Our Programs…
… are on clear Friday and Saturday nights from March - Late November. Watch the main page. By noon on the day of each program we post a forecast and a note on whether or not the program that evening will go forward.
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March 6-7: Jupiter, Orion and Sirius Three highlights of the late winter sky, the constellation Orion, brilliant Jupiter, and the second brightest star in the heavens, Sirius, are perfectly placed. See the Orion Nebula and, maybe, comet Wierzchos. 6:30 PM EST
March 13-14: The Seventh Planet 245 years ago this weekend the first planet ever discovered since prehistory was found by an English astronomer working from his backyard. The planet is perfectly placed for viewing. Also, the Orion Nebula, Jupiter and dark winter skies. 7:30 PM EDT
March 20-21: Spring Arrives Come see the sun align with the equinox windows in our plaza to mark the first two days of spring. Also, a very thin crescent moon, Jupiter and Orion. 7:30 PM EDT
March 27-28: Exploring the Moon The rugged surface of the moon is in full display this weekend, allowing us to see the regions where the six successful Apollo missions set down. Also, we’ll be talking about the Artemis II mission which may, or may not, have launched by program time. 7:45 PM EDT
April 3-4: Star Families About half the stars you see in the sky have companions- or entire families. We’ll be pointing our scopes at some of the more well known and lovely of these. Also Jupiter and the moon rising over the eastern horizon late in the program. 8:00 PM EDT
April 10-11: Dark Spring Skies The galaxies of Leo, Virgo and Ursa Major, the brilliant Jupiter with its moons, and the gem-like star clusters of Auriga are all overhead this weekend. 8:00 PM EDT
April 17-18: Galaxies! Spring, for the astronomically-minded, is galaxy season when night side of our world points out towards a region of space filled with countless galaxies. 8:15 PM EDT
April 24-25: The Rugged Moon The moon’s surface tells the violent history of our solar system. Explore the craters, valleys, and mountains of its surface. 8:15: PM EDT (On April 25, arrive early 7:00 PM to catch a daytime glimpse of the bright star Regulus which will be blotted out by dark limb of the moon around 7:15.)
May 1-2: Venus to the West and the Moon to the East The second and third brightest natural objects in the sky bracket the evening this weekend. Enjoy the full moon rising and the gibbous Venus setting. 8:30 PM EDT
May 8-9: The Two Celestial Bears The big and little dippers are each parts of two larger constellations which represent a big and a little bear. Come learn what else people see in these figures and explore the celestial gems within. 8:30 PM EDT
May 15-16: Exploring Hubble’s Legacy This weekend is the birthday of Nancy Grace Roman, the “mother of the Hubble Space Telescope”. Under dark skies, we’ll be exploring some of the more famous targets if this venerable satellite. The views won’t look like the images that Hubble captured, but the photons of light will have come directly from the objects. 8:45 PM EDT
May 22-23: Jupiter and Venus in the West With Jupiter setting in the west, this week is a good time to get a last look at it before it is lost in the evening twilight. On May 22, Jupiter will have two solar eclipses going on at the same time in its cloud-tops, just as the world dips into the trees. 8:45 PM EDT
May 29-30: The Bright Moon The nearly full moon lights up our plaza. Come learn how moonlight, far from being silvery blue, is bright enough to reveal the true colors of the world. 8:45 PM EDT
June 5-6: Jupiter, Venus and Gemini A striking “appulse” (close approach) of Venus and Jupiter against the stars of Gemini draw the eye. Come learn about these two worlds and about the forgotten Gemini program, which taught astronauts and engineers the skills to get humans to the moon. 8:45 PM EDT
June 12-13: Hercules the Hero and Boötes the Hunter These two constellations are high overhead, and in dark skies, this weekend. Come learn the stories associated with them and explore a few, dramatic star clusters within 8:45 PM EDT
June 19-20: Spring turns into Summer The programs this weekend occur on the last two days of spring. The sun will be setting in alignment with the summer solstice window in our plaza. Come learn how other cultures watched the sun and tracked its comings and goings. Then we’ll look at the crescent moon. 8:45 PM EDT
Jupiter and shadow transit by Andy Downey
View of the Month:
Jupiter
The most common astronomical question I’m getting right now (February 2026) is “what is that bright star high in the east?”
If it’s early evening, and it’s still late winter or early spring of 2026, the answer is almost certainly “Jupiter.”
The largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter could fit over 1320 Earths inside its volume (if you crushed the rocks down and filled in all the spaces). However, Jupiter is not made of rock (at least not much rock). It is, instead, nearly all hydrogen, helium, and an assortment of other gasses.
In other words, Jupiter is all clouds.
And it is the brown grey, orange and red-ish colors of those clouds that we see when we look through an amateur telescope at high power.
Each band of clouds represents a region where the winds are going more or less the same direction and speed around the planet. The light color bands tend to go one way (relative to the bulk of the planet) and the dark bands go the other.
At the intersection of those two winds, gigantic eddies form. But the word “eddies” sells them short. These “tiny” oval blobs are, in fact, continent sized hurricanes whipped up by the difference in wind speed between the two adjacent regimes. The grandest of these eddies, is the giant, cannabalistic, Great Red Spot, a bit larger than the Earth.
The Great Red Spot (GRS to its friends) can often be made out as a pale, deep orange, blob when the correct side of Jupiter is facing us. If the GRS is not in view, you don’t have to wait too long for it to appear again. A “day” on Jupiter is just under 10 hours. If you can’t see it, you don’t have to wait much longer than 5 hours for it to come back around again. (By which time Jupiter may have set, alas)
Deep in the heart of Jupiter, beneath many thousands of miles of compressed liquid, metallic hydrogen (the pressure is so great, it turns the gas into a dense liquid), there may be a residue material left over from the planet’s formation which could plausibly be called “rock” if it were not for the fact that it glows at temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun.
