Page 61 - Sonoma County Gazette October 2018

Volunteer Wildfire Anniversary ~
Shiloh Ranch Regional Park
This event is meant to promote healing and recovery within our community. Visitors will be invited to reflect on the past year while witnessing the park’s recovery. There will be other events throughout the day focusing on community well-being and connections. Volunteers are needed to help with set up & takedown, parking and recycling and compost. There will be snacks and drinks for all volunteers, along with a meal from the food trucks.
To sign up: signupgenius.com/go/30e0944a5ad2eaafe3-wildfire Your volunteer service will go a long way in making this event a success.
Saturday, October 6th from 11am – 2pm.
Activities for the day include: Family art activities, face painting and crafts, phoenix mural, food trucks, music under the oaks, dancers/drummer, “Laughter as Medicine” workshop for families, fire ecology hike, nature photography walk, “Super Power Kids” workshop and meditation walk.
LandPaths 618 4th St. Santa Rosa, outings@landpaths.org, 707-544-7284
Oct 5 ~ Stewardship Workday at Riddell Preserve - Help us install a trail system used for educational and outings programs. No experience necessary. 9a-1p, Riddell Preserve, Riddell Preserve 2575 Brack Road, Healdsburg
Oct 6 ~ Raptor Migration Hike at Poff Ranch - Fall birding hike at spectacular Wright Hill (aka Poff Ranch) south of Red Hill on the Sonoma Coast. Free, 10:00 AM - 3:00p, Wright Hill (aka Poff Ranch),
Oct 13 ~ Meal and Heal - Outdoor Community Dinner at Rancho Mark We. Celebrate our common love for this place & our community. FREE, bring potluck dish to share, 11a-3p, Rancho Mark West, 7125 St. Helena Rd, Santa Rosa
Oct 14 ~ Laguna Watershed Perspectives Hike: Exploring the Birds and Wildlife of Santa Rosa Creek and Delta Pond - Natural History outing with the Laguna Foundation and LandPaths. Suitable for adults & children 12+. FREE, 9a-12:30p, Heron Hall at the Laguna Environmental Center, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa
On October 11th, look for Jupiter just below a thin crescent moon, low in the southwest.
A Guide to the Night Sky
October 2018
By Tre Gibbs, L.A.A.S.
Fall is here. The days have been getting noticeably shorter while the nights
have been getting longer as we slowly head towards the Winter Solstice. Back in August (and early September), four planets were gracing our early
evening skies: Venus - low in the west, Jupiter—high in the south, Saturn— climbing higher in the south east, and Mars—rising in the south east at sunset. This month, Venus (in Libra then heading into Virgo) is becoming lost in the glare of the setting sun, Jupiter (in Libra the Scales) is low in the south west, Saturn (in Sagittarius the Archer) is high in the south west at sunset and Mars (in Capricornus the Sea Goat) is not too far behind Saturn, high in the south- southeast at sunset.
For October, two planets will be great for naked eye viewing - Saturn and Mars. Mars will be the brighter of the two with a subtle orangey hue, while Saturn appears to the west of Mars as an average, non twinkling “star”. As always, the moon travels the night sky with each of the planets, making the visible ones very easy to spot - but only on a particular evening, as the moon is in constant motion around Earth.
On October 14th, the moon will have moved east to the point where it
will travel the night sky with Saturn. In fact, the lower “point” of the thicker crescent moon will appear to almost be “touching” the quintessential ringed gas giant!
Three days later, on October 17th, the moon is to the right of the subtly reddish/orangey Mars, while the next evening, October 18th, the moon appears to the left of “The God of War”.
Pepperwood Preserve 2130 Pepperwood Preserve Rd, Dwight Center, Santa Rosa, 707-591-9310, pepperwoodpreserve.org
Oct 13 ~ Volunteer Workday - Help with post-fire restoration work. 8:30-9a, RSVP
Oct. 13 ~ Public Hike - Explore Pepperwood’s forests and grasslands. 9-1p,
Oct 5 ~ Wildflowers and Wildlife of Pepperwood One Year After the Tubbs Fire - Join Pepperwood’s Preserve Ecologist Michelle Halbur to explore the incredible rebound of plant and animal life. $10. FREE, 7p
Oct 6 ~ The Oaks of Pepperwood - Join Steve Barnhart, Pepperwood’s Academic Director emeritus and Prahlada Papper, PhD student in oak research at UCB, to examine the biology, ecology, evolution and species identity within this exceptionally diverse group. $30, $25 for members, 9a-3p
Robert Ferguson Observatory $8 parking fee, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, 2605 Adobe Canyon Road, Kenwood, rfo.org
Oct 13 ~ Public Solar Viewing - Solar telescopes are set up so you can safely look at and listen to our favorite star, the Sun. 11-3p
Oct 11 ~ Whats Up - Tour of the observatory, a classroom talk about prominent objects that are viewable that night. $10-$15, 8p
Oct 6,13 ~ Star Party at Robert Ferguson Observatory - Starting at dusk three telescopes open for viewing with more outside - $3 Under 18 FREE
Oct 1,8 ~ The Night Sky - Lectures on Constellations of the Seasons - Designed for everyone from total beginners to experienced amateur observers.
Speaking of the coming winter, this is also the time of year when some recognizable constellations start to rise in the east prior to midnight. As Earth continues her constant journey orbiting our nearest star, The Sun, at night time—when we are facing out into space—we see different patterns of stars, different times of the year. Long ago, our ancestors used the seasonally shifting and changing constellations as a sort of calendar. By watching the sky, they knew when to prepare for the winter, when it was time to plant crops, when the rains were coming, when to harvest... the sky gave them access to information that was vital to survival. Today, this same astronomical information is just as beneficial to us. By month’s end, Taurus The Bull and Orion The Hunter, both winter constellations, appear low in the east just before midnight, signaling
that winter is on it’s way. Taurus is not as easy to spot as Orion, but one of its more identifiable “asterisms” (a grouping of stars that is NOT a constellation)
is the Pleiades, (PLEE-uh-dees), which appears as a small and faint grouping
of stars rising prior to the “V” shape of stars that make up the Bull’s face. The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters (and used as the Subaru logo), is
often confused, by some, as The Little Dipper, and almost resembles a very
tiny tennis racket. Ancient folklore told a tale of how the Pleiades was a small grouping of flies resting on The Bull’s shoulder! Look for this cluster of stars, due east after 11:00pm in late October - and the darker the sky, the better chance you will have to see it.
As always, thanks for reading and remember....KEEP LOOKING UP!
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On October 24th, the moon has moved east to the point where it is directly opposite the sun and as a result, appears full. This month’s full moon is known as “The Full Hunter’s Moon”, since it was this time of year that ancient tribes began the annual hunt to prepare for the soon to be coming winter.
Keep in mind that as Earth continues to move around the sun, these stars, asterisms and constellations will rise earlier and earlier until, just before Spring, they are close to the western horizon at sunset, so you will have plenty of time this Fall and Winter to check them out!