“Star light, Star bright...
the first star you see at night is still Jupiter, but by the 10th it will be Venus—low in the west.

Venus will be on the other side of the Sun, a morning star, at the beginning of the month, but by the 10th it will be the evening star. After sunset, look 3 degrees above the western horizon and see Venus with a brightness of -3.9 magnitude.

Ground Hog day, February 2nd —which is celebrated in the United States and Canada as a prognosticator of Spring—is known astronomically as one of the 4 cross-quarter days between our four seasons. No matter what Punxsutawney Phil says we are still halfway to Spring.

“Star light, Star bright...
the first star you see at night...” is Jupiter—low in the west.
Check out Jupiter and its moons on January 7th—Galileo did it on January 7, 1610. His determination that those small ‘stars’ near Jupiter were really moons circling Jupiter got him in big trouble. He initially could only see three of the moons but on January 13th he saw the fourth.

Chris just called me tonight with the news of Joe's passing. He was a great man and friend, and I will miss his calls immensely.

I had just called Joe earlier this week and had a great visit with him, lasting for at least a half hour. His speech was slurred and he was having trouble holding the phone up to his mouth, but I could still understand most of what he was saying. His mind was quite clear, and he and I reminisced of years, people, telescopes and CCAS observing outings going back into 1970 when I first met Joe at age 19 (and Joe was in his early 30's). He asked if I'd ever heard from Virgil Rudd again, which I hadn't. He had heard from Rodney Rocha not too long ago. We remembered many funny stories about Gordon McLerran, and there are more Gordon stories than can be remembered in one conversation. He talked about his 6" and 10" scopes, and about the little 6" f/3.9 RFT I made that he absolutely loved to look through. It was a great visit, and I'm so glad I got to hear his very distinct and familiar voice one last time.

Joe always called me at least once or twice a year, out of the blue, and we'd launch off into telescope talk like no time had ever passed. His mind was ALWAYS working, always thinking about that next telescope or observing session. He really liked going out to Lipantitlan, that seemed to be his favorite place to observe.

I will miss Joe sorely. I'm glad he's free of the shackles of his ruined body and free to sail from Star to Star (thank you Markie!) without hindrance of space or time, or asteroids in the path. I look forward to reuniting with Joe in the distant future, and once again having him mentor me in the marvels of this and all other universes and all the goodies in them, this time close up and personal.

God bless ya Joe, you had a great life and a lot of dedicated friends you've left with good memories.

Mike

Applications are now being accepted....

The 32nd Annual Texas Star Party will be hosted on the magnificent Prude Ranch, a 3500 acre mile-high ranch located six miles northwest of Fort Davis on Highway 118... 12 miles on the same road from McDonald Observatory

the first star you see at night...” is Jupiter—low in the west. And the last star you see at dawn is Venus in the east.
“The Edge of Night”—anyone remember that TV Soap Opera that ran from 1956 to 1975? You can still see the Edge of Night in the clear evening sky at sunset each evening in the east.

Look in the east at sunset and notice the pink horizontal band just above a darker area. This pinkish area is known as “the veil of Venus” or the “belt of Venus”. The darker area below it is the Earth’s shadow. As the Sun sinks lower and lower below the western horizon, the Earth’s shadow gets higher and higher. The boundary between this pink band and the shadow is called the Edge of Night.

“The Twilight Zone”—anyone remember that TV series that ran from 1959 to 1964? You can experience the twilight every evening between sunset and night. Night officially arrives when the Edge of Night sets in the west--this is called Astronomical Twilight when the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.

On December 18th, Mercury is the bright ‘star’ below and to the right of the crescent Moon.

It is wonderful to watch the Moon rise out of Corpus Christi Bay
Wednesday December 2nd 6:00 p.m. exactly 100% full at 1:31 a.m.
Thursday December 3rd 7:07 p.m. waning gibbous 97% full
Friday December 4th 8:16 p.m. waning gibbous 92% full

And watch the Blue Moon rise—second full moon in a month
Thursday December 31st 5:53 p.m. exactly 100% full at 1:14 p.m.

Owen Hopkins December 2009