College of San Mateo Planetarium

In this aurora pic, you can see Ursa Minor (The Little Dipper) left of center and Draco, the Dragon, to its right. Taken with the iPhone 13 Pro Max from my deck in Pacifica at 12 midnight, May 10.

Tomorrow is Family Science Day at CSM. Events run from 12 Noon until 9:45 PM. Check it out and have fun for the entire family.

Family Science Day | College of San Mateo CSM's Family Science and Astronomy Festival + Makerspace, strives to bring the enjoyment of the wonders of science to our community. This year it will be held virtually through Zoom! Future scientists-in-the making can tune in to make comets with Chef Ed, construct molecules out of mini marshmallows...

Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole Astronomers at last have captured a picture of one of the most secretive entities in the cosmos.

Although Sunday's lunar eclipse was clouded/rained out on campus, I still managed to take a few images between the clouds and raindrops from my Pacifica deck. Here are the five best ones from 9:18 PM to 10:36 PM. These were taken with my Canon T6i with a 150 - 600 mm Tamron lens.

There will be a planetarium show tomorrow at 7:30 and 8:30 PM. I will show the beautiful sights of the winter sky, including the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades. The full dome show will be "Black Holes- the Other Side of Infinity". Each show lasts ~ 45 to 50 minutes and is free to the public on a first come, first served basis. There is no setting aside of seats, each group that comes in must be together. Parking is free in Lot 5 or the student lot.

Comet Wirtanen is now visible, with binoculars. Tonight, it is located just below the Pleiades. It will look spherical, without a tail but is about the size of the full moon. If you have a DSLR camera, you can take an image of it. Just point your camera in the direction of the Pleiades with an 18-55mm lens, 15 to 20 seconds exposure, ISO 1600 and you should a decent image. Here is one I took a couple of nights ago with a longer focal length lens.

The Geminid Meteor shower peaks tonight! Just look anywhere in the sky from ~ 10 PM onward and you should some bright meteors. If you have a very dark sky, under ideal conditions, you would see ~ 100/hour. However, most of us live in cities or suburbs, with some light pollution. In that case, try to shield any streetlights from your view and you should see ~ 15/ hour. Of course, you could see more or less, depending upon your location. You will see more the later you look, however clouds may roll in ~ 12 midnight.

Don't forget to look for the Perseid meteor shower peaking late tonight/early Sunday morning and late tomorrow night/early Monday morning. Start looking ~ midnight anywhere in the sky. You will see the most near dawn. Although the meteors will appear to come from the northeast, which is where Perseus will be ~ midnight (the radiant), look anywhere in the sky. There will be no interference from the moon, since the phase is new. However, any lingering smoke and haze from the wildfires could hinder viewing. Try to go somewhere with minimal light pollution. The Clear Sky Clock says that the coast should be free from fog, so those in HMB and Pacifica may luck out tonight!

Imagine looking up in your sky and seeing not one, not two, but three stars - Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri A and B!!

Earth-like planet found orbiting our nearest stellar neighbor New exoplanet is just 4.25 light years away around Proxima Centauri