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AAA OBSERVING AT CARL SCHURZ PARK
The Amateur Astronomers Association hosts observing sessions, free and open to the public, one Friday night each month from April through October, at Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan. Carl Schurz Park is located along East End Avenue at the end of East 86th Street. The park has a lovely view of a lot of sky above the East River, Roosevelt Island, Queens, and the Queensborough and Triborough bridges.
We meet on the park esplanade (John Finley Walk), overlooking the East River. The 86th Street entrance to the park is the closest to where we set up, though that entrance requires climbing stairs to reach the esplanade. One may enter the park at many other points, including 87th or 88th streets, thereby avoiding the stairs. We encourage anyone wishing to bring a telescope or binoculars to do so.
Contact Bruce Kamiat, (212) 923-7021, for more information about the Carl Schurz Park sessions.
Please note that solar observing now takes place on Sunday afternoons at Conservatory Water in Central Park. We also have solar observing sessions in the Bronx on Saturday mornings.
Contact Tom Haeberle for more information about the Central Park solar observing sessions or Joseph Martinez for the Bronx solar observing sessions.
2013 Observing Dates
(Canceled if Cloudy)
Friday Night
Starting Around Dusk
See Below for Times of Sunset
April 19
The Sun will set at 7:40 p.m., EDT. The waxing gibbous Moon will be two nights past first quarter (8:31 a.m. on the 18th). Saturn will be near its closest and brightest as it approaches its opposition (April 28), at which point it will be about 818 million miles away from us and will rise a little after sunset. Jupiter will still be in the west in the early evening sky.
While the Moon and Saturn will be the main attractions, we may view some nice star clusters and binary stars.
International Astronomy Day will be the next day, Saturday, April 20.
May 17
The Sun will set at 8:08 p.m., EDT. The Moon will be at first quarter that night. Saturn will be big and bright, high in the southeast.
While the Moon and Saturn will be the main attractions, we may view some nice star clusters and binary stars.
June 21
The Sun will set at 8:30 p.m., EDT. The summer solstice will have been on the morning of June 21.
The waxing gibbous Moon will be one night short of full (7:33 a.m. on the 23rd). The June full Moon will be the closest (hence largest in apparent size) for all of 2013.
That big, bright Moon will be near Saturn on the sky. The Moon and Saturn will be the main observing attractions. We may also view some nice star clusters and binary stars. Globular star cluster M13 will pass almost directly overhead.
July 19
The Sun will set earlier each month now that we are past the solstice. This night the Sun will set at 8:23 p.m., EDT. The waxing gibbous Moon will be four nights short of full (2:15 p.m. on the 22nd). Saturn will be approaching quadrature (90° from the Sun), when the shadows cast by the rings against the planet and by the planet against the rings are most easily observed. That gives Saturn its best 3D effect.
Again, the Moon and Saturn will be the main observing attractions. We may also view some nice star clusters and binary stars. Globular star cluster M13 and the Ring Nebula in Lyra will both pass almost directly overhead. The Great Galaxy in Andromeda, M31, will be rising in the northeast.
August 16
The Sun will set at 7:52 p.m., EDT. The waxing gibbous Moon will be right between its first-quarter and full phases. Saturn will be in the west, and may disappear behind Manhattan’s buildings early on.
The Summer Triangle (Deneb, Vega, and Altair) will be high overhead. If the bright Moon doesn’t wash out the sky too much, there will be star clusters and nebulae to view. We will have nebula filters that may help with that. Andromeda will be rising in the east. That will be far enough across the sky from the Moon that perhaps we’ll see our famous sister galaxy.
September 20
The Sun will set at 6:56 p.m., EDT. The waning gibbous Moon will be two nights past full and will rise at 7:33 p.m.
The Summer Triangle will still be high overhead in the evening sky. Possible deep-space objects will include globular clusters M13, M15, and M4; open star clusters such as the Pleiades and the Double Cluster; and the Alpha-Persei Association. We may look at other targets as well—perhaps even the Ring Nebula.
October 18
The Sun will set at 6:11 p.m., EDT. The Moon will be full. We will cut its intense light with a filter, to observe it telescopically without being blinded by the glare. Full Moon is the best time to see the bright raylike patterns that cross the Moon’s surface. Those radiating lines surrounding young craters are made up of the debris that was hurled out of the craters by the explosive impacts that formed them.
Venus will be nearing its greatest elongation from the Sun, and we may be able to observe that bright planet between the buildings of Manhattan’s East Side. In the telescope, Venus will look similar to a first-quarter Moon as it approaches dichotomy.
If we stay late, we may see Orion and Jupiter (in Gemini) as they rise in the east.
Directions:
Carl Schurz Park is located at the end of East 86th Street in Manhattan (X on the map below).
Subway:
- Take the Lexington Avenue express (4 or 5) or local (6) to 86th Street. Walk east or take the M86 crosstown bus to York Avenue. The park is one block farther east.
- Take the Broadway local (1 or 9), Sixth Avenue local (B), or Eighth Avenue local (C) to 86th Street. Take the M86 crosstown bus to York Avenue. The park is one block farther east).
Bus:
- Crosstown: The M86 runs along 86th Street to York Avenue. Walk one block to East End Avenue. The M79 runs on 81st Street on the West Side and 79th Street on the East Side. Take it to 80th Street and East End Avenue and walk uptown.
- Up or downtown: Buses run uptown along First (M15), Third (M101, M102, and M103), and Madison (M1, M2, M3, and M4) avenues. Go to 86th Street and walk or take the M86 crosstown east, as above. Buses run downtown along Second (M15), Lexington (M101, M102, and M103), and Fifth (M1, M2, M3, and M4) avenues. Go to 86th Street and walk or take the M86 crosstown east, as above.
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