Late December Astrominute

Last Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute of 2014:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute121514.mp3

Early December Astrominute

The Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute for early December is online and on the air:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute120114.mp3

December Sky this Month Shows Coming Up

Venus (L) and waxing crescent moon (R). Photo by Ian Clarke.

Sunday, November 30, 4:00 PM
Tuesday, December 2, 7:00 PM

Yes, that's right - we scheduled a show on Thanksgiving weekend. Oops! But we hope a few people can make a family event of it and enjoy our preview of the winter skies. If not then, come Tuesday night for the encore. The show will include recent astronomy news, for example what's next for the Rosetta probe at Comet 69P. We'll go over the local almanac and the reasons for the seasons. Then we'll use the planetarium to point out the sky sights you can enjoy over the next several weeks. The Hatter Planetarium is located in Masters Hall on the Gettysburg College campus. All shows are free and open to the public and last about 50 minutes. Note: there is no monthly skyshow for January as it would fall during the college's winter break.

Late November Astrominute

The late November Hatter Planetarium / WZBT astrominute is on the air and on line. Text below the link:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute111414.mp3

Here is your Gettysburg Astrominute for late November, 2014. The evening skies will be moonless the week of the 16th but look for a growing crescent moon in the west after sunset the following week. On Thanksgiving night, a 23% crescent will be shining just above Mars in the southwest. Official winter is still a month away, but with the sun now setting in before 5:00 PM, it feels like it’s here now. The true harbinger of the season - Orion, the great hunter - is now rising due east by 9: PM. Look for it earlier and earlier as the weeks go by. Just as Orion is rising, look for the Pleiades - or seven sisters - half way up in the east. At midinight they will be almost directly overhead. (This was the time of year the ancient Celts celebrated Samhain, one of the predecessors of Halloween.) And at midnight, with the Pleiades overhead, turn back to the east to see Jupiter rising. It is not at its brightest now, but it’s still brighter than any star in the sky. The astrominute is a production of Gettysburg College’s Hatter Planetarium and WZBT.

Early November Astrominute

The Hatter Planetarium / WZBT astrominute for early November is on the air and online. Welcome, new reader Julia Giannini, '18. And listen to WZBT online too!

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute110114.mp3

November Sky-shows Coming Up

Eclipse sequence from 10/8/14 by Prof. Emeritus Larry Marschall

THE SKY THIS MONTH Sunday, 11/2, 4:00 PM Tuesday, 11/4, 7:00 PM We'll have a recap of the eclipses from October, a look ahead to events such as the Leonid meteor shower, a tour of the November skies, and an Astronomy Class Moment. The Hatter Planetarium is located in Room 115, Masters Hall. All shows are free and open to the public, and the program will last about 50 minutes.

Observing Report, AST 101-L1, 10/27/14

Waxing crescent moon seen from GCO.

The evening began before the scheduled lab start time of 7:15 PM with an attempt to see a rocket launch from NASA's Wallops Island facility. Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed at the last minute due to a boat in the restricted hazard area. For context, here is a view of a Wallops launch from 2013. We were, however, able to see a flyover of the International Space Station almost overhead a few minutes later. It looks like a bright, slowly moving star. Want to see the station yourself? It's not difficult. Visit www.heavens-above.com or spotthestation.nasa.gov.

Then we began the lab proper. After a review of celestial sphere concepts, and an introduction to the concept of light pollution, we took a tour of the night sky.

Two compound Meade telescopes were on the observing platform. We reviewed their parts and some concepts form the "Telescopes and Lenses" lab. The waxing cresent ooon in the SW made a great first telescope object. Later, high clouds were moving through, but we were able to see M57, the Ring Nebula, in the constellation Lyra. After everyone had seen it, we used the SBIG 402 CCD camera to take a few images, as you can see below. All in all, a pretty successful night out.

12 second exposure with no filter.

Combination of 3 exposures through red, blue, and green filters.
Real glass filters, not the Instagram kind! Unfortuantely,
there was some equipment movement in both of these shots,
thus the 'double' appearance of stars.

Crescent moon with earthshine clearly visible.

Rocket Launch and ISS pass visible locally tonight

A rocket launch is scheduled tonight from NASA's facility on Wallops Island, VA. It should be visible locally, weather permitting. For context, here's a photo of one from campus last fall: http://gettysburgskies.blogspot.com/2013/11/minotaur-sighting.html The link below has all the details, but basically you want to get to a place with a flat southeast horizon at launch time. Follow NASA-Wallops on facebook or twitter too, as the launch can be delated or scrubbed. http://www.nasa.gov/content/how-to-view-the-antares-launch-oct-27/#.VE46gfnF_nh Almost simultanelusly, the International Space Station will fly over the mid-Atlantic. This is not unusual, but you do need to know where and when to look.  http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_States&region=Pennsylvania&city=Gettysburg#.VE5Ak_nF_ng Clear Skies! ------------------------ Ian Clarke Lab Instructor II (Astronomy) Hatter Planetarium Program Director Adjunct Assistant Professor of English Gettysburg College http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/index.html Hatter Planetarium on Twitter: @GCPlanetarium

Partial Solar Eclipse Tomorrow as the Sun Sets

The eclipse at 6:00 PM local,
only about 2 finger-widths above the horizon

We hope you got to see the lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of Oct 8. There is another eclipse, this time a partial one of the sun, on Oct 23. We are in an eclipse season, an approximately 34-day window in which eclipses occur. This one is much more difficult to see. An observer armed with proper protection, such as a pinhole projector*, can see the moon just barely taking a bite out of the sun before sunset. The eclipse begins at 5:50 PM with the sun only a few finger-widths away from setting. In Gettysburg it sets at 6:18. Observers in the northwestern US will get a much better show, but the eclipse is not total anywhere (on earth).

Great eclipse article from Phil Plait on Slate

*EYE SAFETY DURING SOLAR ECLIPSES  (NASA)

Late October Astrominute

A partial solar eclipse (barely) viewable locally is featured. Reader is Annie Skrabak, '15.

Lunar eclipse wrap-up

photo by Ian Clarke

Here is our view of the eclipse this morning. This was taken from S. Reynolds Ave just west of Gettysburg at 6:25 AM EDT, the beginning of totality. I believe that's the 121st PA Infantry monument in the foreground. We were fortunate. Despite a rainy first half of the night, skies cleared out in time to view the entire eclipse (or as much as was visible before local sunrise).

Lunar Eclipse Time!

I hope locals are ready for the lunar eclipse tonight. Current forecasts are mixed, with the cleardarksky.com forecast being a little more optimistic than the one from Accuweather. But even a few breaks in the clouds may be enough to see yourself some eclipse.

Here is a quick summary:

1. Set the alarm for around 5 AM (all times local)
2. Get out to a place with an unobstructed western view
3. Find the moon, about 2 fist-widths up in the west
4. Partial phase begins at 5:15 (shadow of the earth starts creeping across the moon)
5. Totality starts at 6:25 (meanwhile the moon will be getting lower and the sky will be getting brighter).
6. At 6:45 PM civil twightlight begins
7. At 7:12 the sun rises, and at 7:17 the moon sets. Show over.

Folks in the western US will see a lot more. Learn more by watching our astrominute for early October.

The Sky this Month (October)

Show times: 7 PM on Tuesday, 9/30, and 4:00 PM on Sunday, 10/5. The shows, as always, are free and open to the public, and they run about 50 minutes.

Top on the agenda this month will be the total eclipse of the moon that will be visible here in the early morning hours of October 8. There will also be a partial eclipse of the sun later in the month. Technically, it's also visible locally though only by the barest of margins. The moon will begin to take a tiny bite out of the sun just about a half hour before sunset. Locations west of us will see the eclipse for longer, with the western half of the US seeing the whole show. In some locations that will mean more than half of the sun being obscured by the moon.

**Never look at the sun without proper precautions.**

Stargazing at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve

Gettysburg College planetarium director Ian Clarke will be leading a night hike and stargazing session at Strawberry Hill preserve near Fairfield Wednesday night. The event is weather permitting, but the forecast is good at this point. (Note - this is a Strawberry Hill event; see details below). Wednesday, September 24 — 8:00 pm, meet at the nature center Explore the science and the stories of the September night sky with Strawberry Hill Naturalist and local planetarium director Ian Clarke. Pack a flashlight for the hike to our viewing location – but once we get there it will be lights out, so our eyes can adapt to the relative darkness of a moonless night on the Preserve.  Ian will guide you on a tour of the stars and planets. This month, that will include a swan, a harp, a dragon, and the Milky Way. Dress in layers. You may find it warm as you hike, but chilly when you’re standing still at the stargazing site. The talk will be aimed at people using their unaided eyes, but feel free to bring binoculars. Due to the hike, however, you should leave telescopes at home. $5 members / $8 non-members; pre-registration preferred. 642-5840 www.strawberryhill.org

Late September Astrominute

The Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute for late September is now online and on the air.

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute091514.mp3

Space Place

Sponsorship message that runs under the NASA content.

We are proud to sponsor NASA's "Space Place" in the Gettysburg Times this school year. Check it out in today'
s paper.

August stargazing at Strawberry Hill

Night hike and August stars! It may not be on the website, but there IS public stargazing at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve scheduled for this Wed, 8/20 at 9:00 PM. Meet at the nature center. Subject to the reality of the weather and potential postponement, as always. Not free, but inexpensive and for a good organization. Description: 
-----------
Explore the science and the stories of the August night sky with Strawberry Hill Naturalist and local planetarium director Ian Clarke. Pack a flashlight for the hike to our viewing location. But once we get there it will be lights out, so our eyes can adapt to the the relative darkness of a moonless night on the Preserve. Then Ian will guide you on a tour of the stars and planets you see. This month, that will include a special star group known as the “Summer Triangle.”

Dress in layers. You may find it warm as you hike, but chilly when you’re standing still at the stargazing site. The talk will be aimed at people using only their unaided eyes, but feel free to bring binoculars if you wish. Due to the hike, however, you should leave telescopes at home.

Please preregister [totally optional] at (717) 642-5840. $5 members / $8 non-members.

Fall 2014 Sky this Month Schedule

[Update: Google calendar corrected for the October Sunday show. Now reads 10/5 at 4:00 PM. It had an incorrect date in the Google calendar only. - IC 8/27/14]

Greetings! Our Fall '14 Sky this Month schedule is set. One Sunday at 4PM, Tue at 7PM for each month, just as it was last spring. Please note that some of the shows (e.g., the Sept 30 show for October) actually take place at the end of the month before their subject month. All of these shows continue to be free and open to the public in our 10-meter planetarium on the lovely Gettysburg College campus. See our web site for directions and more details.

The schedule is below, with links to other formats following.

Hatter Planetarium
“Sky this Month” Shows Fall 2014

September Skies

·        Sunday, August 31, 4:00 PM

·        Tuesday, September 2, 7:00 PM

October Skies

·        Tuesday, September 30, 7:00 PM

·        Sunday, October 5, 4:00 PM

November Skies

·        Sunday, November 2, 4:00 PM

·        Tuesday, November 4, 7:00 PM

December Skies

·        Sunday, November 30, 4:00 PM

·        Tuesday, December 2, 7:00 PM

PDF: http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/HatterPlanetariumsched.pdf

Google Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=l2fvm74i462705hsq0f22d1vdg%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

Public Stargazing at Strawberry Hill, Take 2

We're going for it again in July 23 at 9:30 PM! Description and links are below. Note that this is a Strawberry Hill, not Gettysburg College, program, and it is not free. 

Here is a photo from the site (the Summer Triangle rising over the trees around 10 PM). Very good skies for Adams County.

There are a few more at this link: http://goo.gl/ueIiVH
Stargazing at Strawberry Hill
July 23, 9:30pm
Explore the science and the stories of the July night sky with Strawberry Hill Naturalist and local planetarium director Ian Clarke. Pack a flashlight for the hike to our viewing location. But once we get there it will be lights out, so our eyes can adapt to the the relative darkness of a moonless night on the Preserve. Then Ian will guide you on a tour of the stars and planets you see. This month, that will include a special star group known as the “Summer Triangle.”

Dress in layers. You may find it warm as you hike, but chilly when you’re standing still at the stargazing site. The talk will be aimed at people using only their unaided eyes, but feel free to bring binoculars if you wish. Due to the hike, however, you should leave telescopes at home.

Please preregister at (717) 642-5840. $5 members / $8 non-members

Strawberry Hill web site: www.strawberryhill.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrawberryHillNaturePreserve

Early June astrominute (finally)

We were derailed by end-of-semester activities, but here's a new Hatter Planetarium/WZBT astrominute. Thanks to Anne Skrabak who's on campus this summer and did the reading. No video for this one - we'll try to produce one with the next edition in two weeks. Be sure to visit WZBT's excellent new web site too!

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute060414.mp3

Public Stargazing at Strawberry Hill

I (Hatter director Ian Clarke) will be leading a new astronomy program at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve near Fairfield. The first of these public stargazing sessions is scheduled for June 25. Description and links are below. Note that this is a Strawberry Hill, not Gettysburg College, program, and it is not free. But you'll be supporting a great local resource and enjoying a night hike to a true evening under the stars with a professional guide. Additional sessions will be announced later, but we are planning to hold them monthly around the new moon until at least October. You'll see that we've planned in some cloud dates, but let's hope for great weather!

New program! Stargazing at Strawberry Hill
Explore the science and the stories of the June night sky with Strawberry Hill Naturalist and local planetarium director Ian Clarke. Pack a flashlight for the hike to our viewing location. But once we get there it will be lights out, so our eyes can adapt to the the relative darkness of a moonless night on the Preserve. Then Ian will guide you on a tour of the stars and planets you see. This month, that will include the story of a star that may have come to us from another galaxy! Dress in layers. You may find it warm as you hike, but chilly when you’re standing still at the stargazing site. The talk will be aimed at people using only their unaided eyes, but feel free to bring binoculars if you wish. Due to the hike, however, you should leave telescopes at home.

June 25th, 9:45-11:15pm. Meet at the Preserve's Nature Center.
$5 members / $8 non-members
Cloud dates (notification via Facebook, website, and email): 6/26, 6/27
June 25th, 9:45-11:15pm. Meet at the Preserve's Nature Center. $5 members / $8 non-membersCloud dates (notification via Facebook, website, and email): 6/26, 6/27

Strawberry Hill links: Facebook, web site.

The Sky this Summer

It's almost time for our final show of the 2013-14 academic year. We'll cover current astronomy news (such as an earth-sized planet discovered within a star's habitable zone) as well as highlights of the summer skies. If your summer plans will take you outside at night, this is a great oppotunity to find out what you may see.

THE SKY THIS SUMMER

Sunday, May 4, at 4:00 PM
Tuesday, May 6, at 7:00 PM

The show will last about 50 minutes. Always free. All are welcome.

Late April Astrominute

The late April Gettysburg Astrominute is online and on WZBT. Once again, we made a video to go with it. 

Audio only version: http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute041514.mp3

The Sky this Month: April

Show times:

Sunday, April 6, 4 PM
Tuesday, April 8, 7 PM

Lunar eclipse visible locally, opposition of Mars, and more!

Observing Report, 3/31

Monday lab had some intersting times at the observatory on March 31. The sky was clear, moonless, and beautiful. We reviewed some celestial sphere terms from the first session, but the focus of the night was imaging.

First up, we did some afocal photography of Jupiter. That's taking an amage with a camera through the telescope's eyepiece. Here is a collage of student cell phone photos of Jupiter.

By John Laurine, Aleksandra Petkova, Kelly Johnson, Jared Leon.

Prime focus (camera replaces the eyepiece) photography proved a little more challenging, as some technical problems limited what we could do. But we did take a couple of successful images with our CCD camera.

M81. Galaxy 12 million light years away.

M42, Great Orion Nebula.

We were able to see Mars in the southeast by the end of the evening.

Finally, we tried again for a timelapse of circumpolar motion in the northern sky. Unfortunately, the camera stopped after a few minutes, but I finished the job at home:

Observing report 3/20 and 3/24

Orion over the observatory dome, 3/24.

Monday and Thursday labs completed their first observing sessions. Everybody had a celestial sphere orientation, tour of the observatory, and a telescope view of a few objects (Orion Nebula, M67 from the HR Diagram Lab, and Jupiter). Clouds rolled through during on Thursday evening, but all sessions had at least some clear skies.

We attempted a timelapse of circumpolar motion, but mostly we got clouds!

Early April Astrominute

The early April Gettysburg Astrominute is online and on WZBT. Once again, we made a video to go with it. Hope you're looking forward to the lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of April 15!

Audio MP3: http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute040114.mp3

Planetarium Presentation by Caitlin Hay, '14

Gettysburg College

Department of Physics

Senior Presentation          

Caitlin Hay

Gettysburg College Class of 2014

The Exploration of Mars  Senior physics major and planetarium assistant Caitlin Hay will show off her planetarium presentation skills with help from Annie Skrabak and planetarium director Ian Clarke. The show will explain the current appearance of Mars in the sky as it reaches opposition this April. Then we will take a multimedia tour of current and future missions to explore the Red Planet.

Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. (lunch provided)

and

Friday, March 28, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. (refreshments provided)

Masters Hall, Room 115

HATTER PLANETARIUM

New astrominute, now with video

The late-March astrominute is now online and on WZBT. As a bonus, we've made a version of this one with video. Will this become a permanent addition? Hard to say, it will depend on how busy we are (it's spring break at the moment) and on the feedback and number of views we get on this one.

Audio MP3: http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute31514.mp3

Video:

What not to like about Daylight Saving Time

No, I do not like daylight saving time. It moves the clock further from, and even obscures, the rhythms of nature. So here's my case. First, it's confusing. There are folks who will tell you that the days get longer because we "spring forward." Nope. Absolutely no effect. In mid-northern latitudes the length of day will go from about 9 hours, 30 minutes in December to 15 hours in June, whatever the clock hours read. DST only changes the clock hours in which we experience that daylight, displaces them, if you will, as anyone who has started to enjoy the earlier sunrises of the first week of March can tell you.

Most people, I admit, probably get that, so here is my deeper gripe. Daylight Time is arbitrary and has no basis in nature. You might think that's true of any attempt to assign numbers to times of day, but no. Our 24-hour day was based on noon, which occurs every day when the sun reaches it highest point, even as the days and nights contract and expand. Well, actually it was based on Local Solar Noon, the moment the sun crosses the meridian as seen from your location, the moment when a correctly constructed and aligned sundial will read noon.

We have adjusted sundial time in two ways (not counting daylight time) over the centuries as technology has changed. Interestingly, the time from one noon to the next is not quite equal through the year. The earth's rotation rate remains (practically) constant, but the its speed in its elliptical orbit increases when we are closest to the sun and slows when we are farther away. Thus the length of a sundial hour varies a little, according to the Equation of Time. This was no problem until we invented clocks whose error was less than that caused by the EoT. We averaged those variations out by using Mean Solar Time. Still, the concept of noon was the foundation.

Local Mean Solar Time in Action

Mean solar time, however, was local. A clock set to mean solar noon in one city would not read the same as another. Gettysburg, for example, would be nine minutes behind Philadelphia and 10 minutes ahead of Pittsburgh. Every town having its own local time worked until travel and communication became fast enough to render it impractical. Thus, we got standard time, in which the time of one location became standard for a whole region. In the case of the Eastern Time Zone, we use the time for 75 degrees west longitude, or around Philadelphia. For the most part, we change clocks one hour after about every 15 degrees of longitude traveled, though there are a few half-hour time zones in the world. Still, with a couple of allowances, noon on your clock is near noon in the sky, especially if you do not live near the edge of a time zone. Noon connects us to the motion of the sun and to the day, in the literal sense of the word.

Daylight time discards that principle of time tied to the sun's peak. Solar noon, from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, will be around 1:00 PM. I don't like it one bit. I know we can't all "make our noon" like ship captains of old. Standard time is fine; it makes necessary accommodations, but remains tied to the sun's rise and fall.  Daylight time is a government-created chimera that makes our clocks tell time, but not the time of day.

Two Stellarium panoramas, one local

We may operate a vintage optical-mechanical planetarium, but we do love astronomy software. We recently made a couple of 360-degree landscape images, ready to use in the free and beautiful Stellarium program. I can't recommend it enough! It comes with a number of landscapes installed, but a user can add more. Here's how to install.

Freedom Township, Adams County, PA.

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/downloads/freedomtwp.zip

Abbott's Lagoon, Marin County, CA.

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/abbottslagoon.zip

Show today is on as of now

We are planning to have the show as scheduled today at 4 PM today. Here's our inclement weather policy:

Check the Gettysburg College web site first. If the College is open, we will make all reasonable efforts to hold the shows as scheduled. In the unlikely event that we cannot hold the show for our own reasons (e.g., the presenter is ill and no substitute is available, equipment failure, etc.) an update will be posted to this site and to the Gettysburg Skiesblog.

Since this is a Sunday, the College is very unlikely to officially close, so this decision is on us. At this point it appears that the heavy snow will fall later in the evening, so we should be OK with the 4 PM show. If anything changes, announcements will go out via the @GCPlanetarium twitter account and this blog. Thanks!

Sky this Month shows for March

Venus as a Morning Star

Image credit: Ian Clarke

Above is an image of Venus, taken through a southeast window at 6:25 AM this morning. It makes an instructive parallel to this January 31 image of earth as seen by a camera on the Mars Curiosity rover:

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/TAMU

Read more

In both cases, the viewer is seeing an "inferior planet" (Not that there is anything wrong with them; it’s just an old term for those planets closer to the sun.) In the case of my image, it's Venus as a "morning star" seen from earth. In the case of the Mars Curiosity image, it's earth as an "evening star" as seen from Mars.

If you take the Gettysburg Times, you can read more about the Curiosity image in my column today (page B5). Here's an excerpt:

There have been other famous photos of the earth from space . . . . But I think Curiosity’s contribution will go down as a special one. For one thing, it’s a landscape, not a spacescape: as familiar as if we had flown Ansel Adams to Mars, and yet alien. As recognizable as our own views of Venus or Mercury as an evening “stars,” but utterly different because the point of light in question is our home.

 You'll be able to catch Venus an hour or so before sunrise through the late winter and spring.

ISS Flyover 2/7

Here is a photo I took yesterday of the International Space Station from near Fairfield, PA. The image is looking NE and the exposure was 30 seconds long. Therefore, the line represents 30 seconds of motion from the ISS, which actually appears like a bright, moving star to the unaided eye. The other bright object on the right is Jupiter. My go-to site for satellite predictions is www.heavens-above.com

See the Space Station Tonight!

Gettysburg view geneated at
www.heavens-above.com

Gettysburg will have a great view of the International Space Station tonight if it's clear. The ISS will appear low in the SW at 6:58 PM, pass almost overhead at 7:01:15, then disappear into the earth's shadow in the NE at 7:02. It will be bright! (mag -3.4) Share with your friends. To find out where/if you can see it in other regions (it should be pretty good up the mid-Atlantic), go to www.heavens-above.com and plug in your location.

-IC

First-half February Astrominute is Online

The WZBT / Hatter Planetarium astrominute for early February is online. Welcome back Annie Skrabak as narrator!

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute020114.mp3

Spring 2014 Schedule

Dear friends of the Hatter Planetarium:
We are sorry for the delay in releasing our schedule of spring shows. Over the holiday break, we decided to make some changes based on past attendance patterns. Our hope was to make all those changes in one announcement. We were not quite able to do that because the date of one new offering is not certain yet, so today we are publishing just the Sky this Month show dates. See below or download the PDF. Stay tuned for the new program soon!

In summary, here are the changes:

• Eliminating the Tuesday (formerly Monday) "Sky this Month" noon showings. 
• Adding a special topic show produced by our student workers with help from director Ian Clarke. All will be welcome to this show as always, but it will be in a time slot aimed at the campus community. (Probably lunchtime on a Thursday and afternoon on a Friday in late March.) Free food will be served! Exact topic and time will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for your patience and we hope to see you at a show this spring. Questions, comments, and suggestions for the future are welcome.

Hatter Planetarium

Spring 2014 Show Schedule

NOTE: there will be a special student-directed presentation later in the semester
STAY TUNED!

The Sky this Month: February

Sunday, February 9, 4:00 PM
Tuesday, February 11, 7:00 PM

The Sky this Month: March

Sunday, March 2, 4:00 PM
Tuesday, March 4, 7:00 PM

The Sky this Month: April

Sunday, April 6, 4:00 PM
Tuesday, April 8, 7:00 PM

The Sky Summer

Sunday, May 4, 4:00 PM
Tuesday, May 6, 7:00 PM

For more information, updates, or any additional shows, visit
http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/index.html

Follow us on Twitter @GCPlanetarium