Cayman Astronomy this weekend 5th August and 7th August

The Cayman Islands Astronomical  Society will be at The Marriott Hotel again  this Friday night 5^th August  for a promotional  “Dark Night” evening. (weather permitting) .

The evening starts around 7:30 PM. We are located close to the beach on the Southern side of the complex- near the “Jacuzzi”

The Society also has its regular monthly meeting on Sunday 7^th August at St Pedros Castle – starting 7 PM

All welcome to both events – phone Richard  for more details 925 4917 .  Member of the General Public are welcome

But please park outside and walk in. In the event of being more than 50 percent cloud the meeting is cancelled.

We have  5 visible planets in the sky at the moment – these should be visible form both our venues this weekend. The Pedros Meeting will however allow us to see the famous “Teapot” Asterism- and within the “steam” from the spout -the Centre of our Milky Way Galaxy.

This month also brings us the Perseid meteor shower which always brings huge interest  from the Press.I don’t want to discourage people but here in Cayman our latitude means we don’t quite get the full effect of more Northern Latitudes. 

The figure normally quoted is an estimated Maximum figure assuming excellent visibility and No Moon with the Radiant- he portion of sky where the meteors appear to radiate form  (from the Constellation of Perseus) directly overhead. This year its predicted to be 300 meteors per hour between Aug 11 and the 13^th . Its also best to see the shower AFTER midnight – 2AM for example is a good time- as the Moon which is almost full sets at 1 AM on the 12^th . Good Luck!