The Union College Observatory
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Jupiter with Europa, shadow of Europa, and Great Red Spot on July 27, 2010.
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Observer's page | Journal Seminar | Local Astronomy Links
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View of the Union College Observatory on the Olin buildingLongitude 73° 55' 41.88" W |
The main purpose of the observatory is education.
Union College students benefit from hands-on experience with current high-tech
instrumentation.
A lab course in which students make professional type observations is offered regularly.
The observatory is used for senior theses and independent projects.
For example, students have used the telescope to study cataclysmic variable stars.
Once trained in the use of CCD cameras and data reduction, students are eligible for time at
the SMARTS telescopes
in the Chilean Andes with professional, state of the art instrumentation
and some of the best observing conditions in the world!
Open houses for the general public are
offered monthly, frequently timed near the first-quarter moon.
These are clear-weather only events, so we are closed if there is any precipitation,
strong winds, or mostly cloudy conditions.
Note that with the exception of Homecoming and ReUnion weekends, all open houses
are free and open to the public
with no tickets or reservations required. Only for
Homecoming and ReUnion open houses do we issue tickets
at the Reamer Campus Center,
and these tickets are free.
2011 Open Houses
Thursday, December 1, from 6:30-8:30 PM
Wednesday, November 2, from 6:30-8:30 PM
TBA, Homecoming Weekend, last weekend of October
Thursday Oct 6, From 7:30-9:30.Welcome Rising Stars!
Tuesday, October 4, from 7:30-9:30 PM Cancelled/postponed to Thursday due to clouds
Wednesday, September 7, from 8:30-10:00 PM
Key targets for September and October open houses: First quarter moon, Jupiter, asteroids Vesta and Ceres, Ring Nebula, Double star Albireo, globular star clusters, Uranus and Neptune, etc.
PAST OPEN HOUSES
Thursday, August 4, from 8:30-10:30 PM
Thursday, July 7, from 9-11 PM (Saturn and Moon visible)
Wednesday, June 8, from 8:30-10 PM (Saturn and Moon visible)
Tuesday, May 10, from 8:30-10 PM (Saturn and Moon visible)
Tuesday, April 12, from 8-9:30PM
Note: Telescope drive recently repaired and the observatory is running again
after a short hiatus.
Thursday March 10
Thurs Feb 24
Wednesday, Jan 12 (Jupiter visible)
Wondering what's going on in the sky this week? Try the Dudley Observatory phone line 518-382-7584 and their Skywatch line
2010
Skywatch Lectures at Proctors/GE theater!
Tuesday Oct 19 at 7:30pm: Prof. Alex Filippenko
Tuesday Nov 30 at 7:30pm: Prof. Jay Pasachoff
Old news:
Comet 17/P Holmes:
Our first images taken thursday night Oct 25, 2007 are
here
and
here. The images include luminance, red,
visual (green) and blue filters
with equal exposure times on 1 second.
Schools are invited for tours. Contact Francis Wilkin, preferably by email including information about your group and schedule (wilkinf@union.edu, or call 388-6344).
The observatory is used for some astronomical research projects. Even from Schenectady, the telescope can be used for some research studies, such as extrasolar planet transits and the study of cataclysmic variable stars (binary star systems in which a red dwarf star and a white dwarf are in tight orbits about each other, with gas tranferring from the red star to the white dwarf.)
BVR Color Images Obtained at the Union College Observatory
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M 42: Orion Nebula. 2/15/99 |
M 51: Whirlpool Nebula |
M 27: Dumbbell Nebula |
M 57: Ring Nebula |
Details of the optical telescope.
We also have a 2.1-meter radio telescope (a Haystack Observatory SRT):
observes at 1,420 MHz: sensitive to 21-cm emission of neutral Hydrogen
For more information:
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Francis Wilkin, Observatory Manager |
388-6344 |
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Physics and Astronomy Department Office |
388-6254 |
Physics and Astronomy Home Page
Observatory Webmaster wilkinf@union.edu
Physics and Astronomy Chairman vineyarm@union.edu