Kootenai Stargazers Astronomy Club logo (c) 1995

Kootenai Stargazers Astronomy Club

Calendar of Events

The Kootenai Stargazers Astronomy Club meets the third Friday of each month.

Upcoming Meetings and presentations

  • Our next meeting will be on Friday September 20, 2019. The presentation will be a video on "A Brief History of Space Exploration Part II".
    Get together at 6 PM for discussions and snacks, meeting starts at 7 PM.

What's Up in the Night Sky

    Note: Observations are good for the lower 48 states, but more accurate for the Northwest Area.

  • September 14: Full Moon. The Moon is located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. Also known as the Harvest Moon

  • September 23: Autumnal Equinox. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. Also the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

  • September 28: New Moon. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky.

  • October 8: Draconids Meteor Shower. A minor meteor shower producing generally only about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by the dust grains left behind by Comet 21P Giacobini Zinner, discovered in 1900. This meteor show is unusual because it is best viewed in the early evening instead of early morning like most other meteor showers. The shower run annually from October 6-10 and peaks on the night of the 8th. The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving fairly dark skies for observing. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco located in the northern sky.

  • October 13: Full Moon. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. Also known as the Full Hunters Moon.

  • October 20: Mercury will be at its greatest Eastern Elongation. The planet will reach the greatest elongation from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.

  • October 21,22: Orionids Meteor Shower. This is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. Produced by dust grains left behind by Comet Halley. The shower runs annually from October 2 to November 7 and peaks on the night of October 21 and morning of October 22. The second quarter moon will block some of the fainter meteors but the Orionids tend to be fairly bright so there still could be a good show. Best viewing will be after midnight and radiate from the constellation Orion. Look towards the south.

  • Jupiter is prominent in the evening sky, shining brightly around magnitude -2.2 It will be visible low in south west sky as soon as the sky darkens and will set before midnight.

  • Saturn will be visible in the low southern sky as soon as the sky gets dark and shines at zero magnitude.

April 8, 2024 Next Total Solar Eclipse in the United States