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.