Greetings fellow astrophiles!
The warning to watch the skies has less to do with current events on the internets and more to do with the prediction of clear but not-too-transparent conditions. If it becomes cloudy enough to obscure stars we will not be opening, but we will otherwise be at the hill for observing. The Moon will not rise above our Eastern horizon until 1 a.m., providing plenty of nighttime observing of Saturn and some later Scorpius and Sagittarius Messier viewing.
The observatory will be official open around 8:20 p.m. but members will be at the hill beforehand. There are no ISS fly-overs tonight and two Iridium flare predictions, listed below from heavens-above.com. We hope you can join us!
| Date | Local Time |
Intensity (Mag) |
Alt. |
Azimuth |
Distance to flare centre |
Intensity at flare centre (Mag.) |
Satellite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 May | 23:14:21 | -1 | 28° | 245° (WSW) | 60.0 km (E) | -7 | Iridium 53 |
| 22 May | 02:32:41 | -0 | 25° | 300° (WNW) | 69.6 km (E) | -7 | Iridium 21 |