Since we became members of Lowell Observatory, we were able to attend a members only preview of the opening of the new Giovale Open Deck Observatory. Most telescopes are inside a dome and then you open a door in the roof of the dome so the single telescope can look out into the portion of the sky visible through that door. With the open deck here, the walls and roof slide back from the deck and the half dozen telescopes are completely open. As a dark sky city, the view from the deck was amazing, both with and without the telescopes.
One of the scopes was focused on a ring nebula, the glowing remains of a star that is dying. It was some 2,000 light years away. The image was put on large computer screen, as was the analysis of the light. The image was refreshed every fifteen seconds.
The hundred or so visitors, lined up at the different telescopes and could see the many different objects. One scope had the Messier M-19 object. I learned about them: The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects cataloged by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters"). Another was focused on Jupiter and three of the moons orbiting it.
There were also many educational signs visible in the red light. The ones on this side of the building showed what makes up our solar system and galaxy. I knew about the planets, asteroid belt and Kuiper Belt, but also learned about the Oort Cloud: The Oort Cloud is an extended shell of icy objects that exist in the outermost reaches of the solar system. It is named after astronomer Jan Oort, who first theorised its existence. The Oort Cloud is roughly spherical, and is thought to be the origin of most of the long-period comets that have been observed. There was also a docent with a 300 mw laser pointer educating us about things we could see without a telescope: the planet Jupiter, the star Arcturus, and a variety of constellations, as well as some satellites and space junk passing overhead. And of course, we also saw a couple of "shooting stars" - Flagstaff is a dark sky city, and Lowell Observatory is on top of Mars Hill, so it is much easier to see things. I also learned about the rating scale for dark sky cities: The Borter scale ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available on Earth, through Class 9, inner-city skies. It gives several criteria for each level beyond naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM). In 2001, Flagstaff became the world's first International Dark Sky City.
A very pleasant evening was had by all - I need to return and learn more about the night sky.
One of the scopes was focused on a ring nebula, the glowing remains of a star that is dying. It was some 2,000 light years away. The image was put on large computer screen, as was the analysis of the light. The image was refreshed every fifteen seconds.
The hundred or so visitors, lined up at the different telescopes and could see the many different objects. One scope had the Messier M-19 object. I learned about them: The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects cataloged by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters"). Another was focused on Jupiter and three of the moons orbiting it.
There were also many educational signs visible in the red light. The ones on this side of the building showed what makes up our solar system and galaxy. I knew about the planets, asteroid belt and Kuiper Belt, but also learned about the Oort Cloud: The Oort Cloud is an extended shell of icy objects that exist in the outermost reaches of the solar system. It is named after astronomer Jan Oort, who first theorised its existence. The Oort Cloud is roughly spherical, and is thought to be the origin of most of the long-period comets that have been observed. There was also a docent with a 300 mw laser pointer educating us about things we could see without a telescope: the planet Jupiter, the star Arcturus, and a variety of constellations, as well as some satellites and space junk passing overhead. And of course, we also saw a couple of "shooting stars" - Flagstaff is a dark sky city, and Lowell Observatory is on top of Mars Hill, so it is much easier to see things. I also learned about the rating scale for dark sky cities: The Borter scale ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available on Earth, through Class 9, inner-city skies. It gives several criteria for each level beyond naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM). In 2001, Flagstaff became the world's first International Dark Sky City.
A very pleasant evening was had by all - I need to return and learn more about the night sky.
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