2023 October 18

Solar Eclipse Event, Monday April 8th!

Next Monday, a solar eclipse will be visible from Bridgewater! Looking at an eclipse without proper eye protection can permanently damage your eyesight, but the observatory has prepared various ways to observe the eclipse safely. Our event and resources will be open to the public.

On Friday, April 5th, we'll have safe eclipse glasses/viewers available for pickup from 10:00 am - 7:30 pm while supplies last. They'll be located at the counter in the central lobby on the 1st floor of the Dana Mohler-Faria (DMF) Science and Mathematics Center. Each person may take up to 3 glasses/viewers. Be careful with these. If they're scratched or punctured, they are not safe.

On Monday, April 8th, weather allowing:

Starting at 9:00 am, we'll have safe eclipse glasses/viewers available for pickup while supplies last. These will be located at the counter in the central lobby on the 1st floor of the DMF Science and Mathematics Center, at several tables surrounding that building, and up on the 5th floor. (There will be additional locations meant for BSU Students only).

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll have projections of the Sun at several tables surrounding the DMF Science and Mathematics Center.

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll have solar telescopes on the 5th floor observing patios also in the DMF Science and Mathematics Center.

On Monday, April 8th, rain or shine:

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll stream video of the eclipse from the path of totality in the auditorium and central lobby on the 1st floor of the DMF Science and Math Center.

Parking will be available in the West Campus Lot behind the DMF Science and Mathematics Center. If that lot fills, you can park at the parking garage on East Campus.

This animation portrays the creation of the cat’s tail in the southwest portion of Beta Pic’s secondary debris disk, estimated to span 10 billion miles. Read today's #AAS243 release to learn more: http://webbtelescope.pub/3RXt9Nx

Video of the Day!

An artist’s rendering shows us what happens when a star gets a little too close to a massive black hole!

NASA

NASA’s Webb Snaps Supersonic Outflow of Young Star

This image of HH 211 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals an outflow from a Class 0 protostar, an infantile analog of our Sun when

Take-aways:

This is a baby star imaged in stunning detail

Stars are born violently - there's hot gas striking the other gas and dust around it, making these amazing patterns

This particular baby star will one day be like the Sun 💖

We're not yet sure about tonight's weather - it depends on whether these clouds move north or south. Check back in a few hours!

2024 February 4

The Cone Nebula from Hubble Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA - Processing & Licence: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula. Cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. The Cone Nebula, a well-known example, lies within the bright galactic star-forming region NGC 2264. The Cone was captured in unprecedented detail in this close-up composite of several observations from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. While the Cone Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away in Monoceros, is around 7 light-years long, the region pictured here surrounding the cone’s blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across. In our neck of the galaxy that distance is just over half way from our Sun to its nearest stellar neighbors in the Alpha Centauri star system. The massive star NGC 2264 IRS, seen by Hubble’s infrared camera in 1997, is the likely source of the wind sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image. The Cone Nebula’s reddish veil is produced by dust and glowing hydrogen gas.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240204.html

Reblog Vs. Repost

In short: reblogging is awesome. Reposting isn't.

The Bearclaw Nebula, Sh2-200 // Dionysus

Mosaic of the Eagle Nebula, June 6, 2015. Image Credit: Adam Gustafson | Jamie Kern | BSU Observatory.

Imaged in luminance and photometric R, V and B filters. Approximately 2 hours total exposure time.

The Eagle nebula is a stellar nursery where new stars are born.