Post by bsimon615 on Sept 11, 2019 15:47:24 GMT -6
2020 is just one of those years where "New Moon" falls at an awkward time. A little bit too early in October to our liking (our dates would be 10/13 to 10/18) what with the long term probability of days that are too warm and with the possibility of more bugs, higher humidity and more deeply imbedded in hurricane season. On the other hand the next "New Moon" cycle would mean that our November dates would be November 10th to the 15th making that our latest DSSG ever.
So what to do? We looked at the possibility of shifting the dates slightly with a slightly later October start or a slightly earlier November start. We cannot move one week either later in October or earlier in November, so we looked at a 2 or 3 day shift to see how that would work with a start on a Saturday and an end on a Thursday morning. This, however does not work well either. If we were to start on Saturday November 7th that would have us seeing moon rise at approximately midnight. This might be a bit early for our nightowl astronomers. While rising a bit later each night, the early moon rise on Saturday night/Sunday morning and Monday morning would positively interfere with serious deep sky observing in the post midnight hours for many.
Accordingly it looks like our dates for the 38th Annual Deep South Star Gaze in 2020 will be November 10th to November 15th. Note that even with these later dates we still end 11 days before Thanksgiving which falls on 11/26 in 2020.
Barry Simon
So what to do? We looked at the possibility of shifting the dates slightly with a slightly later October start or a slightly earlier November start. We cannot move one week either later in October or earlier in November, so we looked at a 2 or 3 day shift to see how that would work with a start on a Saturday and an end on a Thursday morning. This, however does not work well either. If we were to start on Saturday November 7th that would have us seeing moon rise at approximately midnight. This might be a bit early for our nightowl astronomers. While rising a bit later each night, the early moon rise on Saturday night/Sunday morning and Monday morning would positively interfere with serious deep sky observing in the post midnight hours for many.
Accordingly it looks like our dates for the 38th Annual Deep South Star Gaze in 2020 will be November 10th to November 15th. Note that even with these later dates we still end 11 days before Thanksgiving which falls on 11/26 in 2020.
Barry Simon