San Bernardino Valley Amateur Astronomers

Southern California will witness an almost total lunar eclipse early evening of Thursday, August 27. The partial lunar eclipse will be 96.2% and the last visible in North America until December 31, 2028.

Ref: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2026-august-28

Plan to stay up all night or set your alarm. There is a total lunar eclipse visible in Southern California during the very early morning hours of March 3. This will be the last total lunar eclipse visible until June 26, 2029!

Viewing Titan’s shadow on Saturn is only possible every 15-years consigning with Saturn’s tilt when the rings are lined up edge on. Now that Saturn is becoming an evening planet (rising around midnight 7/15), it is time to catch Titan’s shadow. Titan orbits Saturn once every 16 days. Here is a table of crossing events.

*Full shadow on disk only at mid-transit

Ref: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/titan-shadow-transit-season-underway/

Stay up late for a chance to see the first total lunar eclipse since 2022. From Redlands, CA the times to know are:

• 10:09:40 pm (Mar 13) – Partial Eclipse begins
• 11:26:06 pm (Mar 13) – Total Eclipse begins
• 11:58:43 pm (Mar 13) – Maximum
• 12:31:26 am (Mar 14) – Total Eclipse ends
• 1:47:52 am (Mar 14) – Partial Eclipse ends

Addition information

The moon will pass in front of Mars on Monday, January 13 and it will be visible from SoCal. The disappearance will be around 5:50pm PST and low in the east. The reappearance will be around 6:47pm PST. (In-the-sky.org)

Member Bruce Herwig has been taking beautiful pictures of the comet and auroras https://www.facebook.com/groups/2503903462984985/user/1422708510/

Start looking for comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ALTAS) in the morning sky right before sunrise beginning Sept. 27 through to Oct. 1. This is the best chance for the comet to be seen at its brightest. Beginning after Oct. 9, the comet transitions into the evening sky, right after sunset. Easier time to view but the comet will begin to dim making it less prominent.

Check out this Space.com article

There are several chances to see NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) as it orbits the Earth testing new solar sail capabilities. The satellite at times could be as bright as Sirius. Check out this Space.com article for details and view the follow visibility times.

Created by a high school junior, guided by faculty and graduate students in the University of Washington’s Department of Astronomy, Cosmo is an astronomy chatbot that aims to make learning about the universe accessible to various age group.

Give Cosmo a try.

April 8, 2024 is the next Great American Total Solar Eclipse. The path starts in Mexico, cuts across Texas then up through the Southeast and Midwest. If you stay in San Bernardino, the eclipse will be approximately 60% covered.

Here are some resources:

• NASA – https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/
• San Bernardino – https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/san-bernardino?iso=20240408
• National Weather Service – https://www.weather.gov/pah/April8_2024SolarEclipseClimate