EYE ON THE SKY® NEWS SERVICE presents

Peyton Hall Astronomical Observatory Page

Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Helpful tools for skywatchers
in central New Jersey and the Delaware Valley

an independent page presented as a public service by

AstroCruises and Princeton Online

This moon phase icon and National Weather Service weather report
(including predicted percent cloud cover every three hours)
comes via the Weather Underground



Attilla Danko's Clear Sky Clock

Peyton Hall Observatory Public Starwatches

Peyton Hall Observatory holds public starwatches led by students of Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences and are usually at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. DST) on the second Tuesday of each month, but rescheduled for the next week if the skies are cloudy.

Local Moonrise, Moonset and Astronomical Twilight times for the Peyton Hall Observatory are featured in the Eye on the Sky® Almanac.

Detailed Weather Information Sources (including forecasts and current conditions) for the Princeton area can be found on the Eye on the Sky® Weather Page.

Daily Celestial Calendar is calculated by CalSKY.

Interesting Sky Sights and planetary positions for the week are in Sky at a Glance.

A Customizable Map of the sky seen from Peyton Hall Observatory can be found at Your Sky Sky Map.

Which Satellites are Visible from the Peyton Hall Observatory tonight? Heavens-Above will calculate the visibility of all bright satellites (including space shuttles and the International Space Station) brighter than 4.5 magnitude and of sighting opportunities for Iridium flares.

Aurora Borealis can be seen from our area (if the sky is clear and dark) an average of 60-130 days every 11-year solar cycle, especially if the Kp Index is 8 or greater and the Auroral Activity Index is 10 or greater (according to Aurora Chasers, the minimum Kp Index for an aurora to be seen at least 20 degrees above the northern horizon at local midnight is 7.4). The current solar cycle is expected to peak in May, 2013. Middle-latitude auroral activity warnings and watches are available from Solar Terrestrial Dispatch, and the Geophysical Institute of University of Alaska Fairbanks has a current auroral forecast map for North America.

If You're Using Computer Software to plan your skywatch, it may be helpful to know that the location of the Peyton Hall Observatory is 40° 20' 48" north latitude (+40.3466°), 74° 39' 05" west longitude (-74.6516°) in the Eastern Time zone, and altitude is 140 feet (43 meters).

Weather

Animated loop of recent infrared images of the Northeast from NOAA's GOES-12 weather satellite, from Unisys.

National Weather Service hourly forecast, including percent sky cover every three hours.

Transient Phenomena in 2011

Moon Phases

Lunar and Solar Eclipses

Lunar Occultations

No Twilight or Nighttime Occultations of a bright planet or first-magnitude star by the moon are visible from the Peyton Hall Observatory this year.

Meteor Showers

Major Meteor Showers peak at the following times, according to International Meteor Organization (IMO). Neil Bone of the British Astronomical Association estimates that under perfect conditions an average of about 3-8 sporatic meteors per hour are visible to the naked eye. Bone says the best place to look for meteors from a specific meteor shower is about 50° above the horizon and 40° to either side of the radiant.

* at local peak time(s), calculated by reducing zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) to a limiting magnitude of 4.5 and factoring in the distance of the radiant from the zenith (but does not include the effects of moonlight, sunlight or time of day), based on the International Meteor Organization's 2011 Meteor Shower Calender.
** Eta-Aquarids and Orionids are listed because they are associated with Halley's Comet (Comet 1P/Halley).

The best conditions for watching a meteor shower occur when the radiant at the shower's peak appears high in a dark sky between local midnight and the beginning of astronomical twilight.

Nighttime Space Shuttle Launches

Space Shuttles launched toward the International Space Station (an inclination of 51.6°) during twilight (when the sun is between 3 and 18 degrees below the horizon) can sometimes be seen from Princeton during the last minute or so before Main Engine Cut-Off (MECO, which occurs about eight-and-a-half minutes into the mission). The Kennedy Space Center provides a schedule and countdown timer for all shuttle launches, which are usually carried live by local radio stations KYW-AM (1060 kHz, Philadelphia) and WINS-AM (1010 kHz, New York City). Our thanks to former NASA Flight Dynamics Officer Daniel R. Adamo for "guidance" and use of his MacMission Control software for the following calculations of the nighttime visibility of an average flight of a shuttle to the ISS as seen from Princeton.