Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Meeting: Tuesday, December 5

We discussed the NASA exhibit at the Springfield Museum of Art. If you have a chance, definitely check it out- it's a great exhibit with some neat things, and it runs through December 16th. We also discussed NASA's current proposal to begin a new series of moon missions, basically replicating the Apollo program of the sixties, and how this course of action compares to that proposed by Robert Zubrin and the Mars Society. For next semester, we will of course have more observing sessions and tours in Weaver, as well as another trip to Hocking Hills in March or April, when it's warmer. Another warm-weather project would be to visit Mercy St John's hospital with some telescopes and a group of students. It would involve visiting and talking about astronomy with patients who are extremely ill, many of whom are not mobile, and a visit by students would be really appreciated by them. The club is also considering a trip to Chicago or New York; comparative prices will be available when plans solidify. Any student who knows about an area of astronomy, or wants to study one more in-depth, and is willing to give a five to ten minute talk at one of the talks Dr. Fleisch gives to community groups is welcome to do so. Contact Dr. Fleisch for more details if this is something you might be interested in. The club is working to create a Friday night lecture series, which would be a scientific lecture accessible to non-scientists on a monthly basis. If you would like to help or have any ideas about ways to get people to attend or topics people would find interesting, email an astronomy club officer or Dr. Fleisch. Also, with the recovery of many of the documents detailing Weaver's history, the club needs to find some way to get this information out. The current plan is to gather a group of students, give each one just a few files, and then students will read and summarize their files, to get the information out into the world without overwhelming any one person. This will not happen at our first meeting in January, but will probably be scheduled then.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Meeting: Tuesday, November 7

The club approved the purchase of a SkyScout for club use. The observing which was cancelled earlier in the semester will be rescheduled in the spring. The links of sites we looked at during the meeting are here for the data-matching on the extrasolar planet search(or here for the less cryptic page), and here for the site on black holes. We also found out some information about the recently recovered documents chronicling the history of the observatory, especially its early years; watch for a new page to the site detailing some of this information and its loss and retrieval in the next few months. Quick facts: the observatory was dedicated by famous astronomer Heber Curtis, the cost of the telescope was $8910, and many famous astronomer were written to for advice on things like who should manufacture the dome or the telescope. The club is also considering sponsoring a public showing of the movie A Brief History of Time.

Friday, November 3, 2006

Observing: Friday, November 3

An 8:00pm observing session in Weaver Observatory. Lots of Circle K members from many different universities came (even though it was really cold), and everyone got to see something. Outside, the sky was clear but the moon was just a couple days shy of full, meaning that a large portion of the sky was washed out. The Summer Triangle is on its way down, so as the night went on the people viewing Albireo through the telescope had to climb higher and higher on the stairs to see it. In the east, Auriga and Taurus are rising toward the middle of the evening, while later, around eleven, Orion is just visible over the chapel. Click here for a guide to the more obvious winter constellations or here for a guide to winter Messier objects.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Trunk-or-Treat: Saturday, October 28

We saw lots of kids at this event, which was fun although extremely windy. Pictures of the club's car are on the images page, under activities.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Observing: Saturday, October 21

Some dark sky observing in Hocking Hills. The sky at Hocking Hills was extremely impressive, dark enough that you could easily see the Milky Way with the naked eye. There were so many stars that it was sometimes a little difficult to pick out familiar constellations. Some people saw shooting stars, and everyone got to see constellations like Sagitta, Delphinus, Aquila, Lyra, Cygnus, Auriga, Taurus, Cassiopeia, Pisces, Ursa Minor, Pegasus, Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, and Draco; a few people saw Sagittarius before it set. An interesting easily visible star was Fomalhaut, in Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish: it's a southern constellation that is only occasionally visible at Wittenberg because of light pollution from Springfield. Along with Fomalhaut, Albireo, Altair, Vega, Alpheratz, Polaris, Capella, Aldebaran, El Nath, Phercad, Kochab, Mirfak, Algol, Rastaban, Eltanin, and Thuban were up. The Pleiades were also up, and we looked at Albireo through the telescope. A fun fact about Polaris, Thuban, and Vega all being visible at the same time: due to the wobble of the Earth's axis as it spins, called precession, Polaris has not always been the North Star. Thuban was the most recent one before Polaris, and Vega is next in line for the honor. Read more about precession here. Sadly, clouds moved in after an hour or so, and we didn't get to see fainter Messier objects like the Ring Nebula or later-rising constellations like Gemini and Orion. Thanks to everyone who drove and to the Reno family for hosting us.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Meeting: Tuesday, October 10

We discussed Eris and Dysnomia, the dwarf planet and its moon formerly known as Xena and Gabrielle. We also looked at the research of the most recent Nobel Laureates, who won for research related to the big bang- click the link for biographies and details of the reseach of the newest winners. Dr. Lewis graciously allowed us to take a look at his new SkyScout and see how it would have been in action had it not been cloudy out. We did some more planning for upcoming events, and all members are encouraged to submit ideas for future events and trips.

Saturday, October 7, 2006

Homecoming Observing: Saturday, October 7

The moon was still bright enough to wash out stars, but since it wasn't completely full as it was the previous night, there were some craters along the edge of the moon that made for interesting viewing. Even with the moon, the sky was clear enough to see Delphinus, the dolphin, and Sagitta, the arrow, two constellations in the area of the Summer Triangle that weren't visible Friday night. There were also two shooting stars visible during the initial viewing session on the deck, in the general vicinity of Hercules and Ophiuchus in the western sky. Click here to learn more about falling stars.

Friday, October 6, 2006

Homecoming Observing: Friday, October 6

While it was very clear, unlike the last session, the moon was as full as it could get, washing out a good part of the visible stars. While we did view the moon through the telescope, its lack of a terminator (the line between light and dark) meant that there wasn't much in the way of defined craters or mountains. We also had the opportunity to hear from the husband of a returning alumna; he was actually at the meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague where the vote on Pluto was taken. Here is a brief article about the Pluto vote.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Observing: Saturday, September 16

It was hazier than we would have liked, but we got a look at the Ring Nebula (M-57, an exploded star) and Albireo (a double star in Cygnus) through the telescope. We also saw a few constellations from the observing deck.