Saturday, May 14, is International Astronomy Day — an annual event for astronomy enthusiasts, professionals and amateurs throughout the world to interact with the public.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have a free, family-friendly program from noon until 9 p.m at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park for solar viewing and evening telescope viewing after sunset.
The sky will be well into twilight by 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. The 8 ½-day- old gibbous (more than half-lit) moon will be nearly overhead, only 2 degrees southwest of bright Jupiter.
A small telescope will show the cloud bands on Jupiter, the four bright “Galilean” moons of Jupiter, and many craters along the terminator (dividing line between the lit and unlit portions) of the moon.
An hour later, bright, red Mars will be just above the southeastern horizon.
The astronomy association will also be joined by experts from the OSIRIS-REx Mission, UA’s Lunar and Planetary Lab, and the Tucson L5 Space Society.
