Solar eclipse will roll across Sisters

The Great American Eclipse of 2017 will move across Sisters Country on Monday, August 21. The moon's shadow will cut a 70-mile-wide swath of totality across the country from Oregon to South Carolina. Viewers within the path will see the moon completely cover the sun to reveal the sun's beautiful, tenuous atmosphere, called the corona.

Reddish-colored prominences may also be seen darting from the limb of the moon. The length of totality will depend on how close an observer is to the shadow's centerline. In Oregon, the totality phase will begin near Lincoln City on the coast at about 10:15 a.m. and leave the state at 10:27 a.m. The largest town in Central Oregon closest to the eclipse's centerline is Madras. There the duration of totality will be about 2 minutes and 4 seconds, and begin at around 10:19 a.m.

Here in Sisters totality is predicted to last just 30 seconds or so, depending where the viewer is situated.

Except for world-wide travelers who chase them, viewing a total solar eclipse is usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you are at all interested in this, do all you can to place yourself somewhere within the path of totality on eclipse day. You won't regret it.

At least a partial eclipse will be seen throughout all of North America (weather permitting.)

As always, the night sky offers many worthy sights to the observer - unfortunately frequently obscured by smoke this month.

Currently residing in Virgo, big and bright Jupiter is found in the western twilight this month. Mercury is there too, but much lower in the sky-just six degrees above the horizon. It drops out of sight as the month progresses.

Slower-moving Saturn is about 30 degrees above the southern horizon at mid-month, well-placed for evening viewing. Its system of rings is fully open, tipped 27 degrees to our line of sight, allowing for the clearest views. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is easily visible through almost any telescope; Tethys, Dione and Rhea can be glimpsed through an instrument with a four-inch or greater objective diameter. The sluggishly slow-moving planet is still seemingly anchored in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

Venus is currently playing the role of the Morning Star. It rises about 2.5 hours before the sun and stands 20 degrees above the eastern horizon an hour before sunup. The brightest planet spends most of the month in Gemini before crossing into Cancer on August 25.

On some dark evening in August, an interesting, and fun, exercise might be to see how many of the more conspicuous summer constellations you can find. These would include (alphabetically) Aquila, Cygnus, Lyra, Sagittarius and Scorpius. Also see if you can make out the Summer Triangle.

To learn more about our sky during the month of August, come to the Stars Over Sisters Starwatch event on Saturday, August 19 at 8:30 p.m. It will begin with a presentation in the Sisters Park & Recreation District building at 1750 W. McKinney Butte Rd.

After the presentation, telescopes will be available in the northwest corner of the high school parking lot for viewing the night sky.

The event is free.