Space and Astronomy
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Tuesday February 21, 2:35 p.m. |
Wednesday February 29, 5:21 p.m. |
Tuesday February 7, 1:54 p.m. |
Tuesday February 14, 9:04 a.m. |
The eta-Draconid Meteor Shower Can best be seen just before dawn on February 4. The shower was just discovered last year by a "patrol camera" in California. It's repeat performance is questionable due to the effect of Jupiter's magnetic field on the orbiting meteors. The Altadena WeatherCam captured an image from the regular October Draconid Meteor Shower last October 7, 2011
A Public Star Party will be held on the front lawn of the Griffith Observatory on Saturday February 25 from 2:00 p.m. until 9:45 p.m. Telescopes will be provided by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers.
Venus (Mag -4.0) is brilliant in the Southwest at sunset.
Jupiter (Mag -2.3) is high in the Southwest as darkness falls.
Mars (Mag -0.9) rises in the East just after sunset.
Saturn (Mag +0.5) appears low in the East just before dawn.
Reprinted with permission, the information above is made available in the Griffith Observer , a monthly publication by the Griffith Observatory. For complete information on the Planets and other items related to Astronomy, please visit the Griffith Observatory Web Site.
The Griffith Observatory provides free public viewing through it's Triple-Beam Coelostat-Fed Solar Telescope,
12-inch Zeiss Refractor and 11-inch Computer Controlled Telescopes. For more information on observing through
these Telescopes or visiting the Griffith Observatory visit the
Griffith Observatory Web Site.
The theory that our Sun is the center of the universe and our planets revolve around it was first documented by Nicolas Copernicus. The interesting thing is that Copernicus was a Catholic Priest and Philosopher, not an Astronomer. But he believed that God would have made the movements of the planets more simple than the previously documented theory (which was very complex). As we know today, Corpernicus was right !
