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TAO Public Stargaze

Cancelled May 18

(Rain, storms predicted)

See you on June 1

Anticipate Jupiter, Saturn,Constellations.

Gates open for the stargaze at

7:30 PM

Welcome back to our visitors of last month, the Oak Ridge Scouts, for an afternoon of ourdoor trail adventures and an evening with the world's greatest nature park!

Where are we? See our map.

Tamke-Allan Observatory invites people interested in astronomy to meet at 1930h on the first and 3rd Saturdays for celestial observing between 7:30 and 11 PM.

We're continuing to have good skies with the Milky Way bright overhead and lots of deep-sky objects to be seen. Roy Morrow used James Nolan's camera to capture a beautiful image of the Dumbell Nebula (a planetary nebula from an exploded star). I took a photo of it with my cell phone and it looked like this:

The scope camera had a better image, but I took this one home. One can see the remaining white dwarf star at the center of the Dumbell.

May 6 was a busy evening, as we entertained the students and parents at Linden School in Oak Ridge, at their new amphitheater. Saturn and Luna were excellent targets. What a nice group of people! We had 6 telescopes and several hundred observers.

In truth, there were 2 Saturns, but the first one had wheels and rolled away. The second had beautiful rings and a prominent moon, and delighted the crowd..

Along with decoding the "Enigma" poem by Galileo, we found this in the sky (telescope work at TAO on April 2 showing M1 through the 12" Meade by UJ and DR):

That's the photo of the Crab Nebula 6000 LY distant, at the start of history according to the young earth guys. That light has been traveling for 6000 years. How about the more distant objects? The light has been traveling a lot longer. The actual image is better since you're seeing a CCD image rendered on a monitor, covered by a filter, captured by a handheld iphone camera, resized, transmitted rendered in your monitor, etc.

We discussed whether Galileo could have seen the Crab Nebula in beautiful skies Italian without light pollution, about the year 1535. He saw and wrote extensively about Saturn. The answer is perhaps yes.

We looked at some astrophotos, including those by local people (e.g., as in the photo above, taken just before the hard drive filled up). Skies provided great visibility, but seeing near the horizon was bad because of the turbulence.

On March 6, we discussed the following ideas:
*recognition of acoustic structures in the earth's atmosphere seen during the launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Feb. 11, and recognition of the same structures in the solar chronosphere on Feb. 8;
*our new Mobile Solar Observatory and how Chris and David hope to finish it soon and present it at the SARA meeting in June;
*mathematical prediction of a new ionospheric transmission band, confirmation by NASA satellite measurements, and use of this band to detect signals from Jupiter;
*design of a new type of radio receiver for astronomers, and how we are working on its design.

What did you miss at the NOV 6 Stargaze? Skies were great, the classroom was warm, we got the grill food cooked on the backup grill after the propane regulator failed, and the high school guys gave a great presentation about their research project at ORNL. David's students did the cooking, setup scopes and provided live music, We rewrapped the cosmic ray detector scintillators, and there were no axe fights, unlike last the Oct. 16 stargaze when 2 guys had just battled it out with Axe (deodorant). Phew - nobody won. Here are our Nov. 6 speakers:

Bring telescopes, red flashlights, astronomy gadgets and cookies. The evening will offer opportunities for viewing and Luna (with craters), and Jupiter with 3-4 nearby moons.

Coming programs:

Nov. 20 TAO: Public Stargaze, scouts visit. Program:"Astronomy Overview from the Basics to the Stars" and "Merit Badges"

Dec. 1 Oak Ridge Civic Center: ORION meeting. Program: "Longfellow's Astronomy"

Dec. 4 TAO: Public Stargaze. Program: "Mobile Solar Observatory is Ready" and "Buying a Telescope"

Dec. 18 TAO: Public Stargaze. Program: "Multispectral Optical Astronomy"

The observatory sponsors public Stargazes on the first and third Saturday evenings of each month. Amateur astronomers bring telescopes and binoculars and offer views of astronomical objects, while visitors are invited to bring their telescopes, questions and cookies to share with the astronomers.

Astronomy Canmp

Evenigs of Discovery and Adventure

July 2010

The Astronomy Camp/"Evennigs of Adventure and Discovery" was a lot of fun! We had 3 nights of Astronomy lectures and stargazing.

Thanks to all the local people, especially those from teh Kingston Library, for making it happen!

Thanks to ORION for a party and for setting up telescopes for thiese events.

Thanks to ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers/East TN Chapter) for buynig the hot dogs.

Did you visit us on Aug. 1, 2009?

SRSS Bad Light Shootout

N4TAO Special Event Station

"TAO Lighthouse, Collecting Starlight under Dark Skies"

Roane County citizens enjoyed the first SRSS Bad Light Shootout on August 1, when Tamke-Allan Observatory operated N4TAO as a Special Event Amateur Radio Station. The Bad Light Shootout was sponsored by Save Roane Starry Skies, and participants will shot at targets picturing inefficient and poorly-designed light fixtures using water balloons. Help stamp out "bad" lights, old-fashioned street lights that shine out and up, wasting energy and money, causing dangerous glare, and blotting out the night sky.

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Here's a gazing ball image from 5/19. Note the heavy light pollution along the horizon and illumination of the classroom by the light trespass (click for full size image). This is a 11 PM photo and the light pollution prevents viewing around the horizon.

Tamke-Allan Observatory of Rockwood is a treasure of Roane County. It hosts free Public Stargazes on the first and third Saturday evenings of each month. These stargazes have opened the night skies, free of charge to everyone, for the past 10 years. Amateur astronomers bring telescopes and binoculars and offer views of astronomical objects, while visitors are invited to bring their questions and cameras and meet the astronomers. Kids are especially welcome.

Too much light causes glare – a hazard on our highways. Directing light downward where it is needed conserves energy and gives us a safer, more secure community. It also keeps our observatory open for education and research. When was the last time that you could see our beautiful milky way? We are losing our Roane County Heritage in the glare of unshielded lights.

Star Party Etiquette

* Bring a red flashlight and avoid using any white light after dark.
* Get to know the lighting controls for your vehicle and ensure as little white light as possible shines from your vehicle. If you cannot control the lights, choose to park as far away from the telescopes as practical.
* Carefully enter the observing location. Speeding into a parking area full of telescopes and observers is a recipe for an accident.

Astronomers from the Oak Ridge Isochronous Observation Network (ORION) and the Smokey Mountain Astronomical Society (SMAS) groups participate in most TAO events. TAO serves as the center for astronomy classes, optical astronomy and radio astronomy observing as well as and public stargazes on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

TAO Academic Associates are Colleges and Universities that have both faculty and students that share research and scientific goals. The emphasis is not just scientific -- this is a humanistic endeavor that encourages both cultural exchange and critical thinking.

Our Associate Groups: