Chico Community Observatory

For those still up, late on a Sunday night, a penumbral Lunar eclipse has just started. This type of eclipse means the Moon is only in the penumbra part of Earth's shadow (see attached picture) you may not even notice it much, but let us know if you do.

Watch the SpaceX and NASA launch today of Crew Dragon with 4 astronauts to the ISS. https://www.spacex.com/launches/

Hi Everyone! A few weeks ago we posted that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft would be making a touch & go landing on the surface of the asteroid Bennu to collect a sample and bring it back to Earth. The sample collection attempt was very successful! The surface consistency of the landing site was found to be similar to stepping onto a deep pile of corn flakes! More about this amazing accomplishment in the below article (with pictures & videos). Who know what discoveries will be made about our early solar system once this sample is returned to Earth! https://spaceflightnow.com//asteroid-samples-sealed-in-os/

Hello all you stargazers! We think you all might enjoy these new NASA Halloween posters of cosmic horrors. They’re free! Check them out at the below link, where you can download and print the terror of choice! Happy Halloween!!!! - The Chico Community Observatory Team... https://exoplanets.nasa.gov//new-nasa-posters-feature-cos/

We all hope that everyone had a fun, and safe Halloween. With the start of a new month, there is a new NASA/JPL video of What’s Up in the skies for November. Check it out at the below link. In this short NASA video, the Pleiades star cluster is discussed. Details on the age, composition, and where to look in the night sky to see the Pleiades are mentioned. If you have Binoculars, the Pleiades is a lovely sight to behold! Enjoy. - The Chico Community Observatory Team... https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php

Here's the news story NASA promised us last week - water in the sunlit surface of the Moon! https://www.nasa.gov//nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sun/.

Big Lunar news coming from NASA on Monday... https://www.nasa.gov//nasa-to-announce-new-science-results

Airing tonight at 9PM on PBS is NOVA: "Touching the Asteroid". This episode will document the events of yesterday afternoon when the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx tagged and took a sample from the asteroid Bennu. I'm looking forward to watching, hope you'll all join me. Cheers. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/touching-the-asteroid/

At around 3:12PM PDT today, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to touch down on the asteroid Bennu, to collect a sample for later return to earth in 2023. The spacecraft has been orbiting Bennu for the last year or so, collecting images and determining the ideal spot on the asteroid's surface to safely collect a sample. You can watch the entire thing *live* on NASA TV, or on the homepage of Space.com. If successful, this will be the first time in human history that a spacecraft has visited an object in the solar system, taken a sample, and returned it to Earth. Fingers crossed... https://www.space.com/nasa-asteroid-bennu-sampling-osiris-r

Tomorrow, October 6th, 2020, Mars will make its closest approach to Earth until 2035. Mars will be only 38.5 million miles from Earth, less than half the distance from Earth to the Sun. The Earth travels around the Sun much faster than Mars, consequently we catch up with our planetary neighbor every 780 days - a little more than every 2 years. Mars' angular size varies the most (by percentage) of any other planet, and around the time of closest approach Mars will appear its l...argest through a telescope. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, we are unable to allow visitors to view through the observatory telescopes, but if you have a telescope of your own take it out tonight and look for Mars, a brilliant red object in the eastern sky within the constellation of Pisces - the Fishes, about two hours after sunset. Cheers. Fun fact: Seasons on Mars aren't caused by the tilt of the Martian axis like they are on Earth, instead Mars experiences seasons because of it's highly eccentric elliptical orbit: summer when it is closest to the sun, and winter when it is furthest away.

Hello Everyone, As we do at the beginning of each month, here is the JPL/NASA video of the celestial events for October. This month you can easily see Jupiter, Saturn and especially Mars early in the evening. As mentioned in this video, you can spot the galaxy Andromeda some 2.3 million light-year away with binoculars. In the distant future, the Andromeda galaxy will collide our our galaxy. At that time, binoculars would not be needed! Enjoy. The Chico Community Obser...vatory Team https://youtu.be/CaSyuJPJfGM

More evidence of subsurface liquid water on Mars Another fascinating discovery was made, this time on the planet Mars. In 2018 a large underground lake of liquid water was discovered near the South Pole of Mars, by the European space agency’s Mars Express spacecraft in orbit above the red planet. Since 2018, more ground penetrating radar data from Mars Express indicates the existence of several more of these underground lakes within the Red Planet! Who knows what we ma...y someday find in these Martian waters. Below is a link to a BBC article about this discovery. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54337779

A discovery has just been made by 2 observatories of potential signs of biologic chemistry in the clouds of the planet Venus! How and why, and if, have yet to be understood. It is a mystery! Already there is talk of sending a space probe to Venus with instruments to understand these observations. Here is an article with the details of this discovery! https://skyandtelescope.org//potential-biosignature-found/

Hello Everyone, Welcome to September! The planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are still very much visible in the night sky. Unfortunately the Observatory is still closed at this time. The Observatory team is still here, and we will once again be open after we all get through this pandemic.... So, enjoy this NASA/JPL video of what’s up in the night skies for September, with interesting story of planetary collisions. So stay safe, and stay cooI. - The Chico Community Observatory Team https://youtu.be/GjqvXVUWvEQ

A new month, and new objects in the night sky’s of August. One of these objects to see this month, is the Perseid meteor shower! For more about this, and other celestial events, go to the below link to NASA/ JPL’s video of What’s Up for August. Enjoy! - The Chico Community Observatory Team. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php

Dragon Coming Home If you haven’t heard on the news, the crew (Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken) of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule is right now returning to earth from the International Space Station. They are due to splash down along Florida’s west coast at 11:48 am this morning (Sunday). Below is a link to follow this event live:... https://youtu.be/H-l6f4wcv2I

Your Rocket to Mars is ready! Hello Everyone, For those of you who signed up to have your name placed aboard the Perseverance rover, the first launch attempt to Mars, is early tomorrow morning! Your name will be traveling over 300-million miles across space, and seven months to make a landing on the red planet. How cool is that?... Below is a link to a great article about this amazing NASA mission to look for signs of past life on Mars. Enjoy - The Chico Community Observatory Team https://spaceflightnow.com//nasas-perseverance-rover-sign/