We invite you to visit the Earl L. Wonnacott Observatory this fall and look through our telescope. We will be pointing our telescope at various objects of interest: the moon, planets, stars, nebula, and galaxies, depending on the date and sky conditions.
We will once again schedule viewings every two weeks this semester, anticipating that at least half of the events will be cancelled by cloudy weather. We’re going to try a mix of Thursdays and Saturdays.
In the event of cloudy weather, this post will be updated to indicate if a viewing is cancelled.
The dates and times that we’ve scheduled are below. Note that the event times shift earlier as the dates get closer to the winter solstice (and that the times jump much earlier in November after Daylight Saving Time ends).
Saturday, September 28, 8:00-10:00PM – attended by 94 people!
Thursday, October 10, 8:00-10:00PM – cancelled due to staff work-load
Saturday, October 26, 7:30-9:30PM – cancelled due to cloudy weather
Thursday, November 7, 7:30-9:30PM – cancelled due to cloudy weather
Saturday, November 23, 6:30-8:30PM
Thursday, December 5, 6:00-8:00PM
Saturday, December 21, 6:00-8:00PM
If you’re coming to our event, meet us in room 417 of Memorial Hall. We’ll have some astronomy activities and information for a variety of ages that you can peruse while you wait for your turn to go up to the observatory.
Accessibility: You can take an elevator up to room 417, but it is necessary to climb stairs up one floor to the roof and into the observatory to reach the telescope.
UPDATE (9:30AM Sat Sep 14): The weather forecast looks good, so we’re going ahead with the event.
September 14 marks this year’s International Observe the Moon Night. We will join people around the world who are viewing our natural satellite. We invite you to join us at our observatory from 8:00-10:00PM for a magnified view of the moon’s features through our telescope.
This event is weather dependent; if the sky is completed clouded over, we won’t be able to view the moon. If it’s partly cloudy, we might be able to go ahead since the moon is such a bright object and thus easy to find with our telescope. In the event of a weather cancellation, this post will be updated.
If you’re coming to our event, meet us in room 417 of Memorial Hall. We’ll have some moon activities and information for a variety of ages that you can peruse while you wait for your turn to go up to the observatory.
Accessibility: You can take an elevator up to room 417, but it is necessary to climb stairs from there up to the roof and into the observatory to reach the telescope.
If you can’t attend our event, you can still view the moon yourself the same night, or any night. Check out NASA’s viewing guide for tips on how to get the best viewing experience whether you’re using just your eyes, or binoculars or a telescope. NASA’s interactive Daily Moon Guide is also a great resource to show you what moon features you can see on any day.
An example view of the moon through our previous observatory telescope (Meade RCX400) by then student Andrew Clark. You can expect equally impressive views through our current telescope.
It’s been a big year for the sun on PEI: we had the solar eclipse in April, and Northern Lights caused by solar ejections in May. We invite you to get a more detailed view of the sun (than eclipse glasses or a pinhole projector can provide) by looking through our solar telescopes.
We will be having public viewing sessions with our solar telescopes on the following dates (every second Friday) from 12:30-2:00pm.
May 31 Cancelled due to cloudy forecast
June 14 Cancelled due to cloudy forecast
June 28 Cancelled due to cloudy forecast
July 12 Cancelled due to cloudy forecast
July 19 – Successful viewing with about 25 people attending
July 26 – Cancelled due to cloudy weather
August 9 – Cancelled due to cloudy weather
August 23 – Cancelled due to risk of thundershowers
August 30 – Going ahead!
Based on our experience, we anticipate that we will have to cancel at least half of the above dates due to cloudy weather. If it’s too cloudy to see the sun, then we will cancel that day’s event. This post will be updated in the event of any cancellations.
What you can expect to see
We will offer you views of two of the sun’s atmospheric layers, showing features caused by the sun’s dynamic magnetic activity. With a white-light solar filter on our observatory telescope, you will get to view the sun’s photosphere, which is currently showing many sunspots (see example image below). Through our hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, you will view the sun’s chromosphere – a dimmer atmospheric layer than can only be seen by filtering out all the light except the red emitted by hot hydrogen. The chromosphere shows prominences and filaments, which are protrusions of plasma. A web-like pattern covers the chromosphere, outlining supergranules. You may also see plages, which are bright areas usually surrounding sunspots.
Sunspots visible on the photosphere of the sun, as imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on May 14, 2024.The sun’s chromosphere (viewed through a red solar filter), showing dark filaments and bright plages on the solar disk, and prominences protruding along the edge. Image captured using UPEI’s hydrogen-alpha telescope on May 14, 2024.
Meeting area
The meeting location for this event will be the grassy area between Memorial Hall and Robertson Library (see photo and campus map below). There you’ll find our hydrogen-alpha telescope that you can look through. We’ll direct you on how to find your way to the observatory when space is available. (Due to the observatory’s small size, we have to control how many people can go into it at once.)
The event meeting area is this grassy area next to Memorial Hall. This photo also shows our observatory on top of Memorial Hall.
The event will be held between Memorial Hall (building 9) and Robertson Library (building 15) and is marked with a yellow star on the campus map above. Parking is available in campus lots A, (ungated) B, D, and the MacLauchlan Arena lot.
Accessibility
To reach our observatory, you must be able to climb stairs, because the building’s elevator can’t take people beyond the fourth floor, and the observatory is one storey above that. However, our ground-based telescope is accessible for people who are not able to climb stairs.
Age to attend
We welcome attendees of any age; however, to fully enjoy the viewing experience, anyone attending needs to be able to follow directions regarding how to look into a telescope eyepiece, what they can touch, and what they can’t touch. We leave it up to parents/guardians to assess whether their child is capable of the above tasks. We will also have our Sunspotter telescope at the event, which shows sunspots and doesn’t require looking into an eyepiece.
Our Sunspotter telescope provides a view of sunspots on the photosphere that can be viewed by people who have trouble looking through a telescope eyepiece; for example very young children.
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.
UPDATE (12pm Nov 24): The sky will be clear tonight so this viewing is going ahead! We’ll be short a helper this evening, so when you arrive in our waiting room, there may not be a member of the Physics Department there to greet you because they’ll be up in the observatory. But you can take a seat and someone will be down to guide you up to the observatory when they’re ready for the next group.
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We are going to try our luck with the weather for the second time this month and see if we can manage to have a viewing. We will hold a public viewing from 7:00-9:00pm on Thursday, November 24 (weather permitting). Everyone is welcome to drop by to have a look through our telescope in the Earl L. Wonnacott Observatory. The Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be in the sky that night, so those are likely some of the objects that we will look at.
The meeting spot for this event is room 417 of Memorial Hall (get directions and parking information). Depending on how many people are attending, you may have to wait a bit for your turn to go up to the telescope. We’ll have some activities and information available to entertain you while you wait.
Please note that masks will be required for this event. UPEI currently requires masks to be worn in instructional spaces unless physical distancing of at least 2 metres can be maintained. Because the observatory is only about 2 metres in diameter, masks must be worn inside it. Masks must also be worn in Memorial Hall room 417 unless you are physically-distanced from other attendees.
To access the observatory, it is necessary to be able to climb a set of stairs over one storey in height.
The observatory is unheated, so bring clothing that is warm enough to permit you to stand in outdoor temperatures for at least 20 minutes. (The waiting room is indoors and heated.)
If the sky is cloudy on the night of the event, the viewing may have to be cancelled. This post will be updated if there are any changes to the event status.
