{"id":565,"date":"2013-04-17T01:15:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T01:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/\/?p=565"},"modified":"2013-04-18T00:51:17","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T00:51:17","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-april-24-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2013\/04\/17\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-april-24-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, April 24, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California:<\/p>\n

The moon brightens the evening sky this week. The moon\u2019s phase changes from crescent to first quarter on Thursday the 18th<\/sup>, and shows its waxing gibbous phase through the 24th<\/sup>. Binocular and telescope users will be able to get a good view of the large crater Copernicus along the terminator, the dividing line of night and sunrise on the moon, on Saturday evening, the 20th<\/sup>. Moonset occurs about 36 minutes later from one night to the next this week, advancing from 12:02 a.m. to 4:15 a.m. between the 17th<\/sup> and the 24th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The brilliant planet Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, appears midway between the western horizon and overhead as darkness falls. Jupiter sets at about 11:00 p.m. this week.<\/p>\n

When evening twilight ends, at 9:00 p.m., look just above the southeastern horizon to see the golden planet Saturn, in Libra the Scales.\u00a0 Saturn climbs in the sky until it is 44 degrees high in the south at 1:30 a.m., and then slowly sinks until it is low in the southwest at dawn. A telescope will show the northern face of Saturn\u2019s ring system tilted 18 degrees in our direction.<\/p>\n

Comet PANSTARRS C\/2011 L4 has faded and can no longer be easily seen from light polluted regions. Comet PANSTARRS, however, is still visible through binoculars and telescopes when observed from wilderness locations shortly before dawn. The comet is circumpolar, meaning that it is above the horizon all night, but is best seen in the early morning, from 2:10 a.m. to 4:50 a.m., when it is between 5\u02da and 22\u02da above the north-northeast horizon. \u00a0The comet is located in western Cassiopeia the Queen, close to the upper part of the imaginary \u201cW\u201d when observed before dawn. A finder chart is available on our special comet PANSTARRS page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saturday, April 20 is this month\u2019s public star party on the front lawn of Griffith Observatory. The star party, usually held each month on the weekend closest to the first-quarter moon, is when the local astronomy clubs assist Griffith Observatory to provide views of the sky and information about the hobby of astronomy to our visitors, free of charge. Dozens of telescopes provided by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society allow you to safely view the sun during the day (starting at about 2:00 p.m.) and the moon, planets, and objects beyond our solar system at night until 9:30 p.m.. Please remember that the telescopes set up on the grounds of Griffith Observatory have been approved for public use, so please do not bring your own. Future star party dates are listed on our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory\u2019s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule.<\/p>\n

From Griffith Observatory, I\u2019m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report\u00a0 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California: The moon brightens the evening sky this week. The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}