Our Programs…

… are on clear Friday and Saturday nights from March - Late November. Watch the main page. By noon on the day of each program we post a forecast and a note on whether or not the program that evening will go forward.

May 2-3: The Asteroids: The name “Asteroid” comes from the ancient Greek word meaning “Star-like”, and they do, indeed look like stars. This weekend, one of the brightest of them, Vesta, is well placed for viewing. It’s small, and looks just like a star, but if you observe it multiple times you’ll see that it does something that stars do not do: move. Also, the rugged crescent moon. (8:30 PM)

May 9-10: The Moon’s Hump: The Ancients looked at the moon that was not half and not full as having a hump. The Latin word for Hump is “gibbous”. This weekend’s moon is gibbous. On Friday, the bright crater Aristarchus is easily seen. On Saturday, the large crater Pythagoras, with its central mountain, is peeking out of the shadow. (8:30 PM)

May 16-17: The Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope: May 15 marks the 100th birthday of the “Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope” Nancy Grace Roman who guided the conception and planning of the most famous observatory of all time. So we’ll be looking at a few of the spring objects that the Hubble has featured in its images. To the human eye these objects are not bright and colorful like deep Hubble images, but the light you see is the actual light that left on its way to Earth thousands, or even millions, of years ago. (8:30 PM)

May 24-24: Galaxy Season: With the glare of the moon out of the way, the faint, distant universe can be more easily seen. This month marks the start of Galaxy Season, when the multitudes of galaxies in the constellations Leo, Virgo, Ursa Major, and Coma Borealis can be explored. (8:45 PM)

May 30-31: The Crescent Moon and the Big Dipper: The crescent moon is both lovely in its own right, and not so bright that it overwhelms other celestial objects. Take a look at its rough and rugged surface, and then stick around to see some the brightest galaxies behind the stars of the Big Dipper. (9:00 PM)

June 6-7: The Bay of Rainbows: One of the most distinct features on the gibbous moon is ancient, eroded, Ohio-sized crater which lunar mappers call sinus iridium, the bay of rainbows. It is just one of many lunar features visible tonight. (9:00 PM)

June 13-14: Two Bears and a Dragon: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Draco the Dragon are high in the north on late spring evenings. (9:00 PM)

The Clear Sky Clock

This window shows the predicted cloud cover and sky transparency for upcoming hours.   A grey or white box in either the "Cloud Cover" or "Transparency" row generally indicates that no stars or planets will be able to be seen.   Aqua will be adequate for planets,, but not good for faint stars, galaxies, and nebulae, and light and dark blue are good for all objects.

View of the Month:   
NGC 4565 “The Needle Galaxy”

When you're an astro-nerd like me having a favorite galaxy (or star cluster, or nebula...) is not an uncommon or weird thing.

Given how many galaxies there are, and how lovely they appear, it's rather hard to pick a favorite one. But, if forced to choose, I might say "NGC 4565!"

NGC 4565, the so-called "needle" galaxy, looks like a "UFO". It is actually, "flying-saucer"-shaped, but we see it edge-on, making it appear thin and otherworldly (because it literally is! ) from our point of view.

Its distance has been hard to pin down, but it is thought to be somewhere between 35 and 60 million light years distant.

If it's at the far end of that range its estimated size is enormous, perhaps twice the diameter of our own Milky Way.

Through a telescope, this galaxy looks like a ghostly needle piercing the night. In a large telescope, like the 28-inch at JGAP, faint hints of the dust lane- the dark material out of which new generations of stars will form, can be seen.

Though it looks more distant, the small galaxy next to it, may be a bit closer to us.

This image was taken in March by Andy Downey. He gathered photons for six hours to obtain this result.