Cincinnati Astronomical Society

10/10/2026

2 years ago today saw some of the best aurora at lower latitudes activity we’ve ever seen.The sky glowed from a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) which had occurred days prior.

Anticipating some fantastic aurora, CAS President Bryan Simpson travelled to The Moeller Observatory in Adams County to set up for some photography over the observatories there. The gamble paid off with this shot captured over the course of about 45 minutes of image captures.

At the time The Moeller Observatory had not been announced publicly so we did not post this image. We thought you’d enjoy seeing it now.

Coincidentally there is significant Aurora activity happening over some lower latitudes in Europe today. Unfortunately the intensity is unlikely persist until dark in the US, and in any case, if you look outside you’ll know we aren’t seeing anything in the sky tonight anyway.

10/08/2026

Her contributions to the Apollo program were immeasurable. RIP Margaret.

Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.

10/06/2026

Here are a couple more photos of this morning's lunar occultation of Jupiter.

These photos were taken by CAS member Matthew Garrod at The Moeller Observatory in Adams County. The top photo of ingress was taken with his own personal 8-inch reflecting telescope and a Canon R6 mirrorless camera. The second image, of egress was taken also with a canon R6 mirrorless camera attached to The Moeller Observatory's 1-meter reflector.

Jupiter and the moon are currently in a series of monthly occultations until May of 2027, however this is the only one which will be visible from our area. This series will make for some really close conjunctions however over the next few months including a nice close conjunction on November 30th, with Mars also just a few degrees away.

The next lunar occultation of Jupiter visible from our area occurs on September 28th 2034, when the moon covers Jupiter right before moonset in the morning.

10/06/2026

Are you seeing Jupiter this morning tucked up right next to the moon? The occultation occured from 4:18 to 5:18 this morning. Now its making for a pretty breathtaking view for those on their early commute.

We'll have some close up shots from CAS members to share later today.

10/05/2026

The Occultation of Jupiter

If you follow our monthly What's In The Sky posts, you'll know much of October's interesting things to see come early this month. This one might be the most interesting.

Overnight in the early hours of October 6th, the moon will pass directly in front of Jupiter. This is called an occultation, when one body passes right in front of another.

These aren't particularly rare though they don't happen but a maybe few times per year, and they are only visible from specific areas around the globe on any particular occurence. They are however an opportunity to see the moon's proper motion against objects farther away, like stars and planets.

Starting around 4:18 AM Tuesday morning the moon will begin to cover Jupiter from our vantage point, on the illuminated side of the waning crescent. About one hour later, Jupiter will emerge from the other side, the darker side, of the moon.

You will not need any particular equipment to witness this, as Jupiter can easily be seen with the naked eye. However for those with even modest telescopes or even binoculars, you'll also see our moon cover Jupiter's moons, starting with Europa at 4:13AM, Callisto and Io around 4:16 AM, then Jupiter at 4:18 followed by Ganymede at 4:20AM.

Look to the East. The moon rises around 3:20AM with Jupiter just a minute or so behind. About an hour after moonrise is when the occultation occurs, so it will be low in the sky when it happens.

The sky should be clear for this semi-rare event. CAS members will be up early observing and photographing this occultation. Let us know if you see it.

10/03/2026

Tonight is the opposition of Saturn!

Opposition. It sounds like a really negative word except in the astronomy world.

In astronomy terms opposition is when the Earth sits directly in between two celestial objects, typically the sun and another planet. During opposition the planet is usually at its closest point to the Earth it will be for the year or longer. Which means it’s the best time of the year to observe that planet. Tonight Saturn reaches opposition making it a perfect time for observers and astrophotographers to take in the ringed planet.

Look to the East as the sun is setting. Since Saturn is directly opposite the sun from Earth, it will rise as the sun sets. You'll need a telscope to see the rings however.

Also the rings of Saturn are beginning to open up from our vantage point after last year’s ring plane crossing which made them appear paper thin from our vantage point as we were looking at them edge-on.

Check out this amazing shot of Saturn taken by CAS member as elite planetary astrophotographer Eric Harris. Eric has been busy lately grabbing images of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars and this pic of Saturn is really fantastic.

Great job Eric.

10/02/2026

Some nice conjunctions and an occultation early this month.

09/22/2026