Ladd Observatory, on Hope Street in Prov, will open this evening from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. Featured through the 12-inch refractor
will be the planets Venus, early in the evening, and Jupiter, later in the night.  On the deck, the portable telescopes, in addition to showing the planets, will take advantage of the Moonless conditions to show some of the brighter deep-sky objects.

For more info about tonight's agenda, and other sky events to watch for this week, click on "More...."

 
Some of you might have read this past week about the star Fomalhaut,
one of the brightest and closest stars in the sky.  It has been
discovered to have a giant dust ring circling it, which contains a
planet several times the size of Jupiter.  Craig will give a short
discussion of this exciting discovery in the library, about 7:30.
Also, Fomalhaut is still visible in our early sky.  Ask any of us to
point it out to you when you're on the deck.

If you happen to be up in the early morning hours, and the sky appears
to be rather clear, you may notice the Moon is up with you.  As it
reaches its last quarter phase tomorrow afternoon, each passing day it
is moving closer to the Sun, in preparation for its new phase on
Thanksgiving morning.  On its way, the Moon will be passing very close
by some of our brighter morning objects.  Thursday morning, it will be
relatively close to Leo the Lion's brightest star, Regulus, the lion's
heart.  Next day, it will visit the region of Leo where Saturn is
staying for awhile.  And on Monday, the bright star near the very tiny
crescent Moon will be Spica, the sheaf of wheat held in the hand of
Virgo.  Let us know if you see any of these close approaches.

And, yes, we still would like you to continue to monitor the nightly
changes in the positions of Venus and Jupiter.  You should be really
noticing how close they appear to be now.  Remember: Mark your
calendar for Monday, December 1st, when they will be within 2 degrees
of each other, and right next to the four-day-old crescent Moon.

For more info about the Observatory and directions, click here.

via Francine Jackson, Staff Astronomer