Spot the Space Station over the Coachella Valley tonight

Spot the International Space Station over the Coachella Valley twice tonight! The first one is almost 7 minutes long and starts at 6:39pm. At 7 minutes long, this will appear to be a slow moving, but increasingly brightening star crossing the sky. It will appear in the Northwest at a 10 degree elevation and pass through the Little Dipper near the north star Polaris. Maximum elevation is 51 degrees, then it will start to fade away into the Southeastern sky. At a magnitude -3.6 it should be pretty bright, the Sun sets at 6:06pm so it will not be the darkest sky but I've personally seen the station pass by in daylight before, so no worries. 

The second chance tonight to spot the Space Station will be at 8:18pm, this one only last for 1 minute and will be low on the horizon at a max elevation of 11 degrees and reach a magnitude 1.0. If you have a unobstructed view of the Southwest, it will pass very near the planet Saturn. 

Space station flyby over the Coachella Valley, CA 5-27-16

I always have such a fun time tracking the International Space Station, and this time I was at least halfway ready for it. I was in my backyard and spotted the station rising in the southwest and made a mad dash inside to grab the tripod and camera. I had only a moment or two, and was only able to capture its trail in a 5 second exposure, but boy was it bright! By the time I had taken the picture and previewed it, the space station was already heading out of sight in the northeastern sky.

Taken in Cathedral City, CA

Equipment used: Canon 450d

January List of Events in the Coachella Valley

The first month of 2016 will be an exciting start to a new year for astronomy enthusiasts. There is going to be plenty of celestial events, and interesting observations so keep your eyes on the night sky.

Unfortunately, El Nino is coming our way, and that means clouds and rain. Now this may sound great for obvious reasons, such as the drought, but it does not bode well for astronomy and astrophotography. Clouds make it generally very poor for stargazing.

First we have the annual Quadrantids Meteor Shower on January 3-4. You can catch the meteors starting after sundown on Sunday night, and watch them throughout the evening and into Monday morning. The best time for viewing is the actual peak, which starts at 3am and ends at the first light of the day. This particular meteor shower is above average, and NASA is estimating around 80 meteors per hour in areas with dark skies and little to no light pollution.

January 2-6 Spot the space station! Early morning hours seem to be the sweet spot for viewing the ISS in the Coachella Valley. Head on over to Spot the Station via NASA here to see dates/times and other information related to local sightings.

January 9th @ 7:00pm Star Party hosted by the Sun City Palm Desert Astronomy Club, located at the east greenbelt off Donny Circle, just south of Alliance Way in Palm Desert. More info here.

January 10th we have the New Moon, which is a great time to view the galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and other types of deep sky objects. Without the interference of the Moons glow, faint objects in the sky can be more clearly seen.

January 16th 5pm-8pm Star Party hosted by the ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE DESERT, located at the visitors center. Directions and information can be found here.

January 24th is this months Full Moon,

January 27th @ 7:00pm is the monthly general meeting of the Sun City Palm Desert Astronomy Club. Located in the Tahoe Room at the Lakeview Clubhouse. This month, they will be talking about "Hubble and the Sagittarius Star Cloud". More info here.

Introductions...

Introductions are in order, this being my first official post and all. Hello, and welcome to the Coachella Valley Astronomy and Astrophotography blog. My name is Michael Roemelen and I live in the Coachella Valley. I have been an avid amateur stargazer for years now and just recently got into taking pictures of the beautiful night skies here in the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas. I am going to take a guess here, and say that you have landed on my blog because you have an interest in Astronomy and/or Astrophotography in or around the Coachella Valley. Fantastic! Me too!

My purpose for creating this blog is to share with the world my personal pictures of the night skies. I have posted many important links that I personally use and I plan on updating the site with new and exciting pictures whenever I can. So, please feel free to stop by and utilize the links and widgets available on the site. There are links to ISS sightings, moon phases, stargazing tours, clear sky data, celestial events, and others pertaining to the Coachella Valley and Southern California.