Observatory Night@ SUNY Albany

For our first session of the semester two great planets and our moon as well as farther, wider objects will be in view.

Jupiter, one of the top two planets to see in any telescope, will be setting just as we arrive on the rooftop. At 5 pm it won't yet be dusk, so the sun's glare may prevent us from viewing Jupiter's four giant moons. We will need luck in order to catch the planet in the telescope.

Will anyone bring binoculars? In any case we can get acquainted with the planet using just our eyes.

Our Moon is the most fabulous object to view at night through the telescope. On Sunday it is a waxing gibbous, an excellent time to zero in on the landing sites of some of the Apollo missions! (Sorry, we can't see the flags.)

Next, as we peer at a cloudy white region known as the Great Nebula in Orion, we can imagine it is the birth of our own sun - probably similar stars are being born there now!

Mars will be on the rise as we prepare to exit the premises. While it may not be viewable in the scope, we can identify the planet for next week; its position won't change much in that time!

Remember to dress warmly as the observatory is outdoors! While waiting for your turn to view you may wish to wait in the warmer hallway.

If the weather isn't clear then we will cancel.
Follow the announcements at AlbanyStarGaze for updates.

--

Phil Erner
PhD student, SUNY Albany.

Note: We will be bringing pictures of the event and updates.
Previously we had some nice moon pictures... here.

Moon Pictures from Observatory @Earth Science Department

For long time I was not aware of the 16inch telescope located at the roof top of the Earth Science Department @ SUNY Albany.

This year I am doing Teaching assistant ship job for Prof. Knuth's Star Systems class. (http://knuthlab.rit.albany.edu/courses/F09/StarSystems/)
Today provided very nice opportunity to invite students for stargazing through twitter and Phil's Black Board page. It was dark enough by 7 PM. The night sky was very very clear. We did some observations including Moon and Jupiter.
Here are some pics taken by my Mobile.

Please note that I could get only some portion in the field of view. Let me tell you:
It was amazing

Got a blurred version captured. You can see three of the Jupiter's Moons.




http://www.atmos.albany.edu/mars/telescope-2.html

Constellations in the Southern Sky

Last summer, 2008, I was in Sao Paulo Brazil for MaxEnt 2008 conference. Aside the academic matters, we had chance to see the night sky. I have to tell you that the night sky in southern Hemisphere is very very different.
Because of the orientation of the earth, the spiral of the milky way towards center of Galaxy could be seen. It was equally exciting to see the Alpha Centauri from there.

After the Anonymous commented, I wanted to write a little bit on it: (Thanks Anonymy!)
The Milky way galaxy we see in the northern sky is going from north to south. In there, we can see the spiral arm of the Milky way and the center of the galaxy; which is exciting! The Alpha Centauri was also saying hello! from about four and half light years, the whole night sky was so gorgeous! I don't know if you have seen the beauty of sky in the darkness!

See the apod:

The picture is "Astronomy picture of the day". The sky was not much different.