Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's . . .

Moon, Venus, and other lights, 12/26/11.

So writes John Donne in "A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day." Our shortest day this year is December 21. (It is currently falling on the 21 or 22 and will continue so until 2080, when it occurs on the 20th.) But oddly, the 21st will neither be our earliest sunset or our latest sunrise. The earliest sunset in Gettysburg occurred on Dec 7 (4:44 PM) and the latest sunrise will occur on January 4, 2014 (7:31 AM).

Why?? In a nutshell, though the tilt of the earth's axis assures that the length of days changes predictably though the year, the entire day in local sun time is shifting against clock time due to regular changes in the speed of the earth around the sun.

For an explanation that will not fit in a nutshell, read this article from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Astro 101 Observing Session 2

Venus setting, in the handle
 of Sagittarius' "teapot."

Here is a combined report for observing session 2 for the Monday and Thursday AST101 labs. We were delayed by bad weather but eventually got out on November 14 and 18. On both evenings, we concentrating on digital imaging. First we tried some afocal photography, which amounts to holding a camera up to the eyepiece of a telescope and snapping a photo. It can work well, even with a cell phone, for bright objects like the moon or a planet.

L to R moon pics by Sarah Scott, Rorie Lentz, Megan Haugh, and Ali Cooke.
Sarah's photo was the College photo of the day on 11/26!

We also took some time lapse image sequences of the sky using a Canon point-and-shoot camera running the Canon Hack Development Kit. Here is one of the better results, a video compiled from images of the northern sky taken each minute for about two hours.

Finally, we took images through a Meade 8" telescope using and SBIG 402 CCD camera. The best results are below:

Globular cluster M13, unfiltered.

Planetary nebula M27, combination of 3 images using
red, blue, and green filters.

M92, another RGB combination

Early December Astrominute Podcast is Online

The Hatter Planetarium / WZBT "Astrominute" for early December is now available online:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute120113.mp3

And since we have not done the best job of posting these online this fall, here is the "Astrominute" from late November.

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute111513.mp3

December Sky Shows Almost Here!

Sunday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 PM
Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Noon
Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7 PM

We’ll check in on Comet ISON. Will we be able to see it from Gettysburg?? We should have an idea by showtime! We will explore the other highlights of December skies, including those you don't need to get up in the wee hours to see. And we will observe and explain the December solstice. Last show of Fall 2013. (We hope to have the Spring schedule available for distribution at the show.)

ISON or Ice-off?

Comet ISON makes its long-awaited swing around the sun on Thanksgiving Day. In the first days of December it will emerge into the predawn skies as -- as what? A glory easily visible to the unaided eye? A  fuzzy spot barely visible in binoculars? We still don't know. Local viewers, here is what to do:

• Read reputable astro-news, like Sky and Telescope's ISON page.
• Come to the Hatter Planetarium's "Sky this Month" shows on Sunday 12/1 at 4 PM or Tuesday 12/3 at Noon and 7 PM.
• Check it out for yourself.

You can accomplish that last one by grabbing some binoculars and getting out about an hour before sunrise (i.e., about 6:15). Find a place with a flat horizon to the south-southeast. Scan the horizon using the image below as a guide. It will get fainter as the days go by, so get out at the first opportunity for the best view. Send local reports or images to iclarke (at) gettysburg.edu or tweet them to @GCPlanetarium.

Credit: www.skyandtelescope.com

Minotaur Sighting!

A few astronomy students and I gathered at the Gettysburg College Observatory Tuesday evening in hopes of seeing a rocket launch some 200 miles away at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility. After a 45 minute delay, the Minotaur I rocket launched at 8:15, carrying a payload of satellites. We were able to see it about a minute after launch and then for the next two minutes as it arced out over the Atlantic. The launch was seen by locals outside Gettysburg and in Carroll Valley as well, among others I am sure.

View over the Gettysburg College campus. 60 sec exposure by Ian Clarke. This
was the Gettysburg College Photo of the Day for Nov. 20

Photo by Mike Hayden, from outside Gettysburg. (in trees to right of center)

Paper Model of ISON's orbit

Here's a link to the cut and fold paper model of Comet ISON's path that was mentioned in our November show: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011222/Paper_Model_of_Comet_ISONs_Orbit.pdf

Astro 101 Observing Thursday, Oct. 24

After waiting several weeks for good weather, Thursday lab was finally able to get outside last night. The skies were clear and temperatures were in the 40s during the lab sessions. While we were setting up for lab, the International Space Station passed over low in the north, and I took the opportunity to photograph it. (This photo appears as the college photo of the day for 10/25.)

The ISS is the line on the right, 30 sec exposure, so line reflects its motion over that time.

The main item on the agenda for this first session was a review of celestial sphere concepts. These included local coordinate system concepts (cardinal points, azimuth, altitude, meridian, and zenith) and equatorial coordinate concepts (celestial poles, equator, sidereal time). We toured bright stars and constellations: Summer Triangle, Great Square of Pegasus, the Big Dipper, and stars Capella and Fomalhaut. The Pleiades star cluster rose in time for the second group to see it. We also used a Celestron 8 telescope. After reviewing some terms from the telescopes and lenses lab, we looked at Albireo (color contrasting double star) and the Andromeda Galaxy.

As luck would have it, Caitlin Hay (Physics '14) was working on a research project on the big telescope. We gave the students a tour of the observatory when she was not taking images, and she took time to explain her work on an eclipsing binary star.

Final note: several students asked about the bright object they have been in the west after sunset lately. It's Venus! It went behind the trees in this picture about 7:45 PM.

Venus (upper right) was setting as the first session got underway.

Crescent Moon, Venus, and Antares Tonight

Created with Stellarium.

If it remains clear locally, expect a nice view early this evening after sunset. Venus and the moon will be fairly close (6 degrees). That's a photo op in itself, but if you wait until it begins to get dark, you may see Antares as the lower left corner of an almost-equilateral triangle. The trick will be for it to be dark enough to see see the star, which is fainter than Venus or the moon, before it goes behind the trees, buildings, etc. on your southwestern horizon.

To get a sense of scale, I'm putting a picture I took of the moon and Venus a month ago (therefore about the same moon phase!), with distance labels. If Antares were there, it would get the label of 5.3 x 10^18 meters, or 550 light years.

AST 101 Observing Report, 9/30/13

Conditions that prevailed during the observing sessions.

Monday lab paid their first scheduled visit to the Gettysburg College Observatory on Sept 30. The forecast indicated mostly clear skies, but unfortunately the hours of 8-10 PM saw a lot of cloudiness, which seriously curtailed what we were able to accomplish. (Except the students did learn about the limits of earth-based observations!)

During breaks in the clouds, we were able to glimpse the Summer Triangle (Vega, Altair, and Deneb), the star Arcturus on the western horizon, the constellation Sagittarius in the SW, and parts of Ursa Major and Cassiopeia. We neverthelesss had a celestial sphere orientation, used one of the portable telescopes to view Arcturus, and had a tour of the dome room and warm room inside the observatory. We are very much hoping for a better night for session 2!

As luck would have it, the clouds broke as Alicia and were moving the telescopes back inside about 9:45 PM. I took the two pictures below, while we were packing up.

Big Dipper and observatory dome.

Looking south over campus. The star above and slightly right of the Jaeger center is Fomalhaut.

October Skyshows

New signs. Thank you, Caitlin Hay!

Here's a look at what we will feature in our October "Sky this Month" show:

• How does the gov't shutdown affect NASA missions?
• A wonderful local astrophotograph by a student
• What's going on with Comet ISON?
• Of course, the sights of the October skies
• And more!

Sunday at 4:00 PM and Tuesday 12 Noon and 7 PM in the Hatter Planetarium, Masters Hall, on the Gettysburg College campus. Free! All welcome!

Venus and Waxing Crescent Moon, Sept 8 and 9

If it's clear this Sunday night, Sept. 8, go out shortly after sunset and look for the moon and brilliant Venus low in the west-southwest. They will be only 1.5 degrees apart: a little over the width of a finger at arm's length. If you miss out on Sunday night, try again Monday. The moon will still be in that part of the sky, but a little fatter and farther to the left. Image made with Stellarium.

Back in Action for the 2013-14 Academic Year: Shows start Sunday

Photo: Gettysburg College PR

The Hatter Planetarium is back in action for the new academic year. Our "Sky this Month" series starts Sunday, September 1, at 4:00 PM. We'll be looking at an amazingly produced spaceflight video, the clear night skies of September, and much more. We'll also mark the autumnal equinox and check in on Comet ISON. Fantasy or fizzle? The full schedule for fall semester is available on our web site or via PDF. Caitlin Hay (Physics '14) is returning as a student assistant after a semester under the southern hemisphere skies, and she will once again be presenting many of our school and community group shows. She's great! A request form for those FREE shows is available here.

Private Show Requests Closed for the Summer

Thank you to all school and community groups for a great 2012-2013! It has been a VERY busy spring and we have shows scheduled right through final exam week. This would be impossible without reliable and talented student workers. Annie Skrabak ('15) was working alone this spring and did an amazing job.

The request form was a great success. I highly recommend the form-hosting utility in Google docs. The form is now offline and will not be accepting submissions over the summer. We would not be able to respond to any requests until the student workers' Fall class and work schedule is clarified, so please hold them until the form is active again in late August.

Have a great summer and seize the night!

ASTRO 102 Observing Report, April 1. Lots of pictures.

Orion, Jupiter, and Taurus to the west of the observatory
 as the sessions get underway at 8 PM. 30 sec, Panasonic camera on tripod.

It may have been too cold for April Fools' jokes, but it was clear. On the agenda for the night was imaging. We first attempted some afocal photography, which simply involves holding a camera up to the telescope eyepiece and snapping. Some students got good results photographing Jupiter and moons with their phones through a Celestron 8 telescope. (Moons L to R are Ganymede, Io, Europa.)

by Peter Rosenberg

by Carlyle Flanagan

After that exercise, we turned to prime focus photography with a Meade 8" telescope and SBIG 402 CCD camera. Below are the results. The links in the captions lead to more information.

Galaxy M82. Unfiltered, 15 seconds

The Great Orion Nebula (Combination of three 2 sec exposures
 through RGB filters.)

Ghost of Jupiter Nebula A planetary nebula, RGB combination, and unfiltered. 2 sec..

Juipiter, Taurus, and Perseus setting after the observing sessions.  60 sec, camera piggyback on guided Celestron 8 telescope.

Late March Astrominute Online

The late March Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute is ready for your listening pleasure:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute031513.mp3

Update on Comet PanSTARRS

As I wrote in my Gettysburg Times column for February, this spring's Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is shaping up to be a bit of a letdown. Once forecast to reach easy naked eye visibility in early to mid-March, it now appears that it will require binoculars to pick it out of the glow of dusk. For full details, including diagrams, look at this Sky and Telescope article.

View from Gettysburg on March 14, 30 min after sunset.
If Gettysburg had a very , very flat horizon.
Click to enlarge.

Here are my thoughts on local visibility. First, it's key to find a flat western horizon away from artificial lights (no trees, hills, buildings). Very clear skies are a must. Any haze around the horizon will make sighting the comet much more difficult. Binoculars (preferably with at least 40mm aperture) will be the tool of choice. Get to your location about 20 minutes after sunset and begin scanning the sky around due west. The comet will be only about the width of a hand held at arm's length above the horizon, and of course getting lower as the minutes go by. I would begin looking around March 9 and persist until I'd seen the comet! It will be higher above the horizon at sunset and farther to the north as the days go by, but fainter. We at the Hatter Planetarium would love to hear any local observing reports or photos. Send 'em to iclarke@gettysburg.edu.

Note: we are not planning any kind of public event at the Gettysburg College Observatory. The hill to the west of the observatory makes it a poor location for seeing PanSTARRS.

Astro 102 Observing Report, 2/18

Lining up to see the moon.

Monday lab finally got their turn at the observatory last night. Some high clouds were a a problem, especially around 8:00 but nothing bad enough to keep us from our appointed tasks. Our sessions consisted of a visual sky tour and celestial sphere orientation. Then we looked at the crescent moon and Jupiter through one of the 8" scopes. Seeing was good. Cloud belts and all four Galilean moons were visible. We then looked at the Great Orion Nebula, a starforming cloud over 1,000 light years away. We had telescopic views of Rigel (B8) and Betelgeuse (M2) to see a contrasting pair of spectral types. We concluded each of the two sessions with a brief tour of the observatory building.

The high clouds did cause a moon halo for a while, seen below. It's caused by hexagonal ice crystals and always appears 22 degrees from the moon. Orion (lower left), Jupiter (right of the moon), and the Pleiades (farther right) are all visible. Note that the moon, which was just past first quarter, is overexposed to allow the  fainter halo to be photographed.

Listen to the Late February Astrominute

The late Feb Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute is ready for your listening pleasure:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute021713.mp3

Astro 102 Observing Report

Big Dipper over the observatory dome. 30 sec exposure.

Waxing crescent moon, overexposed to show earthshine.

Astro 102 lab, Thursday section, enjoyed a decent night at the Gettysburg College Observatory, Thursday, February 14. Skies were a little hazy, but remained clear for the duration of our sessions. Mercury was still visible above the hill in the west as I arrived about 6:30 PM, but it had set by the time students arrived. Our sessions consisted of a visual sky tour and celestial sphere orientation. Then we looked at the crescent moon and Jupiter through one of the 8" scopes. Seeing was fantastic. As an experienced observer, I found four cloud belts easily visible. All four Galilean moons were gathered on the same side of the planet. We then looked at the Great Orion Nebula, a starforming cloud over 1,000 light years away. We then had telescopic views of Rigel (B8) and Betelgeuse (M2) to see a contrasting pair of spectral types. We concluded each of the two sessions with a brief tour of the inside of the observatory.

New Web Form for Private Show Requests

We are now handling requests for our free private planetarium shows via a web form.  Please share the link with local teachers and group leaders you may know!

Comet ISON Perihelion Video

Here is short video we made for use in shows this year. It shows the path of Comet ISON C/2012 S1, from the comet's point of view, in and out of the inner solar system over the next 18 months. It was made using Starry Night and OpenShot.  The nucleus shown is Starry Night's generic comet nucleus; I believe it is based on that of Comet Borelly as imaged by Deep Space 1 in 2001.

Spring 2013 Shows Start this Weekend

Our spring semester shows start this Sunday, January 20, at 4:00 PM, with the 2013 New Year Show. It will repeat on 1/22 at noon and 7 PM. The rest of the Spring 2013 schedule is available on our web site and as a PDF.

Topics for the New Year show will include the two big comets on their way (PAN-STARRS and ISON), current sky sights, astro news, and the cycles of time.

Hope to see you at the Hatter Planetarium this year!