Winter Sky above Oxbow

February 28, 2020 Josef Chlachula Members Blog, Public Events Comments Off on Winter Sky above Oxbow
Constellation Canis Major at Oxbow
Constellation Canis Major with the brightest star on the sky Sirius above Oxbow

On Friday February 28 the Rochester Astronomy Club hosted Public Sky Observing at Oxbow Park. It was a nice winter day, that turned into beautiful evening for observing. This public event started at 6:30 PM and several RAC members provided telescopes. Tables and chairs were also setup inside the visitor center so observers could warm up and see presentations by club members. Bright parking lights were turned down, so their light would not interfere with dim celestial objects.Visitors looked through several telescopes and enjoyed views of the 5.4-day old Moon, the bright planet Venus, the star cluster Pleiades, the Orion Nebula, and several other celestial objects.

Bright planet Venus with even brighter Moon up to the left was shining all evening above Oxbow parking. Almost on top is planet Uranus. Click for large picture.

On detailed annotated cropped picture is visible planet Uranus. Moving cursor in detailed picture, you will see original cropped image, with cursor out you will see annotated version. Venus has -4.3 mag, Torcular 4.2 mag, 65 Cet 4.3 mag and Uranus 5.8 mag. Uranus can be easily seen in binocular.
Moving the cursor over the image will bring original version. Clicking on the image will bring up the annotated version.

NASA Solar system Ambasador John Martin presents his model of the Solar System

RAC member Mike Quirk explains star spectrum

Asterism Big Dipper above top of trees. Stars from bottom up: Alkaid, Mizar(and Alcor), Alioth, Megres, Dubhe; to right – Merak; down – Phecda. Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major. Click for large picture.