International Observe the Moon Night 2023 – CANCELLED

Posted on September 25, 2023 at 4:01 PM by mglover

UPDATE (7:40am Oct 21): Due to the cloudy weather, this event has been cancelled.

Join people around the world viewing the moon on Saturday, October 21 by stopping by our observatory between 7:00 and 9:00 pm, where you can get an up-close view of our astronomical neighbour.

Come to Memorial Hall room 417 where Physics Department staff or local astronomy enthusiasts will greet you and direct you up to the observatory when it is your turn. There will be moon-themed activities for all ages while you wait.

If clouds block the view of the moon, this event will be cancelled. This post will be updated by 9:00am on October 21 in the event of a cancellation.

Accessibility: While you can take an elevator up to the 4th floor of Memorial Hall, it is necessary to be able to climb stairs to reach the roof and the observatory.

Total Lunar Eclipse – November 8, 2022

Posted on November 7, 2022 at 11:13 AM by mglover

There will be a total lunar eclipse early tomorrow morning. The forecasts for that time are currently mixed, so we may just have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how cloudy it will be.

Check out this link to watch a simulation of what the eclipse will look like from PEI: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/canada/charlottetown

Screenshot of TimeAndDate.com showing the simulation view of the total lunar eclipse.

You’ll start to see the Earth’s shadow move across the Moon at 5:10am. By 6:16am, the Moon will be completely in the shadow and appear dark with a tint of red. The Moon ill still look that way when it moves below our horizon at just after 7am.

The Moon will be low in the western sky early tomorrow morning, so if you want to view the eclipse you’ll need an unobstructed view to the west.

Total Lunar Eclipse on April 15

Posted on April 13, 2014 at 2:43 PM by mglover

What is a total lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the shadow of the Earth. When the Moon is completely covered by the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow (called the umbra), then the eclipse is said to be total. Lunar eclipses only ever occur at the full Moon, as the Earth must be between the Sun and Moon to cast a shadow on the Moon.

What will it look like?

Lunar eclipse in 2008 as viewed from the USA. Photographed by John Buonomo, retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

The first parts of the eclipse when the Moon is in the lighter part of Earth’s shadow (called the penumbra) are very hard to see. In this partial eclipse phase, if you’re in a very dark location and looking carefully, you may notice a darkening of parts of the Moon’s surface.

The real interesting viewing starts when the total eclipse phase begins. At this time, the only light reaching the Moon from the Sun is light that passes just around the edges of Earth through its atmosphere. The blue colours of the sunlight get scattered away and only the redder colours reach the surface of the Moon to be reflected back for us to see. The Moon will be darker than usual and probably tinted red/orange. Exactly how much it’s tinted depends on atmospheric conditions at the time of the eclipse.

When you can I see it?

The total eclipse will begin Tuesday morning (April 15) at 4:07 am in local time for PEI. The total eclipse stage, when the Moon will look darkest and possibly reddish-orange, will last until 5:25 am. Some of the most interesting moments to watch can be just as totality is beginning (start viewing by 4:00am) or just as totality ends (start viewing by 5:20am).

Watching the entire eclipse can be kinda long and boring, but if you set your alarm clock for an appropriate time in the early morning, you can get up, watch the eclipse for however many minutes you feel like, and then probably still get back to bed for an extra hour or more of sleep before starting your day.

What if it’s cloudy?

If the weather doesn’t cooperate with viewing the eclipse in PEI (i.e. the Moon is blocked by clouds), you can watch the eclipse online in a broadcast by NASA or by Slooh Observatory.

April 12th Public Viewing: A Full House! (Updated)

Posted on April 3, 2014 at 12:55 PM by mglover

A view of the Moon through the UPEI telescope on an evening several years ago.

After several cancelled viewings due to poor weather, we finally got a successful viewing in this Saturday, April 12 – in terms of weather and attendance! The sky cleared up before the viewing and the clouds rolled back in just as it was ending. About 25 people came out and were treated to views through our telescope and astronomy instruction. Our telescope operator for the night, Mark (a volunteer from RASC) showed guests Jupiter and its moons followed up by Earth’s own Moon.

Stellarium is a computer program that shows the positions and motions of stars in our sky.

While guests waited for their opportunity to go up to the telescope, fellow RASC volunteer Brian discussed the viewing objects, gave a tour of the night sky using Stellarium, and answered general astronomy questions.

It was an enjoyable night of astronomy for all involved and we hope to see just as many people at our next viewing. The time for the next public viewing is not yet set, but will likely be the second Saturday in May. Details will be posted here when available.

Public viewings are co-hosted by the UPEI Physics Department and the Charlottetown Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

UPDATED: Viewing on Sunday, February 9

Posted on February 5, 2014 at 5:09 PM by mglover

Updated February 11, 2014

After clouds moved in at the last minute on Saturday evening, we had to cancel and push the viewing ahead to the next day, Sunday, February 9. That evening fortunately proved to be a clear, albeit quite chilly, but we had 12 hardy guests brave the elements to attend. Our RASC volunteers discussed astronomy topics with the guests and answered questions while they kept warm and awaited their turn to go up to the telescope.

The objects observed were the waxing gibbous Moon – in particular, some of the craters in its southern hemisphere – and Jupiter. Despite atmospheric conditions not being at their best, we were able to see the two large brown bands near Jupiter’s equator and three of its four Galilean moons. A simulated view of what we saw is shown below (using Stellarium), although we could not make out quite that level of detail (we weren’t able to discern the Great Red Spot or smaller bands, for example)