Astronomy Class - PM

The students from the three-week intensive astronomy course returned to the Observatory last night. Their instructor and I worried over the skies in the afternoon wondering if we should postpone or cancel due to big patches of cirrus clouds. We decided Wednesday night might be the last possibility of getting the class together for a little nighttime astronomy. As it turned out, the sky only offered fair seeing but better than it would have been tonight (Thursday). They got decent views of Saturn --its ring plane nearly edge-on, moons in a nice line-- along with very good viewing of the Moon through both our 10-inch Dobsonian reflector and the big nine-inch refractor. We saw brilliant Vega through the telescope as well as a beautiful (unknown) red star. I fished through the glowing murk of the northeastern sky for any sign of M57 (the Ring Nebula) but to no avail. We had a decent session, conditions considered, but it was a little disappointing knowing what was "out there" last night, obscured by glowing clouds. Shutting down the place for the night took longer than normal -- the lawn had been mowed and, carried by dew-damp shoes, clumps of dry grass covered the floors and had to be swept up. Session lasted from 9:30 to about 11:00 with approximately 10 students in attendance.

Astronomy Class - AM

Students from this spring's second session of three-week intensive astronomy course visited Stephens Memorial Observatory this morning to take a look at our Sun. This class was luckier than the previous course's students for we were blessed with mostly-clear skies, reasonably steady seeing, and a sunspot (#1072). Using the big Cooley Telescope and a modern white light solar filter over the objective, we looked at the solar disk as a whole with the low-magnification eyepiece and could see traces of, I suspect, "supergranules" and the lonely sunspot floating in the lower left-hand portion of our field of view. At about 122X granulation wasn't apparent but good detail could be observed in the sunspot! When seeing was best we could easily make out the shape of the umbra (dark central portion of the spot) and the filaments of the penumbra. Interestingly it seemed almost as if the entire assembly was encircled by a solid line cleanly separating the spot from the rest of the solar atmosphere. There have been very few sunspots to observe and (seemingly) fewer clear days during which to observe them so the morning session was a real treat. The visit lasted from about 9:00 to 10:00 when the students returned to their classroom... for mid-term exams! If they survive their tests and the sky is clear, we plan to have a nighttime visit from the astronomy class with the Moon and Saturn as featured attractions.

Image credit: SOHO/MDI - image "flipped" side-to-side to illustrate telescope view.

Swasey Observatory

Perched on a hilltop on the campus of Denison University in Granville, Ohio is a beautiful example of a modest academic observatory from the turn of the twentieth century. Swasey Observatory was, in 1909, the gift of Ambrose Swasey of the Warner and Swasey Company. Built of white Vermont marble, the structure boasts a lovely tiled entry chamber, classrooms (one a former transit/zenith observatory), and a metal spiral stairway leading up to the observing dome. The transit telescope has been uninstalled and its pier removed but is still on display. Several astronomical timepieces are also present though not operating. Under the dome (a modern replacement for the original wood-and-steel structure) is a beautiful nine-inch Warner and Swasey 1910 refracting telescope with Brashier optical components. The drive system has been updated to run via electrical motor but most of the instrument is original equipment. The old telescope is used in astronomy instruction and the building has an observing deck where modern small telescopes may be attached to permanent piers. Dan and Mike, professors of physics at Denison, were most generous with their time answering several questions I had concerning the old telescope (nearly a twin to the one I maintain) and allowing me plenty of time to photograph. It was a fine way to spend a dreary Friday. Making this blog entry is about as close to observing as I will get on this cloudy and rainy Saturday night when I would otherwise present a public observing session at Hiram.

Photo by James Guilford.

Stairway to the stars

It was a rainy and cloudy weekend so no stargazing this time. I did, however, attend the groundbreaking for what will be a unique public facility: the Geauga Park District's Observatory Park. The park will celebrate nature from the ground beneath our feet to the cosmos of which we are a small part, all under skies recognized as some of the darkest in our region. As a part of the development the District acquired the Nassau Astronomical Station from Case Western Reserve University and will rehabilitate its 1957 building and research-grade 36-inch Warner and Swasey Cassegrain telescope for Park use. A second 36-inch reflector has been donated to the cause. Park officials expect the facilities to be open for use next year. As a boy I dreamed of observatories of the design seen at Nassau (and at Baldwin-Wallace College)... their turret-domes, telescopes, control rooms, and catwalks enthralled me then and now. How wonderful it would be to use such a facility on a regular basis! It was a thrill to visit Nassau this weekend as a part of the Park's groundbreaking. Hopefully the facilities will continue to fascinate and inspire for many generations to come, both by themselves and as stairways to the stars.