By Ernie Jacobs
Mother Nature has not been very cooperative with regard to our Penn Dixie Astronomy programs this year. Our March and April events were cancelled due to weather. We were mostly foiled again this past Saturday evening (5/20) for our Jupiter at the Meridian event. After a mostly cloud free sky all day long, the clouds rolled in before sunset. I say mostly foiled because we weren’t completely foiled.
We did have a brief window of opportunity to view Jupiter through multiple telescopes as we were fortunate to be joined by several members of the Buffalo Astronomical Association (BAA). Both Jim Maroney and I belong to the BAA in addition to volunteering with Penn Dixie.
We really appreciate our colleagues taking the time to share their time and experience with us and visitors to the site. Specifically I would like to thank Steve Smith, Dennis Brylinski, and Mike Anzalone. Check out the BAA at Buffaloastronomy.com. They hold monthly public nights at their Beaver Meadow Observatory (1st Saturday of the month thru October) and BAA member Steve Smith holds monthly star parties in Wilson, NY (Wilson Star Search – 2nd Saturday of the month thru October).
Of course the big Astronomy event for 2017 will be the Great American Eclipse on August 21st. To experience totality (highly recommended) you will need to travel to the roughly 100 mile wide band that will cut across America from Oregon to South Carolina. Western New York will experience a partial eclipse. Approximately 75% of the face of the Sun will be blocked by the Moon. Penn Dixie is also coordinating with other local organizations to provide safe viewing opportunities for Western New Yorkers. Check out BuffaloEclipse.org for more information.
Hopefully our fortunes with the weather improve for the rest of the season (especially on August 21st for the eclipse)! The next Penn Dixie Astronomy Night is scheduled for Saturday June 17th. We hope to see you there!
Clear Skies!
Ernie Jacobs