Old Town
  Sidewalk
Astronomers

What's Up home page from JPLUpcoming Events

Many of our sidewalk events are planned only a few hours in advance. We will send a notice to our events email list on an afternoon when we plan to be observing.

That said, there are some patterns to when we can be found.

We typically set up telescopes in Pasadena on Colorado Blvd. somewhere between Fair Oaks and Pasadena Ave. on Friday evenings, and in Monrovia at Myrtle and Lime on Saturday evenings. For us to set up telescopes, the sky needs to be clear, there needs to be something to see (Moon, Jupiter, or Saturn), and we need to be available that evening.

Weather is always a factor. Our telescopes, big as they are, can not see through clouds. On an evening when we plan to be out observing, we will generally give it a try if there is a better than even chance that we'll get to view the Moon or planets. Occasionally a thin layer of haze will make the sky appear overcast, but the Moon will still show through.

There is never any charge to look through our telescopes.

A bronze Mark Twain from Monrovia's Library Park studies the Moon Atlas with Jane. Dark Sky Star Parties

The Sidewalk Astronomers have a grand tradition of setting up telescopes in national parks over the summer. For many urban dwellers, an excursion to a national park is the only opportunity to see the Milky Way for themselves. A sky full of stars can be staggering to someone who lives under the L.A. light dome.

We love to get away from the city lights, and love to invite park visitors to spend a little quality night time under a star-filled sky with our telescopes. Jane and I love to set up our big telescopes in Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon, and especially Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.

Mojave National Preserve: One of the darkest locations in the country, and the closest to those of us in southern California. The preserve invites the public, and their conservancy members to camp under the stars at Black Canyon Group Campsite twice a year. Mojo, Jane and Gary (probably more) from your Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers will be there September 24th. I'll put a link for the RSVP as soon as I have it. I's free but there is limited room for campers, so RSVP is necessary. Until then, pencil in this date if you are interested in free campsite (limited room for RV's too). Great hikes during the daytime, plus shared potluck before dark. This website will be updated soon.

Yosemite: One of the "best-kept secret" events at Yosemite National Park during the summer is the weekend star party at Glacier Point, high above the Yosemite Valley. The park invites a different club from Northern California to bring telescopes each weekend that isn't near a full Moon. Club members get a free campsite for the weekend, and park visitors get a free star party. Mojo, Jane and Gary from your Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers will be there August 26-27. Attend as a visitor if you'd like!

For a taste of the Glacier Point star parties, visit Mojo's photo album from 2002 with the San Jose Astronomical Association. If you plan to visit Yosemite National Park in the summer, consider an evening at Glacier Point on a Friday or Saturday evening. Bring warm clothes and a picnic dinner, and enjoy the setting sun as it lights Half Dome from the stone amphitheater. Most clubs present a short slide talk on astronomy, and the ranger will do a constellation talk out at the point. Bring a flashlight to help see your way along the trails, but cover it with your hand so you get only as much light as required.

Grand Canyon: Every June for a week, visitors to Grand Canyon National Park are able to enjoy beautiful telescope views and astronomy talks at the annual Grand Canyon Star Party. Astronomers travel from across the country to set up on both the North and South Rim visitor areas. It'll be held in 2011 from June 18-25.

Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival, Utah: June 2007 was our first visit to this fabulous event. It'll be held in 2011 from June 29-July 2. Follow this link for more information.

Joshua Tree: During the winter season, we're delighted to join the Andromeda Society of Yucca Valley, California, for their dark sky star parties in Joshua Tree National Park. Star parties are held in the Hidden Valley Picnic Area, easily accessible from the entrance gate in Joshua Tree, north of the park.

Jane Houston Jones and Morris "Mojo" Jones at the Glacier Point star party in Yosemite National Park.Meet our fellow astronomers here

Jane and Mojo have been setting up telescopes on sidewalks ranging from Hawaii to Florida since 1990. As amateur astronomers, they've participated in meteor observing missions for NASA, and appeared on national TV and radio programs.

Jane and Mojo kept the Sidewalk Astronomers active in San Francisco, the birthplace of the worldwide Sidewalk Astronomers, until relocating to Southern California in late 2003. They immediately saw the potential of Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia as the perfect location for sidewalk astronomy, and bought a home there in January 2004.

Among their list of awards and accomplishments, minor planet 1992LE was designated 22338 Janemojo in their honor.

Jane works for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena managing public outreach and informal education for the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan.

Mojo is a software engineer at Fox Audience Network, and operates his own internet server for friends and family as a hobby.