Community Corner
Coolest Stay-Home Event Ever! 'Swoon At The Moon'
Astronomer Eric McLaughlin will be operating a telescope aimed at the moon tonight — and you can join him.
RANCHO MIRAGE, CA — Local astronomy enthusiasts can catch a closer look at the moon as it enters its first phase Thursday evening through a livestreamed event hosted by the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory.
City Astronomer Eric McLaughlin will be operating the telescope aimed at the moon, highlighting volcanic features and impact craters during the observatory's Swoon at the Moon event to be livestreamed on the city's Youtube page.
McLaughlin will be livestreaming here for about 30 minutes starting at 7:30 p.m.
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Tonight the moon is in a "waxing crescent" phase — the first phase after the new moon. It is a great time to see the features of the moon's surface.
The National Weather Service calls for mostly clear skies tonight in the Coachella Valley.
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The city's observatory opened in 2018 on the campus of the Rancho Mirage Library.
The observatory's PlaneWave Instruments CDK 700 telescope can observe objects over 50 million light-years away, according to the library's website, or objects 3 trillion times the distance between the Earth and the sun.
For more information on the observatory, click here. The library's Youtube page can be viewed here.
