Concert in the Park/Sidewalk Astronomy

The Rosemead Concerts in the Park series starts this Friday, July 11, The full schedule is below. All concerts begin at 7 p.m. For more information call Rosemead Parks and Recreation at (626) 569-2160.

+ Friday, July 11 – Soto Band

+ Friday, July 25 – Cold Duck

+ Friday, August 8 – 80 Degrees

+ Friday, August 22 – Doo Wah Riders

For Friday, July 11, I’m also giving serious consideration to dragging out a telescope or two to Rosemead Park.  I'd probably set up sometime between 7 and 8pm, and tear it all down if things get slow.

Haven’t scouted out the area to decide where a good location would be. Ideally, it would be near, but not in the middle of, the general flow of people to and from the concert. Not too close to the stage to be overwhelmed by the music, but not so far that there’s no point in being there.

Also, Saturday, July 12, from around 8pm -10pm, we’ll be up in Monrovia for our "regular" sidewalk astronomy event, at the corner of Myrtle and Lime.  On both nights, the moon is a definite, all-night target.  Early in the evening, we should still be able to catch Saturn.  Late (around 10pm), we should be able to catch Jupiter.  It depends on some extent on the trees, of course.

Cloudy skies

It's looking pretty iffy for telescope weather--Cloudy. But probably dry, so the concert should  be fine.

The sky forecast is looking somewhat better for tomorrow, in Monrovia.

Clouds part!

Turned out the sky cleared pretty nicely.  We had a mostly unobstructed view of the just-past first quarter moon all night.  When it was time to pack it in, we first shuffled the telescope about ten yards south to get a clear view of Jupiter (which was, from the point of view of our original location, behind a tree).  Our rough estimate is 30-40 people got to see the moon, and about a dozen saw Jupiter.

I probably won't set up at the next concert (July 25) because there won't be any moon to see and Jupiter may not be visible until quite late (but I'll keep watching the sky, and if it looks like it's worth it I'll set up next time, too).

If weather permits, I definitely plan to set up the telescope again at the concert after that (Aug 8).  We should have good views of both Jupiter from the start of the concert 'til the end.

Concert in the Park/Sidewalk

As you can see in the accompanying post, here, I’ll be doing sidewalk astronomy during this Friday’s (August 8) Concert in the Park in Rosemead. I’ll be there until 20 or 30 minutes after the music stops.

Also, on Saturday, August 9, I’ll join my friends of the Old Town Astronomers for more sidewalk astronomy. This one will be at our usual location, at the corner of Myrtle and Lime in Old Town Monrovia. We’ll probably be here from about 8pm until 10pm.