Falcon Astronomy Club

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...

11/12/2025

These Aurora/Northern Lights are a result of Solar flares and subsequent Coronal Mass Ejections. Two flares popped yesterday rated in the highest category of X-class, one X1.7 and the other X1.2.

This morning, a third flare occurred rated X5.1!! Tonight is just the appetizer, predictions lean towards tomorrow's Aurora being extra intense

11/12/2025

To add to the collection! Keep those amazing photos rolling in

10/15/2025

Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is reaching its closest approach to Earth on October 21st. It will still be 56 million miles away. This comet was discovered in January of this year, and is classified as a non-periodic comet. These types of objects have orbits that take them extremely far from the Sun, and have periods that are over 200yrs per orbit. In this case, Comet Lemmon has a period of roughly 1,350 years. Enjoy it while you can! It will remain in the evening sky until early November, before its orbit carries it beyond our views.

It is located near the handle of the Big Dipper in the Northern Sky, moving westward each day toward Bootes, and the bright star Arcturus. It is bright enough to be seen with modest telescopes or binoculars, but might just be too dim to see with a naked eye. Dark skies will help if you can get away from the lights. There are narrow windows in the morning and evening skies to try and catch it - just the hour or two before and after sunset/rise. It is slightly below the horizon during most of the night.

Sky Map (theSkyLive.com - https://tinyurl.com/yc83uhxu) is attached for Oct 16th at 7pm local - the comet will set by 9pm, and might be obscured earlier by hills or mountains depending on where you are looking from.

Have you gotten to see it? Are you planning to try? Share your experience with the group, or post a picture. Its always good to see whats going on.

Comet Image: 2025 October 11 (3h52-4h49UT) UT with 28-cm, f/2.2 telescope and ASI6200 MC camera. 25x120 seconds exposures. Image scale is 2.5 arc sec/pixel. Rok Palcic, Rezman Observatory (E-EYE Spain)

09/01/2025

Greetings Fellow stargazers,

Welcome to September. We finally have a couple clear sky nights after all that rain (much needed).

For star/constellations in the month, you can find Scorpio in the southern sky just past the meridian after sunset, heading west as the night progresses. Just to East of Scorpio, locate the asterism of the TeaPot in the constellation Sagittarius. DID YOU KNOW: The Spout of the TeaPot points nearly directly to the middle of the Milky Way. This time of year is great for spotting the band of the Milky-way, right after sunset, look directly overhead for a faint "cloud like" wisp that travels from Sagittarius north, directly overhead. The band passed through Aquila (the Eagle), Cygnus (the Swan), and into Cassiopeia (the Queen, and mother of Andromeda)

Saturn has re-emerged and will be our night sky for the next several month. At sunset now, its right on the Eastern horizon, as the season moves along, it will start higher and higher each night. Look for a bright yellow-ish star, that doesn't 'twinkle'. Binoculars or a small telescope can reveal the rings. The rings change apparent orientation to our viewing, and right now they are fairly narrow. Its a 30 year cycle for the rings to "wobble", and in March 2025, we crossed from viewing the rings from above, to viewing them edge on. Earth's fast motion, by comparison, will cause this to happen again in Nov 2025 (rings get super thin from our view).

August and September also means we are Eclipse Season for the Fall cycle. This time of year, and in Feb/March, the Sun/Moon/Earth orbits reach a stage that creates the chances for shadows to be cast on each other. Check out the nice graphic from timeanddate.com to see why.

On September 7 there will be a Lunar Eclipse, unfortunately, its at 9:30 in the A.M. and not visible for our area. The next Lunar eclipse for us will be in March 2026 (the 3rd, at 2 A.M.). The Solar eclipse of the month is only visible from the Southern Pacific. The penguins get a nice show, as well as New Zealand.

As always, post any questions you might have. Curiosity is a great way to learn more. Share your viewing experience, neat sightings, gear, photos, etc. We want to know what you are up to.

Clear Skies