[AstroNet] Planetarium - Skywatching and Events

[Kevin Govender]

Dear Astronet

Attached is a sample of the newsletter we send out from the Jhb
Planetarium to the approximately 4,700 people who are subscribed to our
e-mail list.

If you organise public astronomy events, please let me know and we will
add them to our e-mail shots and also (when we get around to working on
it) to our website.  You could either:

* send me an e-mail with your contact details, and I'll get hold of you
before we send out an e-mail to our subscribers (which we do about once
a month but not on a regular date), or
* send us details of your events as soon as you have them confirmed and
organised.
or both.

Regards
Claire Flanagan
Jhb Planetarium
info.planet at wits.ac.za
www.planetarium.co.za
011-717-1390


*Watch an Occultation of El Nath evening of
Saturday 19th January*

On Saturday evening, the Moon will pass in front of the relatively
bright star El Nath. 

Johannesburgers will see El Nath disappear behind the Moon (to the
right of the Moon) at 9:30pm, and re-appear (on the left) at 10:43pm.



The occultation will happen at different times for other towns - see
end of this e-mail for other towns.

A map is at www.planetarium.co.za <http://www.planetarium.co.za>
- El Nath is just to the right of the Moon, *Mars* is much
brighter and a bit further from the Moon.  The Moon will be quite
bright - binoculars would make it easier to see El Nath.  



This is not rare - we have two "lunar occultations" of bright stars
this year; the other is around 1am on 21st May.  But it's rarer than
you would expect - the Moon viewed from the Earth is smaller than most
people think.  To test your guess of the Moon's size, try this: hold
your hand at the end of your arm.  How big would you guess the Moon is,
compared to your little finger?  Check your guess over the weekend,
when the Moon is nearly full.





*Next Basic Astronomy Course at the Planetarium*

We will be repeating our "Introduction to Astronomy" course in
February.  We will run two parallel courses, one on Mondays (starting
Feb 4th) and the other Tuesdays (starting Feb 5th).  For details, see www.planetarium.co.za <http://www.planetarium.co.za>



*Astronomical Society (Jhb Centre) Astronomy Course*

ASSA Jhb will be running a four- or five-session course entitled
"Theoretical Astronomy – the ideas behind the observations" on
Wednesdays, starting Feb 20th.  For details see assajhb.co.za.temp.glodns.net/ <http://assajhb.co.za.temp.glodns.net/>



*Greet the Full Moon at the top of Table Mountain*

A group of lunatics from the SA Astronomical Observatory and the MTN
Science Centre  will be taking telescopes up Lion's Head in Cape Town
at full moon on Tuesday 22nd January.  They will meet at the parking at
the start of the Lion's Head hike (on the road to Signal Hill) from
about 6pm.  Picnic baskets are recommended; the Moon rises in Cape Town
at 8:11pm.



*Shows at the Jhb Planetarium*

We are currently running our Sky Tonight show (a tour of the SA skies)
Thursdays 7pm, our kiddies show (Space Travel for 5-8yr olds) Saturdays
10:30am, and our family show (Fri 8pm & Sat 3pm) is Hubble Vision. 
Our next practical guide to star-finding (for 9-12yr olds) ("Get to
Know your Sky") is scheduled for 6:30pm Saturday 16th February.  

Details for all these under "shows" at www.planetarium.co.za <http://www.planetarium.co.za/>

*Load shedding*: we cannot run shows without power.  If power goes
off during a show, we risk blowing light bulbs of the stars, and
putting some equipment into a reset condition.  Currently, this would
affect the Friday evening show if Eskom's "central region" is in stage
2 or 3.  In this situation, the show will be delayed 15min while we
wait to see if the 8pm shut-down is applied.



*Shows at the Cape Town Planetarium*: see www.iziko.org.za/planetarium <http://www.iziko.org.za/planetarium/index.html>



Regards

Claire Flanagan

Jhb Planetarium

011-717-1390

info.planet at wits.ac.za <mailto:info.planet at wits.ac.za>

www.planetarium.co.za <http://www.planetarium.co.za/>




* El Nath Occultation Times for Southern Africa:*

*Town* 	*Start* 	*End*
Bloemfontein 	9:29pm 	10:33pm
Bulawayo 	9:26pm 	10:51pm
Cape Town 	9:17pm 	10:06pm
Durban 	9:42pm 	10:45pm
East London 	9:40pm 	10:30pm
Gabarone 	9:23pm 	10:39pm
Harare 	9:31pm 	11:00pm
Johannesburg 	9:30pm 	10:43pm
Kimberley 	9:25pm 	10:30pm
Maputo 	9:42pm 	10:55pm
Mmabatho 	9:23pm 	10:37pm
Musina 	9:31pm 	10:53pm
Port Elizabeth 	9:36pm 	10:22pm
Pretoria 	9:30pm 	10:44pm
Windhoek 	8:56pm 	10:18pm