Obs ops for 8/18 Fri to 8/21 Sunday I) Possible aurora from 8/16 CME arrives Fri-Sat 12:00-3:00am Large sunspot 904 ejected a Class 6 flare on 8/16/2006. There may be faint photographically reachable aurora between 12:00am on Fri-Sat. morning through 3:00am. Follow moderate-low potential for Utah activity with the usual resources: Costello Index http://www.sec.noaa.gov/rpc/costello/index.html Ace 7Day Sweep http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ace/MAG_SWEPAM_7d.html NOAA/PEOS Sat map - http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/ NOAA/SEC 3hr Kp plot http://www.sec.noaa.gov/index.html Source: spaceweather.com; U of Alaska GSE aurora predictor II) Ceres at opposition and observable Fri-Sat and Sat-Sun sunset through 12:30 am. Ceres (530km dia) was at opposition on 8/12 and was at it's maximum brightness of 7.6. Ceres continues at maximum brightness through 8/19. Ceres transits at around 1AM-2Am in the morning. Ceres is low in the 111.8W long sky at 21 deg alt. By 8/19, the Moon is sufficiently below the horizon that Ceres can be observed without Moon light interference. Hubble Ceres Image http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/27/image/a Wikipedia entry data http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Ceres Wiki photo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ceres_Hubble_sing.jpg A more recent study led by Peter Thomas of Cornell University, suggests that Ceres has a differentiated interior: observations coupled with computer models suggest the presence of a rocky core overlain with an icy mantle. This mantle of thickness from 120 to 60 km could contain 200 million cubic kilometres of water, which is more than the amount of fresh water on the Earth. http://space.com/scienceastronomy/050907_ceres_planet.html Moon's diameter 3476km Planetary Society Page on Ceres http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/near_earth_objects/asteroids_and_com... NASA Dawn Mission PS page http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/dawn/ Dawn Facts Launch date: June 2007 Mars flyby: February 2009 Vesta rendezvous: October 2011 - May 2012 Ceres rendezvous: August 2015 - January 2016 NASA Dawn Official Mission page http://www-spc.igpp.ucla.edu/dawn/ A new launch date has been set for June 20, 2007. III) ISS overpass for SLC Friday 8/18/2006 9:07pm -2.0mag overpass Appears 21h03m00s 2.6m az:225.5d SW Transit 21h07m51s -2.0m az:140.8d SE h:62.2d dist:387.6km alt:346.7km Disappears 21h12m11s 1.5m az: 56.8d ENE h:2.3d IV) Minor meteor shower kappa Cygnids ZHR 3 Peak on Fri 8/18 2006 after dark. May create a slighty higher than normal background incidence of meteors. http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006/summer V) Ongoing Comet P177/Barnard in Hercules chi Cyg in outburst Mercury rising to max magnitude; is now above -1.1mag. With obscuring Wasatch Mtns look for just after 6:00am. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com