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Saturday, October 10th, is our Monthly Club Meeting at the River Ridge Observatory and we would like to invite you, your family, and/or your friends to attend. You don’t have to own a telescope or have any kind of advanced knowledge to be a part of the fun, just have a curiosity about the night sky and the desire to learn more. CAAS meetings are always open to the public. Besides the sky, Dave Grimmer will provide us a recap of his recent trip to the Okie-Tex Star Party and Stephen Caldwell is giving a Dead Astronomer Report on Annie Jump Cannon.
The meeting starts at 7pm but we have a “SupperBowl” at 6pm and if you would like to dine with is then RSVP with the button below or the one to the left.

Before the regular meeting at 7 will be a board meeting at 5. We’ll be working on the budget for 2016 and other matters. All members are welcome and encouraged to come to the board meeting and to take ownership of the society by becoming active in its management.  Please come and let your voice be heard.

Supper bowl will be at 6PM. We’ll be returning to “bowl” format with the fall and will be serving Fiesta Chicken.  Price will be $5 each.

Continue reading “October 10 – Regular Monthly Meeting at 7PM, Board Meeting at 5PM”

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CLOSED.  Sorry, but we have had to close registration for this event due to capacity considerations. You can subscribe to our free email newsletter below. This will assure that you get an early heads up for the next special event, as well as our regular public events.

Fortunately, you can view this event from just about anywhere in the area with a clear sky.  No instrument is necessary, though binoculars or a small scope can add to the experience if you have them.

A “Blood Moon” occurs during a total lunar eclipse, which occurs when the earth passes between the sun and the moon such that the earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface.  This can only occur when the moon is full as this is when the moon is directly opposite the sun relative to the earth.  It does not happen every full moon because the moon is usually either above or below the earth’s shadow.  Only when the moon and earth are in alignment with the sun vertically, so to speak, as well as horizontally, does an eclipse take place.  These are fairly rare events at a given location.  Excitingly this “blood moon” is lined up well for central Arkansas to witness the entire event during the evening hours!

The eclipse proper will begin at approximately 8:07 PM at which time a darkening of the moon at the edge will begin.  As this progresses it will start to look like an invisible Pac Man is taking bigger and bigger bites out of the lunar disc, until totality is reached at approximately 9:47 PM.  At this point the moon will be a dark red, as no direct sun light will be reaching its surface, only what is refracted through earth’s atmosphere.  The night sky will be almost as dark as a moonless night, making deep sky observing possible during totality from a dark sky location.  Totality will not end until 11:27 PM.

For more on lunar eclipses go here: http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html

 

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Blood Moon RSVP

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