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)

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