The Skies

Sun and Moon Data

To find sun and moon rising and setting times for your park or office, go to the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day webpage.

Night Skies

An update on the moon, planets and night skies for the next few weeks. Visible planets during the period:

• Mercury climbs higher and higher in the evening sky just after dusk and is at its greatest elongation on February 16th. It then drops back toward the horizon.
• Mars is low in the southwest after sunset until about mid-February, when it begins fading slowly from view.
• Jupiter is high and bright in the evening sky – a magnitude –2.4 it shines brighter than any other point of light in the sky.
• Venus is visible before dawn in early February but soon disappears into the pre-dawn twilight.
• Saturn rises shortly before midnight by mid-February and appears highest in the south as morning twilight begins.

Calendar of upcoming celestial events:

• Saturday, 1/26 – Full moon.
• Sunday, 2/3 – Last quarter moon.
• Friday, 2/8 – Mercury passes less than a half degree north of Mars.
• Sunday, 2/10 – The moon is new (dark).
• Monday, 2/11 – Mercury appears between the crescent moon (above) and Mars (below) about a half hour after sunset.
• Saturday, 2/16 – Mercury appears at its 2013 best in the evening sky.
• Sunday, 2/17 – First quarter moon.
• Monday, 2/18 – The moon passes a degree south of Jupiter.
• Monday, 2/25 – Full moon.

For more information on stars, planets and other night sky phenomena, go to “The Sky This Week” page at the U.S. Naval Observatory page at http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/sky-this-week

The Weather

Watches and Warnings

The principal watches and warnings posted as of early this morning were as follows. Note that these change over the course of a day and represent only initial daily forecasts. Click on this link for a full-sized map showing these hazards:

• Winter storm and lake effect snow watches, warnings and advisories – Western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, northeastern Ohio and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
• Flood watches, warnings and advisories – Areas in Nebraska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Virginia, Georgia and along the middle Mississippi River, lower Ohio River and Wabash River corridors. Also along the Salmon River in Idaho and Montana due to an ice jam.
• High wind watches, warnings and advisories – Southeast Wyoming.

For additional information on severe weather, go to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center at http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ .

In Memoriam

There were no NPS line of duty deaths on this date. Click here for a full list of on-duty deaths.

From The Morning Report Archives

Today’s incident from the Morning Report archives:

Lake Mead NRA – On the morning of March 4, 1989, a seasonal ranger was stopped by a visitor who told him that there was a man on foot at the intersection of Lakeshore and North Shore Drives who was brandishing a weapon and pointing it at passing motorists. The seasonal ranger called for assistance, drove to the scene, and parked his cruiser across the roadway to block traffic from approaching the area. At the same time, a second ranger arrived from the opposite direction and the man with the gun – later identified as a 28-year-old Wyoming resident – started walking toward him. The ranger backed up 200 feet around the corner of the intersection, got out of the patrol car with his shotgun, took a defensive position behind it, and ordered the man to drop his gun, a Luger pistol. The man refused and continued to approach the ranger, yelling repeatedly that he wasn’t going back to prison and telling the ranger that he’d better shoot him or he’d kill the ranger. When he got to within 20 feet of the ranger, he pointed the Luger at him, and the ranger fired in self defense, hitting the main in the chest. The man was flown to a hospital, where he subsequently died. Shortly after the incident occurred, the park received information via teletype that identified the man and said that he was wanted for murder and armed robbery in Wyoming, where he and an accomplice had shot and killed a man. Both had fled and were reportedly armed and dangerous. The second man was arrested at a casino in Las Vegas that night.

Contact Information
Name: Bill Halainen, Editor