Astronomy
The dark night skies at Sly Park allow us to have fantastic
views of planets, stars, and the Moon. Galaxies, nebula, and
other deep space objects are also visible. Pictured here is
the constellation Ursa Major, better known as the "Big
Dipper."
Observatory
The Sly Park observatory houses ten telescopes: An 11"
Celestron, a 17 1/2 " newtonian, two 8" newtonians
and six 6" reflectors. During the daytime, the sunspots
and solar prominences can be seen with our hydrogen alpha
filter.
Planetarium
The Starlab planetarium projects the night sky indoors where
students learn about constellations, legends from many different
cultures, and concepts that help them understand astronomy.
June 2008
The start of summer brings the latest sunsets and shortest
nights of the year, so although more people spend more time
outdoors, they may not get to see more of the night sky. Even
so, there's lots to look at this month, with Mars and Saturn
congregating around Leo and Jupiter highlighting the early
morning. The dense inner regions of the Milky Way start wheeling
into view, too. So it's a good time to turn off the porch
light and take in the view of the heavens.
7-9 The Moon forms beautiful arrays with Mars, Saturn, and
Regulus. Bright orange Mars is just to the right of the Moon
on the 7th. Regulus and Saturn are quite close to the Moon
on the 8th. And on the 9th, they form a long line, with the
Moon at left, Saturn and Regulus in the middle, and Mars on
the right.
16-17 The Moon swings past Antares, the brightest star of
Scorpius. Antares stands just to the left or upper left of
the Moon on the 16th, and farther to its upper right on the
17th.
20-21 Jupiter teams up with the waning gibbous Moon in the
morning sky. They climb into view by around 11 p.m. (on the
19th and 20th), and are low in the southwest at sunrise. 20
Summer solstice occurs at 6:59 p.m. CDT. This is the longest
day of the year in the northern hemisphere and marks the SunŐs
northernmost point in the sky.
24 Saturn, Regulus, and Mars (from left to right) form a
tight, equally spaced line in the west. Mars will move closer
to Regulus over the next few evenings.
30 Mars will pass within about one degree of Regulus, the
brightest star of Leo. Mars, which is the brighter of the
two, is to the right. Saturn is just above them. .
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