October Updates
We're having a meetup!
Hello stargazers and woods-wanderers.
We’re moving slowly, but we are still moving, so we have a few updates for all of you about Night Club.
First, we’re having a meetup this month! We don’t yet have a venue set for our regular monthly Night Club get-togethers as we know them, but we will be meeting regardless, just to share company, dream together, brainstorm, and share more granular updates for those who are interested. We’re planning to meet at the monthly Astronomy on Tap event at Bickerson’s Brewhouse in Ballard, which should be October 23rd, 7pm - 9pm. As of right now there is no event page or theme posted, but I’ve linked to the Facebook page above, which will post updates. This is an event where speakers, often current astronomy researchers, are invited to share about their topic with the public, and it can be interesting, mind-blowing, and sometimes very silly. We’d love to see you there!
Secondly, we’ve finished a Venue Partnership Brochure and are beginning to shop it around to parks and private venue owners. We are looking all over the Seattle Metro area, and are looking for some very specific things, including a mix of forest and field with limited light pollution. We’d love to continue taking your suggestions for places to reach out to as we begin to make contact.
There are also some really wild things happening in the sky!
Auroras: We’ve been in a period of some pretty intense solar activity, as the sun nears its solar maximum. This is an 11 year cycle where the electromagnetic poles of the sun slowly change and reverse, and this changeover seems to be particularly active! I don’t know about y’all, but I get a lot of news notifications about this that never seem to pan out, but we should be on the lookout this weekend again. Prior to this year, I would just check the NOAA Aurora Dashboard tool, which is pretty basic. But I’ve recently been turned on to the My Aurora Forecast Pro app. I love their map feature, as well as detailed forecasts and notifications. Let us know if you see anything good!
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS: There’s a cool comet flying through the solar system that’s kind of supposed to put on a huge show. It’s been visible in the morning twilight, but is transitioning to our evening twilight skies this week. From October 12-25 it’s supposed to be the brightest object in our solar system (barring the sun and moon) in our early evening skies! You should be able to see it on the western horizon - head for a place with a clear view of the Olympic skyline. Check out this link, or search the comet’s name for more up to date information about where exactly to look for it. According to this source, “the comet's altitude above the horizon will increase by about 3 degrees per night; each evening, it will be setting about 16 minutes later.”
Other delights: Venus is an evening twilight “star” right now, Saturn marches across the evening sky, and Jupiter and Mars are hanging out next to Orion in the mid-night. Mornings are dark, and you can still catch Orion in and friends in the sky on your morning commute. We’re past the Fall Equinox and officially in the dark half of the year. Happy stargazing!
Natalie
Here’s the Astronomy on Tap event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/919507626415320?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[]%7D