It’s time for the 20th seasonal sunset watch!! (Wow! That’s 5 years of these things …)

I’m going to try the special-for-preschoolers activities again, and hope the weather cooperates this time. If you’re bringing young’uns, come on over and say hi, we’ll have some special books and materials. If your kid would rather just run around in circles, that’s fine with me too. We’ll probably practice with toilet-paper-tube binoculars, and decorate them as well. The ground will be muddy, and I don’t have a good sized table to work at, so bring rain pants.

Non-preschoolers and adults are more than welcome, as usual. I’ll be available to answer questions about the new planet discoveries by Kepler (yay!), and all the usual bits.

• When: Thursday, March 20 at 7:12pm (so come at 6:45pm)
  • Actual sunset is supposed to be at 7:22pm, but we have noticed that the Sun sets about 10 minutes earlier than the USNO says it does, so I’ve moved the time of our sunset watch up so we don’t miss it.
  • The equinox moment is at 9:57am… but we’re watching the sunset not the sunrise because of how the park lines up.
• Where: Solstice Park – all the way up the hill from the tennis courts (or, if you’re not in Seattle, wherever you have a view of the western horizon!)
• Who: Everyone welcome, as usual.

Parent and Child at Sunset by Kazuhiko Teramoto, skyseeker

Come watch the spring equinox sunset at Solstice Park in West Seattle on Thursday the 20th. We’ll see if the sunset lines up with the placed marker. I’ll be there even if it is cloudy because sometimes the Sun peeks through just as it begins to set, but if it is driving rain or sleet I’m staying home with some hot tea!

If you’re interested – here’s the timing of various celestial events  from Seattle, courtesy of the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department:

Sun and Moon Data for One Day

The following information is provided for Seattle, King County, Washington (longitude W122.3, latitude N47.6):

Thursday
20 March 2014 Pacific Daylight Time

SUN
Begin civil twilight 6:41 a.m.
Sunrise 7:12 a.m.
Sun transit 1:17 p.m.
Sunset 7:22 p.m.
End civil twilight 7:53 p.m.

MOON
Moonrise 11:00 p.m. on preceding day
Moon transit 4:06 a.m.
Moonset 9:06 a.m.
Moonrise 12:06 a.m. on following day

Phase of the Moon on 20 March: waning gibbous with 83% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated.

Last quarter Moon on 23 March 2014 at 6:47 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

This event is my part of the NASA’s Solar System Ambassador program, and thanks to West Seattle Blog for publicizing all of them!

Everyone is welcome, see you there!

~ A l i c e !

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