{"id":4403,"date":"2016-09-20T09:49:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T13:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4403"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T20:13:22","slug":"astronomy-in-northern-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2016\/09\/20\/astronomy-in-northern-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomy in Northern Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, my name is Jim Stepp and I am the dean of students here at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.\u00a0 Astronomy has been a hobby of mine for about 40 years.\u00a0 I first became interested in astronomy in 6th<\/sup> grade.\u00a0 Living in Pittsburgh gave me the opportunity to go to the Buhl Planetarium and the Allegheny Observatory on many occasions.\u00a0 One of the first objects I saw through a telescope was Comet West when it lit up the evening skies in the early 1970s.
\n<\/p>\n

When I was a college student I worked at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania\u2019s planetarium.\u00a0 I had the opportunity to write several scripts and develop interactive planetarium shows.\u00a0 I also had the opportunity to use EUP\u2019s 13-inch telescope and help build a solar telescope that projected a 30-inch image of the sun on a wall.<\/p>\n

For those of you who may be interested in astronomy, come and join the UMPI Astronomy Club.\u00a0 The UMPI Astronomy Club is hoping to work closely with the community to reform the Aroostook County Astronomy Club.\u00a0 There are two ways to join the UMPI Astronomy Club:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Email me at james.stepp@maine.edu<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Join the Aroostook County Astronomy Club Facebook page<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The club is open to students, staff, faculty and the public.<\/p>\n

    The ACAC will be working with the American Astronomical Society (www.aas.org<\/a>) to offer programs and observing nights.\u00a0 Membership in the ACAC-AAS will be open to everyone and no astronomy background is needed.<\/p>\n

    Throughout the upcoming year, I will be providing information about the objects that are visible in the sky over Presque Isle and hopefully, I will be able to answer some of the questions you might have about the nighttime sky.<\/p>\n

    If you are interested in finding out what is going on in the night sky go to Skymaps.com (www.skymaps.com<\/a>). \u00a0At this site you will be able to print off a sky chart that will help you find the planets and constellations in the nighttime sky.\u00a0 This site also has various articles that will be helpful for beginning astronomy hobbyists.<\/p>\n

    Another site to check out is In the Sky (in-the-sky.org<\/a>). \u00a0This site will give you information about the events occurring each night.\u00a0 You can set up your location by clicking on \u201cchange location\u201d and then selecting option 2.\u00a0 This will let you use a map to zoom in on your exact location.<\/p>\n

    THE NIGHT SKY<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The ISS is visible in the morning sky from Sept. 4-24.<\/p>\n

    The ISS is visible in the evening sky from Sept. 27-Oct. 20.<\/p>\n

    Go to www.heavens-above.com for exact times and locations. \u00a0You will need to register at this site and load your location to be able to get exact times. \u00a0The University of Maine at Presque Isle is located at 68d00m7.8s west longitude and 46d40m45.6s north latitude.<\/p>\n

    To get a free sky chart go to www.skymaps.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Sun and Planet Visibility<\/p>\n

    Sept. 10<\/p>\n

    05:03 Sunrise.<\/p>\n

    18:52 Sunset.<\/p>\n

    Not visible Mercury.<\/p>\n

    18:5 \u201319:42 Venus.<\/p>\n

    19:24\u201322:24 Mars.<\/p>\n

    19:06\u201319:18 Jupiter.<\/p>\n

    19:18\u201322:12 Saturn.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Sept. 20<\/p>\n

    06:16 Sunrise<\/p>\n

    18:32 Sunset<\/p>\n

    05:18\u201305:48 Mercury.<\/p>\n

    18:30\u201319:30 Venus.<\/p>\n

    19:00\u201322:06 Mars.<\/p>\n

    Not Visible Jupiter.<\/p>\n

    19:00\u201321:36 Saturn.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    08\/29 02:32 Mercury 5 degrees from Venus.<\/p>\n

    09\/01 05:03 New Moon.<\/p>\n

    09\/02 Neptune in Opposition\u2013behind and closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n

    09\/06 14:49 Moon at Apogee\u2013Moon farthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n

    09\/07 04:26 ISS passes 0.42 degrees from Procyon\u2013Alpha Canis Minor.<\/p>\n

    09\/09 07:48 First Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n

    09\/12 19:42 Mercury in inferior conjunction\u2013between the Earth and the sun.<\/p>\n

    09\/16 15:05 Full Moon.<\/p>\n

    09\/18 13:07 Moon at perigee\u2013closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n

    09\/20 05:43 ISS passes 0.24 degrees from Rigel\u2013Beta Orion.<\/p>\n

    09\/20 05:43 ISS passes 1.18 degrees from Sirius\u2013Alpha Canis Major.<\/p>\n

    09\/21 HG Wells\u2019 150th<\/sup> Birthday (1866).<\/p>\n

    09\/22 18:21 September Equinox\u2013Fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

    09\/23 05:56 Last Quarter Moon\u2013This is the northernmost last quarter moon of the year.<\/p>\n

    09\/25 06:00 Equilux\u2013Equal day and night for Presque Isle.<\/p>\n

    09\/28 11:24 Mercury at Perihelion\u2013Closest to the Sun.<\/p>\n

    09\/28 13:42 Mercury at half phase.<\/p>\n

    09\/28 15:30 Mercury at greatest western elongation (17.9 degrees) best seen in the morning sky.<\/p>\n

    09\/30 20:11 New Moon.<\/p>\n

    10\/04 07\/12 Moon at Apogee\u2013Farthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n

    10\/05 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u20135.5 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/05 23:49 Venus 48.6 minutes from Alp2 Lib\u2013Multiple Star (2.8 mag).<\/p>\n

    10\/06 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u20138.1 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/07 00:06 Mars 10.9 minutes from Lam Sgr Multiple Star (2.8 mag).<\/p>\n

    10\/07 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u201310.7 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/08 08:00 Draconid Meteor Shower Maximum\u201312 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/08 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u201310.8 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/09 00:33 First Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n

    10\/09 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u20138.4 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/10 19:00 Draconid Meteor Shower\u20135.8 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

    10\/11 05:45 Mercury 47.5 minutes from Jupiter.<\/p>\n

    10\/15 00:23 Full Moon.<\/p>\n

    10\/15 19:40 Moon at Perigee.<\/p>\n

    10\/15 19:17 ISS pass 0.25 degree from Altair\u2013Alpha Aquila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hello everyone, my name is Jim Stepp and I am the dean of students here at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.\u00a0 Astronomy has been a hobby of mine for about 40 years.\u00a0 I first became interested in astronomy in 6th grade.\u00a0 Living in Pittsburgh gave me the opportunity to go to the Buhl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8969,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions\/8969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}