Public Show Announcements
Academic year 2009-2010
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The Pattonville Observatory Public Show Announcements Academic year 2009-2010 |
Welcome to the Announcements page of the Pattonville Observatory!
(Please see our Calendar page for a list of all our Public Shows for the 2009-2010 Academic year.)
PUBLIC ASTRONOMY
NIGHT
at the
PATTONVILLE OBSERVATORY
195 Fee Fee Road
If you can withstand the chill in the air, there are wonders in the sky for you. Saturn and Mars will make enjoyable sight. Venus will be hugging the western horizon at dusk.
Late winter brings to show a glimpse of the spring constellations. Leo is now high in the eastern sky at dusk. The celestial “six-pack” is still high in the sky. This major asterism consists of Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major and Canis Minor. The Pleiades, also known as M45 make a great example of an open cluster during the later times in the evening session. M42 in Orion, also known as the Great Orion Nebula, can be seen by naked eye and is spectacular in the eyepiece. In the constellation of Cancer there is a great open cluster that is so large that to get the entire cluster in one viewing you must look through the finderscope. It is known as the Beehive Cluster or M44 whichever you prefer. We will also talk about what these M number designations are and who gave them these names.
March skies are full of interesting stars to look at through the telescope. These include but aren’t limited to the double star Aldebaran in Taurus, Regulus in Leo, Rigel and Betelgeuse in Orion, Sirius (the brightest of all stars in Earth’s sky besides the Sun) in Canis Major, Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini and Polaris the North Star. We will demonstrate some of the star colors that can be seen and talk about how star color arises.
Come spend the evening viewing the cosmos with your family! The Observatory is open to the public on the dates listed on the Calendar Page. Please enter the door directly below the observatory and follow the signs to the observatory. Students who are accompanied by their parents are especially welcome! Please take note that the dome is unheated and that evenings be cooler than expected, so dress appropriately. As always, if it is raining or cloudy, a planetarium program will be presented instead. The Observatory is not handicapped accessible, but the planetarium is.
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