There was patchy cloud on Friday evening (despite the forecast for clearing skies!), but we managed to get in a bit of telescope viewing for those members of the public who came out and patiently waited for clouds to pass and provide moments of clear sky. Thanks to our volunteers: Mark, who brought along some fabulous photographs of Jupiter to entertain our guests in the “waiting room” and William who escorted guests up and down the stairs to the observatory.

The viewing started at 9:30PM around dusk, so we first looked at the crescent Moon, which was 37% illuminated (see image at left). We focused the telescope on some of the craters at the terminator (the line between dark and light), as highlighted in the image below. Because those craters were being illuminated by sunlight coming from their sides, we were able to see the three-dimensional detail through the telescope.

The area circled in red shows generally which craters were observed at the June 10 viewing.
Moon image by LRO via Wikimedia Commons.

Jupiter and its moons as they were positioned on the evening of June 10.
Image from a Stellarium planetarium software screenshot (program available for free at www.stellarium.org)

As clouds covered the Moon, we shifted the telescope to Jupiter which was nearby in the sky. We were able to make out two brown bands on Jupiter and see all four of its Galilean moons, similar to the screenshot shown (although the view through our telescope was the mirror image due to the configuration of its optics). Once clouds covered up Jupiter, we showed the same guests some nearby stars to see how stars appear different than planets – twinkly and always as a pinpoint of light.

When the southwestern part of the sky completed clouded over, we moved our telescope to a clear spot in the southeast, which fortunately is where Mars was at the time! So the final guests at the viewing got to see the red planet before our view got clouded over at 10:15PM and we had to shut down for the evening.

If you didn’t get out to our viewing, you can still catch a glimpse of Mars in the sky with your own eyes throughout the month of June – you can even detect its reddish colour without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. Look for a long triangle formed by Mars, Saturn and a bright reddish star called Antares, as shown in the image below. After sunset, the planets will be in the southeastern sky and then move to the southwest during the night.

Mars, Saturn, and bright star Antares form a triangle in the southeastern sky in June. Image from a Stellarium planetarium software screenshot (program available for free at www.stellarium.org)

Our next public viewing is Saturday, July 9 from 10:00-11:00PM. Mars and Saturn will still be in the sky at that time, so we will hopefully get to spend more time looking at them.

Our next night-time telescope viewing is Friday, June 10 from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. The viewing starts at dusk with an opportunity to see the crescent Moon and some planets also.

Please come to room 417 of Memorial Hall (location of building and information on parking can be found here).

The viewing is weather-dependent; in the event of cloudy weather, it may have to be cancelled. This post will be updated in the event of weather-related issues.

Dates have been chosen for our observing sessions over the summer months. Since sunset is so late in the months around the summer solstice, the nighttime viewings are only about one hour long and late at night. We will supplement the shorter night-time viewings with some day-time solar viewings.

More details will be provided about each viewing as we get closer to it, so this post is just alert everyone to our summer plans.

Night-time viewings

• June 10 (Friday): 9:30-10:30 PM
  • starting at dusk with an opportunity to view the crescent Moon
• July 9 (Saturday): 10:00-11:00 PM
  • Saturn and Mars will be prominent in the sky
• Held in UPEI Observatory. Go to room 417 in Memorial Hall to wait to go up to the observatory.

Day-time viewings

• Sun viewings on Wednesdays in late June through August for (up to) one hour sessions between 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Viewings may not run every week as dates and times will be chosen throughout the summer based on weather forecasts.
• Held on campus grounds near Belvedere Avenue roundabout (across from the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market)

On Friday, April 29, about 65 junior high girls joined us at UPEI for the 3rd annual Girls Get WISE Science Retreat. WISE stands for Women in Science and Engineering which is a movement to encourage girls to consider careers in areas of science and engineering which are traditionally male-dominated. Girls participated in group activities, workshops in Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics, and had the opportunity to talk with women who are working in or studying science and engineering.

2016 Girls Get WISE participants: junior high girls, volunteers, workshop leaders, and mentors.

A simple spectroscope made from a cardboard tube. The clear “window” on the end is a stripped-down piece of CD.

For the Physics workshop this year, we decided to do an astronomy-themed activity. The girls built simple spectroscopes from cardboard and old CDs and then looked at different light sources to see their spectra. It was fitting that the girls got to learn about spectroscopy, as pioneering work on that topic was done by some of the first women to work in astronomy.

While the girls were building their  spectroscopes, they had an opportunity to go outside to have a safe look at the Sun through our solar telescope. We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day with very few clouds in the sky, so everyone got to have a look at the Sun’s surface and see some sunspots and prominences.

A beautiful clear sunny sky for solar viewing during the WISE physics workshops.

You can build your own spectroscope at home using our instructions and then look at different light bulbs, LEDs, and reflected sunlight to see the different spectra that they produce. It’s not safe to look directly at the Sun using your spectroscope, but if you put some white paper in a sunny patch, you can look at that reflected light safely . And if you’d like to get a safe look at the surface of the Sun, come to one of our public solar viewings sometime.