now the Flatin Farm is full of tall weedy organic oats, but Ed assured me that it will be flat for the Star B-Q. I was out there last night for two hours and caught those two big sunspots before the Sun went down. That was very neat to see. I had to pack up and leave at 10 p.m. because a skunk was closing in on me and I couldn't use my laser pointer to chase him away with all the tall vegetation. At least I didn't get sprayed.

                        I talked to Storlie's and have a Port-a-Potty lined up. Let's hope for some decent weather.

                        #10872
                        darkskyjim
                        Participant

                          Heading to Keller tonight after 11:00.  Probably will be our best night for the Perseids.
                          Jim

                          #10873
                          Jeff Newland
                          Participant

                            Anyone wanting to find Keller, there is an article with a map in the newsletter for 2009 Q4 #12.
                            Here:  http://www.rochesterskies.org/aNew/newsletter/rac-newsletter-2009-q4.pdf

                            #10874
                            Jeff Newland
                            Participant

                              Keller can be kind of hard to find in the dark.  There are no signs. 

                              Jim Blackwell, I did reply to your message, hope you got it.  Or see previous post here with link to newsletter with Keller description.

                              #10875
                              Jeff Newland
                              Participant

                                We're going to head out to Keller.  Probably not for too long, but will head out.  See you there.

                                #10876
                                Luka B
                                Participant

                                  I'm heading there myself. Probably not for too long, but I'm going now.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 616 through 630 (of 2,646 total)
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