Planetarium Memories

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As some of you may remember, UPEI used to have a planetarium.
UPEI Planetarium

UPEI Planetarium

Michelle Cottreau, a UPEI Physics graduate, sent me the photograph below and shared the following memories of her time working at the planetarium.
“I worked there for several years and only have one picture of that time. It wish I had more and some of the inside. It was amazing and the best job I ever had!”
Planetarium staff, summer 1985 (left to right): David Yorston, David Brennan (Manager), Michelle Cottreau, David Wheeler

Planetarium staff, summer 1985 (left to right): David Yorston, David Brennan (Manager), Michelle Cottreau, David Wheeler

“We had several different shows but my favourite was the one we did for young children called “Our Sky Family”. The star projector was nick-named “Jake” and the show began with the sound of snoring. Jake would suddenly wake up and would rise out of the underground well (where the projector was stored) to greet the children and the show began.  They loved it!”

UPDATED: Observe the Moon Night 2015

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SaveTheDateWe are once again participating in International Observe the Moon Night on the evening of Saturday, September 19. And this year we hope that the weather actually permits us to see the Moon!

The Moon will be in its waxing crescent phase and will be too low in the sky for our observatory telescope to view. So we’ll be setting up some telescopes on the campus grounds, with local amateur astronomers helping out by bringing their telescopes too. Saturn will also be visible nearby in the sky, so we’ll point some telescopes at it too.

The viewings will take place from 8:00-9:30pm on a service road that is next to the artificial turf field and across the perimeter road from parking lot D (as indicated on the campus map below).EventMap

Viewing may potentially start as early as 7:45pm, but that is conditional on the soccer game at the adjacent field not going into overtime.

This event is weather dependent. If it’s too cloudy to see the Moon, we will have to cancel. This blog post will be updated in the event of a cancellation.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1056878860996913/

 

 

New Web Course: “Life in the Universe”

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Have you ever looked at the night sky and wondered if we’re alone in the universe? If so, our new web course is for you! Physics 151: Life in the Universe is debuting at UPEI for Fall 2015.

In this course, your lessons are provided through the Habitable Worlds courseware – a textbook, movie, video game, lectures, and tutorials all combined in one package. You’ll use simulations to destroy stars, create planets, and explore the ancient Earth, all the while learning about the latest research on worlds within and outside of our solar system. You’ll discuss what you’re learning with your classmates through our forums and help each other learn how to identify which worlds are possible for life (as we know it) to exist on.

There’s no prerequisites necessary for this course and it’s open to students from all programs and faculties. Check out the syllabus and try a demo lesson and if you like what you see, it’s not too late to register as there’s spaces available.

Public Viewing “Ad-hoc” schedule: May – August 2015

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I’ve talked to some of our telescope volunteers and we’re going to be moving to more of an “ad-hoc” viewing schedule for the summer months.

The schedules of our volunteers gets a bit harder to organize, the viewings are later in the evening, and we need to book our meeting room at least two days in advance.

Instead of booking a date and hoping for better weather, we’ll be looking for a period of time where it looks like really good viewing weather and then trying to find a couple of volunteers.  This means we’ll still be trying to have a viewing about once a month, but it will only be announced at shorter notice and it could be on different days of the week.

How to get the news of the next viewing:

  • Subscribe to our twitter feed, @UPEIAstronomy
  • Subscribe to our Google Groups email listserv, UPEI Telescope
  • Check near the top of this website.

Happy viewing!  I’m really hoping we can get a good viewing in the month of May as Saturn is looking like a good evening viewing target and it’s right up there with Jupiter for my favourite planet.

Check out other good viewing targets picked by Astronomy Magazine for the first half of May 2015!