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!

Listen to the Early December Podcast

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute120112.mp3

Listen to the Late November Podcast

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute111512.mp3

Observing Report 11/8

The 7 PM session at the Meade telescope,
Jupiter rising in the background.

Thursday lab was fortunate to have very clear (but cold!) skies for their second observing session. Both 7 and 8 PM groups had a sky tour, looked at Jupiter and moons through a Meade 8" telescope, and then focused on taking an image with the SBIG 402 CCD camera. The 7 PM group also got a look at what Dr. Marschall was doing with the research telescope. Here a some of the results of our labors. The targets were globular cluster M15 and planetary nebula M27.

M15, unfiltered, 24-sec exposure.

M15, combo of 3 16-sec exposures through RGB filters.

M27, combo of 3 18-sec exposures through RGB filters.

Astronomy Software and the Real Sky

Below is a photograph of the sky from the observing platform outside the Gettysburg College Observatory at 8:45 PM on Nov. 8. It shows the observatory building and, from left to right, Capella, Jupiter, and Aldebaran. The Pleiades are above, and Orion is rising, although it is difficult to see it in the glare. Below that are screenshots of the same scene from Starry Night 6 (College) and Stellarium 11.1 (which is free!). The observatory site panorama is one we made ourselves. Both applications have the capacity to simulate light pollution, though that feature is not enabled in these shots.

Photo by Ian Clarke, Panasonic Lumix FZ100, 30 sec exposure processed with UFRaw.

Starry Night College, 6.4.6.

Stellarium 11.1