Wartburg College Observatory

Changing Northern Light last night on campus! You might see green lights - the most common color - above the horizon, resulting from solar winds colliding with oxygen. As oxygen becomes thinner at higher locations, solar winds collide with nitrogen in the air more, emitting blue/purple lights. When red and blue/purple blend, you may also see pink/yellow lights. The most rare aurora color is red at the higher end of the aurora. This only happens when the solar activity is strong enough to trigger powerful emissions from the extremely thin oxygen at very high altitudes. We may see some northern light again tonight (https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/aurora-dashboard-experimental). Cameras are more sensitive to these colors than our eyes. Look north tonight, and what color will you see?

Pictures of the total solar eclipse are here! Thanks to the solar maxima we are reaching this year, we can clearly see solar prominence in pinkish-bright light during the total eclipse with our naked eyes! 🤩 20-hour drive, anxiously checking the weather for 7 days, multiple travel backup plans, changing locations in the last 30 minutes due to clouds... All worth it!

T-minus three days until the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse on Monday! Free solar eclipse glasses can be picked up in the Science Center. You can also use a pinhole projector. DO NOT look at the Sun with your bare eyes or any sunglasses, even during a partial eclipse of 90%. As we get closer to Monday (i.e., 24 hours in advance), weather predictions will be much more solid and agree with each other better. Here are a few useful links to weather forecasts and solar eclipses. You can also save the image below with links to your device.
Solar Eclipse path and time: https://eclipse-explorer.smce.nasa.gov/
More info (path, safety, images/videos, resources, totality app) on Solar Eclipse: https://eclipse.aas.org/
National cloud coverage: https://www.windy.com/-Clouds-clouds?clouds,42.777,-92.408,5
Waverly cloud coverage: https://www.cleardarksky.com/c/WrtBrgCoObIAkey.html?1
National/Waverly weather with direct comparisons using different weather models
https://weather.us/ (search for the location you desire, then select any model under "ENSEMBLES" on the left, then you can see a line chart in the center. On top of the chart, you can choose the "Sun/Cloud" tab to check the cloud coverage)

One of astronomy's legendary tools is going dark. After two support cables were lost in the past several months, the NSF has decided that work to stabilise or repair the 305-m Arecibo telescope would present too much risk to the safety of the workers, and the observatory will be decommissioned.

NSF begins planning for decommissioning of Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter telescope due to safety concerns NSF's mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.

Happy Birthday, Frank Drake!!

Dr. Frank Drake, one of the NRAO’s first astronomers, poses with the NRAO’s first radio telescope, the 85-foot Howard E. Tatel in Green Bank, West Virginia. Drake set up our first millimeter-wave telescope and pioneered the use of radio telescopes in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

His Project Ozma used the 85-foot Tatel telescope to observe the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani for signs of civilization. None were ever found. Drake is well known for his thought experiment we now call the Drake Equation. It multiplies factors for finding life in our Galaxy based on physical and political variables. The Order of the Dolphin, a group of philosophically-minded scientists that included Nobel Laureate Melvin Calvin and Carl Sagan, convened in Green Bank in 1961 to discuss this equation.

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

Day in History - February 24, 1968, discovery of first pulsar announced. Jocelyn Bell Burnell's work with the radio telescope was routine, until August of 1967. Later in December of 1967, Bell Burnell was analyzing data from a different part of the sky and found another regularly pulsing radio source with a slightly shorter period of 1-1/5 seconds. And then, over the Christmas holiday, she discovered two more such pulsing sources. The announcement in the journal Nature was sensational, and soon afterwards the objects were given the name pulsars. Credits: Encyclopedia.com

Never-before-seen images of Sun released from world's largest solar telescope | University of Hawaiʻi System News The new Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui detects cell-like structures the size of Texas roiling on the Sun's surface

Dr. Figura's Astrobiology class is all *fired up* about lab today!

Happy 100th birthday, Margaret Burbidge! Here's to one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century & winner of the 1977 Jansky Lectureship. Her awards & posts are too numerous to list here, read on for more of her tremendous scientific career https://bit.ly/31B8ty0

Astronomers map vast void in our cosmic neighborhood An astronomer from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) and an international team published a new study that reveals more of the vast cosmic structure surrounding our Milky Way galaxy.

Hey, so I'll be speaking at the Waverly Public Library at 18:30 tonight (6:30 PM) on the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon! You're sure to learn *something* new... and if not, perhaps you'll teach *me* something new!

Don't forget to join us this evening at 6:30 PM for "Fifty Years from Walking on the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11"!

Notice to Proceed Issued for TMT on Maunakea The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) has issued a notice to proceed (NTP) to the University of Hawaii for the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea. The NTP is a formal communication indicating that all pre-construction conditions and mitigation measures specifically required as a...

How NASA gave birth to modern computing—and gets no credit for it The space agency and MIT’s bet on the integrated circuit kicked off the digital age.

The deployment of the SpaceX StarLink proto-constellation of satellites has brought the issue of artificial satellite sky pollution to the forefront of astronomers' concerns.

AAS Issues Position Statement on Satellite Constellations | American Astronomical Society On May 23rd entrepreneur Elon Musk's company SpaceX launched 60 Starlink communication satellites aboard a single rocket. Within days skywatchers worldwide spotted them flying in formation as they orbited Earth and reflected sunlight from their shiny metal surfaces.

Statement on Starlink and 'Constellations' of Communication Satellites - National Radio Astronomy Observatory Radio astronomy facilities are working with the communications industry to preserve clear views of the radio universe.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/comet-provides-new-clues-to-origins-of-earth-s-oceans

Comet Provides New Clues to Origins of Earth’s Oceans A new study reveals that the water in many comets may share a common origin with Earth’s oceans, reinforcing the idea that comets played a key role in bringing water to our planet billions of years ago.

The first glimpse of the event horizon of a black hole, the supermassive black hole of M87 as imaged by the EHT. Released in the press release today, 2019/04/10.

Scientists of the Event Horizon Telescope have obtained the first image of a black hole, using observations of the center of the galaxy M87. The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. This long-sought image provides the strongest evidence to date for the existence of supermassive black holes and opens a new window onto the study of black holes, their event horizons, and gravity.

100-inch dome DC telescope motion control solenoid switching cluster; the ultimate "Frankenstein Panel".(Photo courtesy of Michael Rudy)

Unusual Supernova Opens a Rare Window on the Collapse of a Star An unusual supernova studied by multiple telescopes, including the SOAR telescope and other telescopes at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and NSF’s Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), is thought to herald the birth of a new black hole or ...

I was going back through some pictures, and came across a series I made on 2018/05/18 at the May Open House at the Observatory. Clouds were rough (as you can see), but we still had quite a few students come out. The skies eventually cleared a bit, so we got to take a look at a few things! Let's hope June is better!

Nightfall A cloudy night at the Wartburg Observatory Open House gave us some lovely clouds to see.

Well, this is kinda cool.

Pluto May Not Be a Planet, But It Could Be Made Out of Millions of Comets Pluto may not be categorised as a planet any more, but it still holds plenty of fascination. For instance, how did the dwarf planet form, and why is it so different from the planets? By examining its chemical composition, researchers have come up wit

Some exciting news about everyone's favourite dwarf planet!

Pluto May Not Be a Planet, But It Could Be Made Out of Millions of Comets Pluto may not be categorised as a planet any more, but it still holds plenty of fascination. For instance, how did the dwarf planet form, and why is it so different from the planets? By examining its chemical composition, researchers have come up wit

Falcon Heavy Animation When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 m...

Elon Musk's SpaceX will attempt their first launch of the Falcon Heavy today at approximately 11:30 AM CST. This will be the most powerful rocket currently operating in the world, with an attempted triple landing of the launch vehicle.

Tune in.

Falcon Heavy Animation When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 m...

Scientists Spot First Alien Space Rock In Our Solar System Astronomers are eager to learn more about the visitor as it zooms through, like how far-off planets form: "You'd love to see if it looks like stuff in our solar system."

The Board of Land & Natural Resources has decided to approve the Conservation District Use Permit to build TMT on Maunakea. It has been a long journey to get here and we remain committed to advancing science while benefiting the greater Hawaii community. TMT is committed to respecting the long history and cultural significance of Maunakea to the Hawaiian people, and we are grateful that this process has allowed everyone the opportunity to be heard. We thank all of our supporters and friends who have stood with us during these last 10 years.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/mk/files/2017/09/882-BLNR-FOFCOLDO.pdf

Saturn's Strangest Sights, As Captured By A Doomed Spacecraft NASA's Cassini spacecraft will crash into Saturn on Friday, but we'll always have the shots it took of icy volcanoes, hexagonal storms, ethane lakes and ripples in Saturn's rings.

It's been an incredible exploration of the Saturnian system. as Cassini's final hours count down, rest assured that we will continue to learn from Cassini's data for years to come.

What to expect during Cassini's final hours A timeline of what to expect from the great mission during its final hours.