Highlights in Landis' Dark Skies

The Lan­dis Arbore­tum is pleased to host the Albany Area Ama­teur Astronomers’ Star Par­ties for 2015, where vis­i­tors may view plan­ets and deep sky objects such as star clus­ters, galax­ies, neb­u­lae, and an occa­sion­al comet through a vari­ety of tele­scopes. Star Par­ties are held month on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day accord­ing to the fol­low­ing schedule: 

• March 20 and 21 at 8:00 PM
• April 10 and 11 at 8:30 PM
• May 8 and 9 at 9:00 PM
• June 19 and 20 at 9:30 PM
• July 17 and 18 at 10:00 PM
• August 7 and 8 at 9:30 PM
• Sep­tem­ber 11 and 12 at 8:30 PM
• Octo­ber 9 and 10 at 8:00 PM
• Novem­ber 6 and 7 at 8:00 PM 

Vis­i­tors are also invit­ed to attend the annu­al club meet­ing on Thurs­day, August 20, which will be fol­lowed by a Star Party.

These notable celes­tial events will be highlighted: 

• On March 20^th, Mars will be 1 degree north of the Moon. On April 10^th and 11^th, Venus will be 3 degrees to the left of the Pleiades star cluster.
• On June 19^th and 20^th, there will be a close con­junc­tion of the Moon, with Venus and Jupiter.
• On July 18^th and 19^th, there will be anoth­er close con­junc­tion of the cres­cent Moon with Jupiter and Venus.
• On August 7^th, Mer­cury will be less than a degree from the con­stel­la­tion Leo’s bright­est star, Regulus.
• On August 20^th, Mars will be inside the Bee­hive star cluster.
• On Octo­ber 10^th, Jupiter will be 3 degrees north of the Moon, and there will be mete­or show­er, the South­ern Taurids.
• On Novem­ber 6^th, the cres­cent Moon will be just 3 degrees to the right of Jupiter.

Also note:

• A total eclipse of the Moon will occur on Sep­tem­ber 27^th, begin­ning at 9:06 PM EDT.

Because Star Par­ties are can­celled if skies are over­cast, it is a good idea to reg­is­ter with Alan French at (518) 374‑8460 that you can be noti­fied if there is a cancellation.