The Dolphin Head Nebula (Sh2-308, Right) And Sh2-303 (left) // Jim Thommes

Fall 2023 Public Events

Our next round of public events starts in September - here's the schedule (each event is weather-dependent, so always check back to see if the event is on!):

Public Nights on Wednesdays: - Sept. 27, 7:30 - 9:00 pm - Oct. 4, 11, and 18, 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Nov. 1, 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Nov. 8 and 15, 6:00 - 7:30 pm

Special Daytime Event: Oct. 14 Partial Solar Eclipse! 10:30 am - 2:45 pm

Halloween Events! - Oct. 25, 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Rain Date 1: Oct. 26, 7:00 - 8:30 pm (only occurs if Oct. 25 doesn't) - Rain Date 2: Oct. 30, 7:00 - 8:30 pm (only occurs if both Oct. 25 and 26 do not)

During our events, we set up telescopes and find objects in the sky for our visitors to see. We talk astronomy, too! Our events are free, open to the public, and appropriate for all ages.

A reminder that our public Spring events start this week!

Public nights are here!

Our Halloween event is Wednesday, Oct. 25 from 7:00-8:30pm, weather allowing! Check in the early afternoon that day to see if the weather will allow it to go on.

If not, we have a rain date planned for Thursday (and a 2nd rain date for Monday if neither work out).

Happy Halloween, everyone!

2024 October 27

LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby; Text: Michelle Thaller (NASA’s GSFC)

Explanation: What is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy? One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic bat flying amongst the stars on a dark Halloween night. Located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. Far from being a harbinger of death, this 12-light year-long filament of gas and dust is actually a stellar nursery. Glowing with eerie light, the bat is lit up from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241027.html

2024 January 9

Thor’s Helmet Image Credit & Copyright: Ritesh Biswas

Explanation: Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor’s Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor’s Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown with a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble’s center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This remarkably sharp image is a mixed cocktail of data from narrowband filters, capturing not only natural looking stars but details of the nebula’s filamentary structures. The star in the center of Thor’s Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240109.html

Make your Halloween pumpkin shine bright like a star observed by the James Webb Space Telescope! 🎃

The 8-point diffraction spikes are a signature look in Webb’s images of bright objects in the universe. Download the stencil or any of the other Webb patterns: https://webbtelescope.pub/46HNvPV

Wed. Apr. 17: Another cloudy night, so we'll be closed. We'll try again next week.

Wow - the visible star at the center of the planetary nebula is an A-type giant star. It's the companion of the white dwarf which spawned the nebula itself. (Loved the pic so much I had to read about the object a little).

NGC 1514 // Marc Fischer

3/19: Our public night is cancelled. The forecast keeps getting worse. We'll try again next week!