YOUNG MOON

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  July 4, 2019  2130-2430

Weather:  High hazy, thin clouds early on, giving way to mostly clear, dark skies.  Light breeze to no wind, 72% humidity, and 16C at Sundown, 12C at 2430hrs.  Many mosquitoes all throughout.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Meade LX200 with 15mm eyepiece.  Canon Rebel T3 with 75-300mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus.  Images processed with Photoshop.

Objective:  To view and image a conjunction of Mars-Mercury-Moon which was due to happen around sunset.  Also, to view and image Io's shadow, which was supposed to cross the face of Jupiter from approximately 2330hrs-0230hrs.

Report:

• Went out about a half hour before dark to see the conjunction, but hazy clouds covered most of the sky, including the western sky.  Shortly later the clouds broke up revealing the very thin, young moon.  Could not confirm a sighting of the two planets.  They were lower in the sky than the Moon and may have been below the tree line.

• Once Jupiter moved into the south-western part of the sky, around 2330hrs, went back out and viewed and imaged it.  Three of it moons were visible with Io in the midst of a transit.  Thought I could see a shadow on the lower right face of Jupiter, but it didnt show up in the 15mm eyepiece, but just slightly in the image. Belts showed up nicely.

•  Jupiter was just East, and higher up than Antares.  M4 is located 2 degrees to the west of Antares, so I used the telescope to locate and view it.  A faint globular cluster, with more stars to one side.
• Many satellites were seen going in all directions and very many planes were flying East and West.  No shooting stars were seen.