Sunday, November 11, 2012

Can I See the Stars?



Clear skies are essential for astronomers, but depending on where you live they may be few and far between. If you want to do some star gazing, but aren't sure if the weather will cooperate, take a look at the clear sky clock (http://cleardarksky.com/csk/). All you need to do is click "find a chart" and enter your location (or chose a state then city). What you'll see is a chart telling you all sorts of weather predictions, but the most important one is the cloud cover. Above is a clear sky chart for Kitt Peak, AZ, and you want to look at the top row of boxes to see if the sky will be clear. The color of the box at a given time tells you if there will be clouds in the sky (white), or if the sky will be clear (dark blue). So it looks like the sky will be cloudy before midnight Saturday, and then crystal clear the next day and a half. Below the chart there will be a description of how to read the chart and what the colors correspond to exactly. The chart is usually very accurate and astronomers use it all the time while observing. So the next time you want to go to a local star party, but aren’t sure if you should bother going because it might be cloudy, take a look at the clear sky chart before you head out.