Telescope Schedule & Information

Phys 1053, Spring 2008

The telescope will be open on Tuesday evenings for an hour shortly after the sky gets dark, if the sky is reasonably free of clouds. The scope is at the south end of the 4^th floor hallway of the science building, overlooking the West parking lot. You can bring friends, roommates, relatives, etc. (keeping in mind that the telescope dome can only fit about 15 people at a time). In January, these observing sessions will begin at 7:30 pm, but as the semester progresses they will get later as the sun sets later. By May, they will be starting at 9:30 or 10 pm. When the weather is poor I will do a planetarium show instead, until everyone has seen one. If no one shows up in the first 15 minutes I will close up and go home.

Since the telescope dome opens, standing around in the dome is like standing around outside: if it’s cold outside, it will be just as cold in the dome. Dress warmly!

Date	Time	Date	Time
22 Jan	7:30 – 8:30 pm	18 Mar	none
29 Jan	7:30 – 8:30 pm	25 Mar	9:00 – 10:00 pm
5 Feb	8:30 – 9:30 pm	1 Apr	9:00 – 10:00 pm
12 Feb	7:30 – 8:30 pm	8 Apr	9:30 – 10:30 pm
19 Feb	7:30 – 8:30 pm	15 Apr	9:30 – 10:30 pm
26 Feb	8:00 – 9:00 pm	22 Apr	9:30 – 10:30 pm
4 Mar	8:00 – 9:00 pm	29 Apr	10:00 – 11:00 pm
11 Mar (DST)	8:30 – 9:30 pm	6 May	10:00 – 11:00 pm

Tuesday, 26 Feb 2008: Although it is snowing as I write, the current weather map suggests there might be what astronomers call a “sucker hole” this evening. (That’s when the sky clears suddenly just long enough to get the telescope set up and pointed at an object, then clouds up and starts snowing again.) If it’s cloudy at 8 pm I’ll be doing a planetarium show tonight. Many people still need to do this before the midterm and there are not too many weeks left, so carpe diem y’all.

Schedule change for Tues, Feb 5: The DFL caucus runs from 7 to a bit after 8 pm this night, so Telescope (or Planetarium) Hour will be from 8:30 to 9:30 pm that night.

Tuesday, 29 Jan 2008: Cloud cover for tonight looks extensive, but perhaps not completely opaque. I said in class that I would do the first planetarium show tonight, so that’s what I will do. If the sky clears up a bit by then, we can consider opening the telescope afterwards if anyone is interested.

Tuesday, 22 Jan 2008: Yes, I will be at the telescope tonight at 7:30! The forecast is for no improvement in the sky conditions, however, so we may not be able to observe. Look up at 7:30 and if you can see a nice clear view of stars come on over. Or come on over anyway, if you’re just dying to see the telescope. J

Update: We did observe, through variable but extensive cloud cover. There was a full moon, which we looked at, followed by a serendipitous discovery of Mars and a view of the Orion nebula somewhat washed out by the nearby moon.