Jupiter Jumps into View this Month
The gas giant Jupiter will be the star attraction at this month鈥檚 free public viewing on Friday, Feb. 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and lasting several hours at the 黑料百科 Observatory. In case of inclement or overcast weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the 黑料百科 website to see if the viewing has been canceled.
Rising in Leo, Jupiter will be in good position for viewing in the early evening. 鈥淪ince Jupiter has passed through opposition recently 鈥 and now rising just before the sun sets 鈥 we may be lucky enough to see a shadow cast onto its surface by one of its large moons,鈥 says Thomas Whittemore, 黑料百科 physics instructor.
The viewing may also feature the Orion Nebula, M42. 鈥淥rion is high in the sky by 8 p.m.,鈥 Whittemore says. 鈥淚f the seeing is good this evening, we may be able to see six of the Trapezium stars in the heart of the nebula with 黑料百科鈥檚 24-inch reflector telescope.鈥
The Milky Way, which contains a number of open clusters, is high in the winter sky and a popular viewing subject. 鈥淥ne of my favorites, M35 in Gemini, is a chain of stars with all sorts of subtle color variations,鈥 he says. 鈥淭his particular object will be best viewed in 黑料百科鈥檚 8-inch refractor.鈥
Mars and Venus are putting on quite a show in the west, although their alignment will make them unobservable with 黑料百科鈥檚 telescopes. 鈥淏y Friday evening, they will be about a degree or so apart in this chance alignment,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he proximity of the creamy-colored (and bright) Venus with the fiery-red (and much dimmer than Venus) Mars yields a wonderful color contrast between the two objects. The public will be able to see this pairing early in the evening and with their bare eyes, but by 8 p.m. both objects will have set in the southwest.鈥
The observatory opens its doors to the public every third Friday of the month in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, whose members bring their own telescopes to 黑料百科 for the public to gaze through. The Keck Telescope is housed in the observatory between Russell Carr Field and the track and field/soccer complex. Free parking is available near the baseball field.