Falcon Astronomy Club

08/28/2026

Lunar Eclipse Aug 2026

Taken with my 80mm refractor and a DSLR from the back porch

Did you get any shots, share with us!

08/27/2026

It is Eclipse season!

We weren't able to see the solar eclipse a few weeks ago from here, but on Thursday night there will be a Lunar Eclipse. Its not quite a Total Eclipse, but will still be ~96% obscured, so officially its a very deep Partial Eclipse.

Unlike Solar Eclipses that occur in a few minutes of time, a Lunar Eclipse is an event that spans hours. This is great if there is a cloud that needs to roll by, or if you happen to forget. There is lots of opportunity to view this celestial event.

From Falcon, the Moon will already have begun entering the Penumbra before it rises above the horizon (7:30pm), but only by a few minutes. This phase of the eclipse is generally just a dimming effect, where the full moon doesn't quite seem as bright as normal.

At around 8:30, the Moon will begin entering the Umbra. This phase you can notice a dark/shadow begin covering the Moon's surface. As more and more of the bright white gets shadowed out, you can begin to see the classic red coloring. The red is much fainter, so its hard to see if the Moon is still getting a lot of sunshine.

Peak Eclipse will be at 10:12pm, and then the whole sequence kicks into reverse s the Moon exits Earth's shadow. By 11:50, the Moon will be out of the Umbra, and getting brighter by the moment, until the whole event ends at 1am.

Clear Skies!

Start time, end time, animation, and detailed viewing information for the upcoming eclipse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

08/12/2026

Good evening,

There is a Total Solar Eclipse occurring tomorrow, Aug 12 2026! The path of totality is traveling from the edge of Russia, across Greenland, skimming the West edge of Iceland, and then on to Spain just before the sunset.

There are some part of the US (East coast, north of the Carolinas) that will see a partial eclipse up to 40% of the Sun's disk blocked, but unfortunately not visible from the local area. Local time, the eclipse runs from about 9:30am to 1pm, with the US portions in the 11:30-Noon range.

Clear skies!

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/total-solar-eclipse-on-august-12-2026/
Image: science.nasa.gov

08/04/2026

SpaceX rocket body (falcon 9) is expected to impact the Moon tonight, about 1235 AM local. If you have a telescope or binoculars, you might be able to see the flash from the impact, or some of the debris/plume ejected. I will not be awake, so I have to hope others in the Astro community are on it! (They will be). All this smoke might complicate things too as the Moon won't be very high in the sky.

The moon will be in the eastern sky, recently risen from the horizon (about 15 degrees up). If you are looking East, the moon and impact should be about in the orientation of the image. The impact will be near the limb (edge) indicated along the darker Mare and the brighter surface.

07/01/2026

Full survey capabilities of this amazing machine are expected to begin this week, a about 1 year after revealing its initial "first light" images.

From the article: "Within just one year, the telescope is expected to image more objects than all other visible light observatories in human history combined."

The 8.4-meter telescope should spot billions of astronomical objects over the next 10 years as it maps the night sky over and over again.

03/03/2026

Lunar Eclipse March 3, 2026

03/01/2026

Its Lunar Eclipse time! On Monday night/Tuesday morning (March 2-3), the Moon will pass through the Earth's shadow. This particular event will be a Total Lunar Eclipse, meaning the Moon will fully enter the Earth's Umbra (the deepest part of the shadow), and will turn the classic Rusty-Red for about an hour.

Of course, Mother Nature has a say in the matter, and it looks like she is sending some weather rolling in Tuesday morning, hopefully it will hold off long enough.

Reference the linked site below for a full listing of the times and a neat animation of how the moon passes through the Penumbra and Umbra.

The event times:
--1:44am Event start (not terribly visible to the naked eye at first, but dimming as the Moon enters the Penumbra)
--2:50am Moon begins to enter the Umbra - reddening starts
--4:04am Total Eclipse - Moon is fully in the Umbra - will be deep red in color
--4:33am Peak/Middle Eclipse
--5:02am Total Eclipse ends - Moon moving out of the deep Umbra and back to the Penumbra
--5:30-6amSunrise/Twilight begin
--6:17am Moon fully out of the Umbra (dim and shadowy still, but the red will have faded away)
--6:32am Moon sets in the West / Sun Rise(not accounting for terrain, so this is likely a bit earlier)

All together, the event is 5 and a half hours long, and totality is just under 1hr. A lunar eclipse is a sloth compared to Solar Eclipses that go by in a couple minutes.

While there will be a lot of Partial Eclipses in the coming years, this is the last Total Lunar Eclipse until New Years Eve/Day 2028! Anywhere! And the North American audience wont even get to see that one (its over Asia). It will be June 2029 before another Total Eclipse is viewable from here.

Share your viewing experiences with us! Did you capture a photo? Share it on the page.

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/colorado-springs?iso=20260303 (thanks to TimeAndDate.com for the great images and materials)

01/09/2026

Let's chat about Jupiter!

Tonight (Jan 9/10) marks an orbital event called Opposition. At this point, the objects of Sun > Earth > Jupiter make a straight line (when viewed from above). This is the time when Jupiter is closest to the Earth, this alignment repeats about every of 13 months. Once this weather clears out, its a fantastic time to get some views of the mighty planet. Almost any telescope and binoculars will help resolve the planet from a small point of light (a star) into an amber disk. Larger optics can start showing the cloud bands, and if your timing is good, you can spot the Giant Red Spot.

Its also fairly common to spot some of the 4 Galilean moons. Besides a telescope, a DSLR camera and lens can also capture the planet/moons. I even seen some images from smartphones that can show the moons, if you have a holder and good luck!

The moons appear in a roughly straight line with each other. They do move quick. Not fast enough you can watch them move, but the alignment you see one night, would differ from the next night, or even a few hours later.

You can find Jupiter in the Eastern sky after sunset, it is in the constellation Gemini. Just to the east of the planet are the stars Castor and Pollux (the twins of Gemini). To the West, you will find Orion.

Jupiter Image: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Opposition Image: EarthSky.org

12/21/2025

A very merry and festive Winter Solstice to you!

Today marks the day that Earth's axis is tilted the furthest from the Sun (at least for us Northern Hemisphere peeps). Its officially the winter season now, until the Equinox in March.

Today, the Sun's rise and set are the furthest south they do be in a calendar year. And also the least amount of daylight.

11/13/2025

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g1-g3-still-likely-tonight-12-nov-g4-still-possible

Appears the blast from the big flare arrived this afternoon, and only glanced us. Good news for the electronics, radios and atmosphere... not so good for making pretty skies.

Cloudy out tonight, not seeing much activity in what little sky is available from northern Meridian Ranch. Anyone having any luck?

G1-G3 Still Likely Tonight, 12 Nov, with G4 Still Possible published: Thursday, November 13, 2025 02:16 UTC Final CME arrived and passing over Earth now. Conditions generally weakening, but variable. Strong solar wind speed and periods of favorable magnetic field orientation are driving up geomagnet...