Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Sept 21, 2010 18:26:20 GMT -6
Chicago Astronomer Full Moon Rise Observation Session
23 September 2010
23 September 2010
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The Chicago Astronomer crew will observe the "Harvest Full Moon Rise" Thursday, the 23rd of September. Moon rise is scheduled at 6:32 p.m. and I will set up a scope by 6:00 p.m.
We will set up at our usual Lunar rise location, just south of the Adler by the "Galaxy" or Stonehenge blocks:
Chicago Astronomer Curt has created data on this month's Moon:
Over the next few nights we’ll be witnessing the annual Harvest Moon. That’s what’s seen when a Full Moon occurs near the time of the Autumnal Equinox. This month for Chicagoland the Full Moon will appear most completely illuminated on September 23 at 06:03 CDT, about a half hour before sunrise. The Autumnal Equinox will be reached eight hours earlier on September 22 at 22:09 CDT, which is an unusually small difference. Brilliant Jupiter will appear in the vicinity of the Harvest Moon.
The notable aspect of the Harvest Moon is that for several evenings the nearly Full Moon rises near sunset and not long after the time of the previous rising, allowing farmers extra moonlight to complete the harvest. On average the Moon rises 50.47 minutes later each day, but here in Chicagoland that will be only about 22 minutes over the next few evenings. That’s due to the sharp inclination the ecliptic has with the eastern horizon at dusk during this time of year. The Harvest Moon occurring near apogee this year adds to the effect since that retards its daily advance in ecliptical longitude. The drawback is that that makes it appear smaller than normal.
On my website is a chart illustrating the variances among upcoming Full Moons. Click www.curtrenz.com/astronomical then go to the page for The Moon and click the link to Full Moons.
astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Lunar&thread=2877&page=1
Jupiter will also be highlighted, as the King of the Planets is close to Earth now, not since the 1960's has it been as close and won't be again til 2022.
There will also be a nice Iridium 84 flare, at Mag -7 - 20 Degrees high at 8:42 pm - due north. No ISS pass overs for a while now, till after the 29th.
There are no scheduled events in the area this date and parking should be fine along the drive.
So far, the weather looks clear, but if cloudy and the weather degrades...of course, the session will be cancelled. But so far, it looks good.
