Observing tonight!

Hey everyone: observing, tonight, 9:30, the observatory. Clear Sky Clock says it's gonna be awesome.

Class observing, so usually I wouldn't announce it, but it's the first one.

FALL 2008 Class Observing Schedule

Friday August 29, 9:30 to 11:30

Wednesday September 10, 9:30 to 11:00

Thursday September 18, 9:00 to 10:30

Sunday October 5, 9:00 to 10:30

Monday October 13, 9:00 to 10:30

Friday October 24, 8:30 to 10:00

Wednesday November 5, 8:30 to 10:00

Thursday November 13, 8:00 to 9:30

Monday November 24, 8:00 to 9:30

Tuesday December 2, 7:30 to 9:00

Friday December 12, 7:30 to 9:00

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.

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.

Observing postponed

Hey everyone,
The sky has come down with a severe case of cloud cover. Since side effects include total inability to see anything interesting, we'll reschedule our dark-sky trip for sometime after fall break.

Meeting reminder & Parents' Weekend observing

Next meeting is tomorrow, October 2.

This weekend observing was great on Friday and basically a wash on Saturday.

The good news: We had at least 93 people attend just one observing session!
The bad news: It was the Saturday one, so they were all squished into the dome or they got to stand on the deck and look at clouds or they were trapped in the stairwell. If you were trapped in the stairs or otherwise bored, we hope you come back and try for clearer skies.

So we got to look at Albireo both nights, although it wasn't until quite late on Saturday that it cleared up enough.

The club is starting up a logbook for a variety of reasons, including: we want to know what part of campus we're reaching, whether we have a lot of repeat attendees, how often we see non-students, and also Student Senate asks us questions during budget hearings like "who comes to your activities?" So if you're in the observatory for observing at all, even if you're there every single time and we all know who you are but especially if you've never signed before, please sign the logbook.

So remember: tomorrow. Pizza. Pop. 319 Science. 9:30.

Observing: Tuesday, Sept. 18

A friendly warm night was popular for sky knowledge and general stargazing. Jupiter is increasingly lower in the sky, making it harder to see with the binoculars on the deck. The moon was at first quarter, so the sky was fairly bright. The Summer Triangle is straight overhead during observing this time of year, so interesting telescope sights like Albireo and the Ring Nebula are more easily visible. Not so visible was M-13, the globular cluster in Hercules, which was wiped out by a combination of haze, moonlight, and light pollution.

Our next scheduled observing session is Saturday October 29th, during Parents' Weekend, so if you have family members on campus be sure to bring them by.

Observing: Wednesday, Sept. 5

Our first observing of the year was a great success, even though the weather conspired to annoy us. Despite a solid week of perfectly clear skies, it managed to be hazy, but in any case we didn't let that stop us.

Through the telescope we looked at Jupiter and its Galilean moons, Albireo, the double star at the head of Cygnus, M-57, the Ring Nebula, which is part of Lyra, and very last we looked at M-13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. Out on the deck we saw the usual suspects for late summer observing, such as the Summer Triangle (Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila), Cassiopeia, Pegasus, and the Little Dipper. The new binoculars with the parallel mount stayed trained on Jupiter all evening (until it went below the trees, anyway).

The next class-scheduled session is Tuesday, September 18.

Observing Sessions: Astronomy Class

These sessions are open to everyone.

That said, they were scheduled for the benefit of the astronomy class, who have to do sky knowledge for an actual grade. As such, there were will be a lot of constellation-and-star-names learning, as well as any planets that are out.

So, weather permitting,* the observatory will be open on the following dates and times:

Wednesday, 9/5 9:30-11:00
Tuesday, 9/18 9:00-10:30
Saturday, 9/29 9:00-10:30
Monday, 10/8 9:00-10:30
Friday, 10/19 8:30-10:00
Wednesday, 10/31 8:30-10:00
Thursday, 11/8 8:00-9:30
Monday, 11/19 8:00-9:30
Tuesday, 11/27 7:30-9:00
Friday, 12/7 7:30-9:00

*weather permitting=visible stars. Complete cloud cover all the time, thunderstorms, rain, snow, tornadoes, and heavy fog are good reasons to not come, since no one will be there.

Celestial Gazing and Lunar Surprising*, August 24

The astronomy club is officially on for the semester. Last night was our inaugural observing session. There were clouds and a telescope pin broke. But no worries, the clouds went away sometimes and the pin thing is fixable. But in the daytime.

We will be present at the activities fair on Thursday August 30 so come visit us and sign up for our mailing list if you're not on it already.

The Tuesday after that should be our first meeting, official announcement forthcoming. Same bat time, same bat channel.

*I volunteered at a planetarium over the summer with a Mr. Rogers show. You all watched Mr. Rogers, right? King Friday called it "celestial gazing and lunar surprising" and if it's good enough for King Friday it's good enough for us. All club-scheduled observing sessions will now carry this tag (as opposed to observing requested by groups, which will still be observing).