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Observing at Great Meadows tonight (11-07) has been cancelled due to cloudy weather and a muddy observing field. Lyle Mars   See front page of NOVAC Site for changes to event. More information about Great Meadow including directions and parking visit the Great Meadow Site page.

Our meetings on the second Sunday of the Month except in May when it would fall on Mother’s Day. The events are normally held evening at 7:00 pm in Research Hall Room 163 on the campus of George Mason University. Our web page, http://www.novac.com/meetings/, has directions and additional details. For February 8th 2015 we will be in Observatory[...]

 

Keep your fingers crossed! Every now and then the Taurid meteor shower — normally modest — produces spectacular fireballs visible even in bright moonlight. Most recently this happened in 2008. Since the meteor stream is rather spread out in space, Earth takes several weeks to pass through it, causing an extended period of meteor activity,[...]

  Please read the C.M. Crockett Page for park details.  

Public Night @ Sky Meadows – Check http://www.novac.com/wp/observing/sky-meadows/ for site details and directions. NOTE: There is no admittance to Sky Meadows State Park after 6:30pm! Even if the event goes later.

The Leonids ranges from November 6th through the 30th, peaking overnight on the 17th with about 15 sightings per hour. In 2015, the rather wide waxing crescent moon sets in the evening and won’t interfere with this year’s Leonid meteor shower. The peak morning will probably be November 18 – but try November 17, too.[...]

 

Is this the year we get a massive Monocerotids outburst? The 2015 peak arrives at 4:25 UT, good for Europe. In 1995, this storm maxed out at 400+ meteors per hour… The object responsible for this unpredictable storm — probably a long period comet — has not yet been identified.