(Viewed 1,339 times)

[Centaur]

Who will be the first to spot the November New Moon with naked eyes after sunset? The Dark Moon will be in geocentric longitudinal conjunction with the Sun on 2010 NOV 06 at 04:52 UT (05 at 23:52 CDT). As we’ve progressed further from the autumnal equinox, the ability to spot a rather young Moon has improved. Many observers should be able to spot the thin crescent aged about 1.7 days nestled between Antares and Mars on the evening of NOV 07.

I’ve created a graphic previewing the southwestern sky from Chicagoland after sunset on November 7th. It should well serve most North American observers. It can be seen by clicking: www.curtrenz.com/astronomical then going to the Moon page.

Photos and descriptions of the November New Moon would be welcome additions to this thread. Please include the date, time, time zone and location. Good Luck!

Below is a photo I took from Arlington Heights, Illinois after sunset on 2008 DEC 28 of a 1.5-day-old Moon with Venus at the top and Mercury in the center.

[patrickm]

Dagnammit! Just missed it in Austin!

[Paulie pchris00]

November 7, 2010, 4:38 PM CST, Portage Indiana.Hillary saw it after I showed her where to look. Exhausted as all h-e-double-hockey-sticks, but I will try to post the pics and story today, but more likely tomorrow. Gonna try to get the emersion of Tet Oph later. Immersion is out. Gonna be too bright.

Btw, I totally missed Mars and Antares near the Moon yesterday, but it might be worth a look tonight.

[hillimolly]

Paulie, I want to see the picture too

[Paulie pchris00]

Sunday, November 7th was the day after new Moon, and while most astronomers might utilize that time for deep sky observing, Hillary and I spent the evening hunting down the new Moon for Curt’s New Moon Challenge. The ecliptic now meets the horizon at a more favorable angle than the last two months, so all we really needed was for the weather to cooperate.


We watched the Bears game, then after that we needed to find a spot with a clear view of the western horizon. Hillary lives on a hill, but it’s a heavily wooded area. I had to go to Portage anyway, so we found an open parking lot, and sat in my car waiting for the Sun to set. There were clouds along the western horizon, but they were low, and I didn’t think they would interfere with our mission. We passed time by scanning the sky with binoculars, mostly watching the air traffic.


We had been sitting there for about ten minutes, when I finally saw the sliver Moon at 4:38 PM CST. I pointed for Hillary, and she saw it just after me. The sky was still very bright, and I knew the Moon wouldn’t show up in pictures of the horizon, so I set up my 6” Dob for shots of the lunar surface to provide proof of the observation. We stayed out until 5:09, observing what little we could of the lunar surface, and collecting images of the horizon. At 4:47, I turned around and saw Jupiter shining down already. I took some images, but it was still fairly bright, and only two Galilean Moons were showing.

















A quick look behind us showed we were under Jupiter's gaze...





...and the telescope revealed two Galilean Moons.


























This short video might give an idea of how unsteady the seeing was.





















Once the Moon slipped into the clouds on the horizon, we went out to eat. While we were eating, I read that Mars and Antares were in close conjunction with the Moon. I hadn’t noticed either of them, but then again, my focus was on Luna, not her surroundings. After that we went to downtown Valpo, but I wasn’t feeling well, and was exhausted from a lack of sleep. We cut the sidewalk session short for lack of visitors, but not before our favorite puppy Fudge and her owner came over to say hi. Just before we left, Io was approaching Jupiter’s limb, and should have transited about ten minutes later. Between missing the Io transit, and the Mars/Antares lunar conjunction, we missed some lesser observations Sunday night, but got our intended goal, to be the first Chicago Astronomers to sight November’s new Moon.




Fudge didn't know which end to look in!




She may have grown since the first time we met her, but Fudge is still a puppy to me.

[Centaur]

Congratulations are your latest New Moon spotting victory, Paulie! Thanks for sharing your pictures. In the coming months it will become easier to spot a really young Moon.

[hillimolly]

I love that puppy

[RobbW]

Nov 9, 2010 10:12:42 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

"so we found an open parking lot, and sat in my car waiting for the Sun to set.

mmmmm, hmmmm......

[Paulie pchris00]

C'mon! It was still light out!