The Pattonville Observatory and Planetarium
Public Viewing Session

195 Fee Fee Road
(next to the gym, door is below the dome)
Below is the info for the next session.
Please join us and bring friends!

Next Session:

Friday, September 13, 2024

8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Website:  https://sites.google.com/psdr3.org/observatory/ 

Information hotline: 314-213-8034

The Moon is in the waxing gibbous phase and will be the prominent object for the sky tonight. It will be high in the southeast when we begin our session.  The region along the terminator (line between light and dark) should yield some rich viewing of mountains and craters. 

Venus will be visible early in the session but will set by 8:30, so get there early if you want a peek at this bright planet.   Saturn is also in the sky by the time we begin.  We will look for several of Saturn’s moons including its largest moon, Titan.  Blue Neptune will be in the East but it will be a difficult object because it’s not very bright.  Dim Pluto is up, but it’s next to the Moon and also beyond the capabilities of our telescope finding it.

Late summer is an excellent time to view many Messier objects in the Sagittarius and Scorpius regions.  Open clusters M8, M7 and M6 will be visible as will globular clusters M3, M22 and M4. 

Late summer and early fall is a good time to view the Ring Nebula which is the remnants of an exploded star found in Lyra. The globular cluster M13 in Hercules will be visible, as is one of the brightest globular clusters called M15.  The famous Double Cluster will also be available.  Because of the bright skies, we won’t make an attempt to see our nearest neighbor galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy. Also overhead is the summer asterism of the Summer triangle which comprises the brighter stars Vega, Deneb and Altair (of Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila respectively). 

Some stars we will focus on include Epsion Lyrae, the famous Double Double in Lyra, the beautiful double star Albireo in Cygnus, the double star Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper and Antares in Scorpius.

Come spend the evening viewing the cosmos with your family, residents and non-residents are welcome! Please take note that the dome is not heated or cooled, so pay attention to the weather and dress in a manner that is appropriate for the evening temperature conditions.  If it is raining or cloudy, a program will still be presented so come on up! 

Next Session:  See the list below!