Hi all

There's a couple of upcoming celestial events to note in your diaries.

Saturn and Mars Conjunction : Thursday and Friday evening after Sunset

Following on from the straight-line conjunction of the Moon, Regulus, Mars and Saturn last Sunday night, on Thursday and Friday evening this week (10th and 11th July), Mars and Saturn will be in close conjunction - a mere 40' (arcminutes) apart (just over half a degree).

That's close enough to fit them both in the same field of view of most widefield eyepieces of moderately sized telescopes (depending on your focal length). They'll also easily fit in the same field of view of most astrophotography setups, such as DSLR hooked up to an ED80.

Make sure you head on out and take a look, and don't forget to post your reports in the Observational Astronomy forum, and your pictures in the Solar System forum. Look to the North West after sunset - Mars will look orange and Saturn will look yellow. Good luck for clear skies! 

Partial Lunar Eclipse, 17th August 2008

The Total Lunar Eclipse of last August 28 was an amazing time for amateur astronomers everywhere. The upcoming Partial Lunar Eclipse on August 17th isn't likely to generate quite the same excitement or media interest, but they still happen infrequently enough that it's worth making an effort to get up early to check out the Moon as it heads into Earth's shadow.

For Australians and New Zealanders, it will occur as the Moon is setting in the West. In fact for most of us, the Moon will set before it reaches the greatest partial eclipse. West Australian's get the best view this time time around and will see almost the entire eclipse from start to finish.

For more information, including a viewing and imaging guide and where and when you can see it, please see the article:

Partial Lunar Eclipse, 17th August 2008 - Viewing / Imaging Guide

I reckon it's worth getting out of bed for on a Sunday morning.. how about you? Discuss the Partial Lunar Eclipse here on IceInSpace.

In other news, the Image of the Week Archives is now available on IceInSpace. See all of the past images that really showcase the talent of the astrophotographers in the IceInSpace Community. The page is available here and also under the Resources menu.

Thanks for reading.