We managed to have a beautiful clear sky for the first hour of our viewing last night. Dark intermittent clouds moved in around 9:30pm, but by then all of our 18 guests had gotten a good look at the night’s viewing object, Jupiter and three of its four Galilean moons (so called because Galileo was the first to observe them and their motion around Jupiter).

For those who attended the viewing and would like to know which moons they saw, you can use a program like Stellarium to find out. The image is a screenshot from that program, showing Jupiter as it was seen at 9pm on April 6. (The view through our telescope was the mirror image because of how the optics of the telescope work.)

The moons of Jupiter that were visible during the April 6th public viewing.

The three moons that were visible during the viewing, in order of increasing orbital distance from Jupiter, were Io, Europa, and Ganymede. The Galilean moon that orbits the farthest out from Jupiter, Callisto, wasn’t visible during the viewing. However, the orbital period of all these moons is quite short – between about 2 to 17 days – so which moons are visible changes rapidly. If one were to look at Jupiter at 9pm tonight (if the clouds weren’t in the way!), one would be able to see the moon Callisto, but the moon Io would not be visible as its orbit takes it behind Jupiter.

The moons of Jupiter that would be visible on the evening of April 7th.

We are pleased to announce that the Confederation Centre Public Library now has a telescope that can be borrowed by library patrons. This came about through a partnership between the library, the Sidewalk Astronomers of Charlottetown, and UPEI Physics.

The telescope is a Sky Watcher 6″ Dobsonian and is easy to use so even beginner astronomers can be up and going in a short time.

Information about reserving the telescope can be found on the Library’s website. UPEI Physics helped put together a user guide (which is provided when the telescope is borrowed from the Library) and also an introductory video on using the telescope.

Update as of 10:15AM Nov. 18

The forecast for our viewing hours this evening is for cloudy skies, so unfortunately we have to cancel. We will try to arrange a viewing for sometime in December and will post to this blog once a date is determined.

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We will hold a public viewing on Wednesday, November 18, 6:00-8:00 PM. Anyone attending the event should meet in Memorial Hall room 215* and we will direct you up to the observatory when there is room for visitors. Information about how to find the observatory or parking can be found here.

In the first part of the viewing, we will probably try to observe the first quarter Moon before it gets too low in the sky to see through our telescope. So if you missed our Moon night, or you have young children who need to get home to bed, do come early on. Later in the viewing session, we will point the telescope at some other interesting objects.

This event, as always, is subject to the weather. If it has to be cancelled, notice will given on this blog as well as through our other communication means.

* Although we normally meet in room 417, it is already in use during the viewing time, so we have switched to a different meeting room.

UPDATE (Oct. 22): Due to the cloudy & rainy weather this evening, tonight’s viewing is cancelled. We will try to schedule another viewing for November and will post when the date is decided.

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We will return to our observatory for this month’s public viewing on Thursday, October 22 from 7:00-9:00PM. Anyone attending the event should meet in Memorial Hall room 417 and we will direct you up to the observatory when there is room for visitors.

In the earlier part of the viewing the sky will not be completely dark, but we can view the ~70% illuminated Moon. So if you missed our Moon night, or you have young children who need to get home to bed, do come early on. Later in the viewing session, we may point the telescope at some other interesting objects.

This event, as always, is subject to the weather. If it has to be cancelled, notice will given here as well as through other communication means.