One of the telescopic highlights of the early summer sky is M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules.
Program Saturday, June 27: Rained Out
The weather forecast for the program tonight, Saturday, June 27 at the John Glenn Astronomy Park calls for clouds and, quite likely, rain. so we must call of the program.
The stars are the stars of our show, and when they don't show up, we can't do one. We hope to see you on a clear night in the future!
You may secure free passes for this Summer’s upcoming programs at:
JGAP Is a dark site deigned to give people a place to enjoy pristine, starry skies. It takes time for human eyes to adapt to dark conditions after they have experienced bright lights.
So, please be considerate to others when driving in after dark and turn your high beams down. This helps keep our observing field dark. Then, once you have parked, please turn off your headlights right away.
If you have trouble in the dark finding your way to our field from the parking area, wait a minute or two without exposing yourself to bright light. Then walk. You’d be amazed what your eyes can do if you just give them a chance.
01. Summer Skies
The “Lagoon Nebula” (lower right) and “Trifid Nebula” (upper left) appear at a spot in the sky not far from the core of the Milky Way. They are best seen during mid-summer evenings when skies are dark. Image by Brad Hoehne
Summer is the season of short nights. The sky does not get fully dark until quite late and the morning twilight starts to tickle our vision shockingly early.
But it’s also the season in which the core of our Milky Way comes into view.
As the Earth moves about the sun, the night side continually faces outward in a new direction. In the summer, the night side points toward the heart of our home galaxy where a maelstrom of dust, gas, stars and illuminated nebulae swarm.
The core of our galaxy is the richest part of the sky, and there are lots of things to look at there.
So, even if there’s less time to look, the summer is a great time to get under the stars.
03. The Ring Nebula
Image of M57 by Joe Renzetti
One of the most popular objects in the summer sky is the Ring Nebula (M57) in the constellation Lyra.
The remnants of a sun-like star which has reached the end of its life. This light-year-wide ring of gas and dust is enriched with the heavier elements that the star has made over the course of its light.
M57 is particularly enriched with Oxygen, an element that the universe was not born with. Most of the oxygen you have in you was cast into the universe by countless stars forming nebulae like this one.
02. Astrophotography
Image by Alex Mullins
On most clear, moonless, evenings, you’ll find folks taking advantage of the dark skies at JGAP to shoot images of the night sky.
This pastime is known as astrophotography.
All are welcome to bring cameras and telescopes to JGAP to try their hand at this.
If you get a good image, why not share it with us by using our Instagram hashtag: #jgastropark
04. Venus
Venus in spring, by Brad Hoehne
Do you see a bright “star” in the west? That’s almost certainly Venus.
Venus is the 3rd brightest natural object in the sky, after the Sun, The Moon. It’s so bright, at times, that in dark environs it can cast a shadow!
Because of this striking appearance, we often get messages about it and we have to ensure many that no, it is not following you and yes, it is really just a planet. An amazing planet.
Predicting the Weather
The Clear Sky Clock
The chart below is an hour by hour prediction of how clear the skies will likely be over the coming two days. Cloud cover and transparency are the critical data points. In general, dark blue is best. If both transparency and Cloud Cover are indicated as dark blue, then skies are likely to be clear and filled with stars. Lighter colors are proportionally worse.
In recent months, the predictions of the Clear Sky Clock have been somewhat unreliable, so use at your own risk.
Clear Outside
The forecasts from the website Clear Outside have proven very accurate and reliable in recent months and give a great indication of what sort of clouds to expect, if any.
ClearOutside forecast for the Hocking Hills
Astrospherics
Another great site for predicting conditions on an hour by hour basis is Astropherics, whose model of late is better than that of the Clear Sky Clock. Access JGAP’s location with this link:
Weather.Gov
Finally, the best site for predicting the weather is the site from which all the data comes from in the first place, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast page. The best forecast for JGAP is the Logan, Ohio hourly pinpoint forecast. Find it here.
The most critical part of the forecast is the blue line which represents the predicted cloud cover for that hour. Generally 50% or higher is not good.
Incidentally, Weather.gov is a product of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has suffered devastating cutbacks in recent months that may undermine its very existence. NOAA provides data that commercial services call upon for their own forecasts as well as conducts research that helps improve forecast models in the future. Many people have fought hard to maintain this valuable public service and some funding has been restored, but there is still much work to do. Please consider speaking up for it.
Support the Friends of the Hocking Hills State Park
Do you love the Hocking Hills State Park? Would you like to help projects that make HHSP an even better place? Do you love JGAP?
Then consider joining The Friends of the Hocking Hills State Park, an organization that supports projects like JGAP and other enhancements to the most beautiful park in Ohio.
http://www.friendsofhockinghills.org/
Join our Facebook and Instagram Communities
We have a Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/JohnGlennAstronomyPark/?ref=bookmarks
… and an Instagram Page
https://www.instagram.com/jgastropark/
On both we are regularly featuring items of astronomical interest.
If you have questions that you’d like addressed in these feeds, feel free to Facebook Messenger them to us!
“The greatest thing we can do is inspire young minds...”
- John Glenn
