Friday, February 22, 2008

Observing: Wednesday, Feb. 20

43 people turned up for the eclipse Wednesday night. It was clear, so we had an excellent view of the moon in the eastern sky as it moved into the Earth's shadow. Once the moon was actually eclipsed, it turned a reddish color and it was much easier to see the nearby star Regulus and planet Saturn. Unfortunately, because of the recent snow and ice, it was impossible to open up the dome (in case it got stuck open, because that would be bad news for the telescope). Hopefully the weather will let up soon and we'll be able to have observing sessions in a little more comfort.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Observing Tonight

Tonight at 9pm the observatory will open so we can check out the total lunar eclipse tonight. It's clear as I type, the Clear Sky Clock looks promising, and we can hope the weather got all the snow out of its system earlier today, so be sure to stop by. Totality (complete eclipse) will be reached at about 10:00 and stay for the next fifty minutes.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Observing: Saturday, Feb. 9

So, despite the cold and predicted impending clouds a few brave souls made their way up into the observatory Saturday night. In between periods of complete cloud cover, the sky was remarkably clear, affording us a great view of the Orion Nebula. M-42 is one of the places where stars are born, and in the telescope it was especially distinct, with tendrils spreading from the top to the bottom of the field of view, which is unusual. Mars is also up high in the sky, with some small variations in the coloring visible; Saturn is rising later and beginning to tilt so that the rings will soon become edge-on from our point of view.

Our next scheduled observing is Friday, March 14, after Nick's lecture. It's possible that more sessions will be scheduled between now and then, but we're limited by the tendency of Ohio to be entirely overcast at this time of year.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Observing Reminder

A really delayed observing reminder, but hey, there's more than half an hour to go...

Observing is scheduled tonight for 8pm in the observatory.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Meeting: February 5, 2008

Hey Club members!

Here's what's coming up for the Wittenberg Astronomical Society:

Very soon we will be ordering club t-shirts, so keep an eye and ear out for more info on that.

The upcoming observing sessions are always listed on the WAS website and the next one is Saturday, February 9th @ 8pm. We are tentatively planning to go to Hocking Hills in April.

Other possible trips are to the Pittsburg Planetarium and the summer UK trip.

We also have 2 Friday Night Lectures this semester: "Magic and Science" on March 14 presented by our favorite president, Nick; and "Music of the Spheres" in April presented by Keith.

Topics of discussion at the meeting:
Asteroids
Near Earth Object Program
Clear Sky Clock
Mercury Messenger
Deep Space Broadcasting

See you all at our next meeting March 11th @ 9:30pm

Monday, February 4, 2008

Meeting tomorrow

If your inboxes have not jogged your memory enough, remember that tomorrow is our February meeting of astronomy club. 9:30, 319 Science. It will feature our three favorite meeting activities of talking, planning, and eating.