Astronomical Dawn:
05:39 EST
Civil Dawn:
06:48 EST
Sunrise:
07:18 EST

Astronomy on the
Walkway Over the Hudson

What you may want to know for Walkway at Night on the Walkway Over the Hudson, between Poughkeepsie and Highland, New York. Sunset:
16:30 EST
Civil Dusk:
17:00 EST
Astronomical Dusk:
18:09 EST

Clear Sky Charts

As of Sunday, 22-Dec-2024 05:40:56 EST

The Walkway is between these two sites, so conditions might be expected to be between as well. - Click on either chart for more information.

You can also get a sky prediction using Astrospheric.

Weather

RADAR
Poughkeepsie, NY
(via WUnderground) Dutchess Co. Airport
Poughkeepsie, NY
(NWS @ KPOU) Highland Station,
Highland, NY
(KNYHIGHL35) Fairview 2 Station
Poughkeepsie, NY
(KNYPOUGH14)

No White Lights, Please

Astronomers prefer dim red lights to white lights, because dim red light helps preserve night vision. This can make all the difference between seeing or not seeing a very faint target.

On the walkway this is not a major concern, especially when there is a full moon, but it is still courteous to use red light if you can, and to avoid shining lights at telescopes or up near faces.

You can easily convert a flashlight for use at a star party by covering the lens with red tape for repairing automobile tail lights, which you can get at any auto parts store. You will probably need two layers. You can also use red plastic tape, like electrician's tape, and you can even get 2" wide rolls at many hardware stores. One layer should be enough.

Also, please avoid flash photography whenever possible.

Astronomy Info

MHAA Star Party
Etiquette Guide

Sunrise/ Sunset
Poughkeepsie, NY

ISS Passes
Over the Walkway

Heavens Above
for the Walkway

Model Solar System

The 1000 yard model of the solar system, sometimes known as the Peppercorn Model of the solar system, is a scale model of the solar system which shows, at the same time and on a linear scale, both the sizes of the planets and the distances between them. At this memorable scale the Sun is about the size of a soccer ball, the Earth is about the size of a peppercorn, and Pluto is a grain of salt a little over 1000 yards from the Sun. The Walkway Over the Hudson is an ideal place for this model of the solar system, and it has been set up on the bridge many times during Walkway At Night events. On the Walkway Over the Hudson, with the Sun over the west bank of the river, Neptune is just over the east bank of the river, Pluto is over the railroad tracks, and the dwarf planet Eris is just inside the east gate.

Local Astronomy Resources

Mid-Hudson Astronomical
Association (MHAA)

SUNY New Paltz
Smolen Observatory

SUNY New Paltz
John R. Kirk Planetarium

Mobile Apps

Astrospheric

Stellarium
Mobile

Planets

SkyView

Sky Safari

Pocket Universe

Stellarium

Stellarium is a computer app which can show you the night sky at any time from any place on the surface of the Earth (and even some planets). It's used in the John R. Kirk Planetarium at SUNY New Paltz, and in other planetariums around the world, but you can also run it on your own computer. It is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can get Stellarium from http://stellarium.org.

Stellarium can be customized to display a 'landscape' around the horizon, which can help you get oriented, and show you what parts of the sky might be blocked by trees or terrain. This screen-shot is an example for the Walkway:

Follow this link to download the Stellarium landscape for the Walkway Over the Hudson (it's the 5th one down the list).

Follow this link for instructions on how to install landscapes in Stellarium, and for links to many more landscapes.

There are also versions of Stellarium for iOS devices, and for Android devices. (While Stellarium itself is open-source software, these apps are not free; paying for them rewards the developers for porting the software to mobile platforms.)

Astronomy on the Walkway Over the Hudson