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The above photo was taken in our classroom during a Public Stargaze with a guest lecturer, Les Johnson, of NASA/MSFC. |
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Enjoy TAO in another Language (we have a big planet): ORION is a local science and engineering oriented group that supports astronomy public events, field trips and lectures on current related topics. Group activities are centered in Oak Ridge and at TAO. Orion members support the Tamke Allan Observatory family nights on the first and second Saturday of each month. Monthly meetings are held at the Roane State Community College, Golf Building, Oak Ridge Campus, on third Wednesday evenings at 1900 h (7:00 PM). Astronomers from the Oak Ridge Isochronous Observation Network (ORION) and Knoxville Observers participate in TAO Stargaze 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. To subscribe to ORION news items, send an email to orionastronomy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
TAO Pleiades Cluster Status
Radio Astronomy is one focus of our TAO activities. Here is an image of a poster showing how we are using the Itty Bitty Telescope (IBT) as part of the SARA-NRAO Radio Navigator's Group (click for full size, and we are happy to share the poster).
TAO astronomy students visited UT and built a scintillation detector containing several plastic scintillators and 4 photomultipliers. The complete cosmic ray detection system is now in place and TAO is part of the TEnnessee Cosmic ray Observatory Project (TECOP).
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TAO Public Stargaze: October 6, 7:30 PM at the observatory (program at 8:00 PM) 'Stars and Progress' by David Fields
ORION meets on RSCC-Oak Ridge Campus, Golf Bldg. auditorium, Wed., Nov. 21, 7 pm Speaker: Noah Frere UT Physics "Spectroscopic Astronomy"
September Skies Mars Mars is still a brilliant orange-red
“star” visible in the south-east as darkness falls. It is
appearing to move backwards in the sky at the moment into Sagittarius,
known as retrograde motion, because the Earth is overtaking it on
the inside as we both orbit the Sun. This also means that Mars is
receding from us again following closest approach in late July, and
so Mars is gradually fading. Its magnitude drops from -2.1 a the start
of September to -1.3 by the end of the month. A dust storm that hampered
views of Mars when it was closest has abated and so some more prominent
features may be seen again through a telescope. Read our guide on
how to locate Mars and what you can see. Jupiter Jupiter becomes visible as soon as the
sky gets dark, shining at magnitude -1.8. It can be found in the south
western sky, in Libra. You will need to catch the planet as early
in the night as possible from mid-northern latitudes before it sinks
too low in the sky and sets. A small telescope will be enough to view
the belts and bands in the planet’s cloud tops, while even binoculars
will reveal the four largest satellites, the Galilean moons. Here
is how to observe Jupiter’s moons. Read more about Jupiter. Saturn Saturn is in Sagittarius and can be found due south
at the start of the month as darkness falls. It resembles a bright
star, shining at magnitude 0.5, but even a small telescope will reveal
its disk and splendid ring system which is open wide at the moment.
Read more about Saturn. Uranus Uranus will be at Opposition next month, and is well-placed for observers in September in the constellation of Pisces, rising late in the evening. In theory, Uranus may be glimpsed with the naked eye in perfectly clear, dark skies, since its magnitude will be 5.8, but in practice most of us will need binoculars to bring it into view. A telescope will reveal its tiny greenish disk. Here’s where you can find Uranus in the night sky. Read more about Uranus.
The outermost planet in the Solar System,
Neptune, reaches Opposition on September 7th, when it is on the opposite
side of the sky to the Sun. It lies in the constellation Aquarius,
and rises in the early part of the night. It can be glimpsed with
binoculars, but you will need to know exactly where to look as it
shines at a faint +7.9. A small telescope will show it more clearly
but do not expect to see more than a minute disk. Here’s where
you can find Neptune in the night sky. Read more about Neptune. The Moon The Moon always makes a great target for a small telescope, which come into view as its phases change. We’ve a guide to where to find 50 of the best lunar features, plus a checklist to download so you can tick them off as you spot them! Don’t have a telescope? Here’s our guide to choosing one. Phases of the Moon
Here's a photo of our STEM teacher's group, learning "From Earth to the Stars with STEM" on Dec. 8: .
Save Roane Starry Skies is in its tenth year! Founded Nov. 4, 2007
or if you have a comment or questions Enter it here, or email your query directly to InfoStarrySkies@yahoo.com Dark skies on a night in December revealed Aurora from TAO (note our weather station). Photo by Astronomy class student Robert Quinn.
The following sunset photo was taken on Astronomy Day, May 7, 2006.
Sometimes our POD actually glows. The source of the light is something that visitors are encouraged to discover.
Solar Photos Here are photos from Heather Fries showing the sunset, and some of our visitors.
In doing radio astronomy, TAO supports the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA). SARA materials and ideas turned up at the TAOSON exhibits at the 2010 Rockwood Fall Festival in Rockwood, TN:
IDEAS Perspectives on good astronomy occasionally appear on the Bad Astronomy Blog, at http://www.badastronomy.com/intro.html |
Find the Observatory TAO Radio Astronomy Feb. 3, 2018: Optical and Radio Astronomy -- What is Light? Aug. 19: Radio Astronomy 9: "Radio Astronomy: Signal bounmces from the Moon, and the Aug. 21 Eclipse" Aug. 5: Radio Astronomy 8: "The Aug. 21 Eclipse and Radio Astronomy" July 15: Radio Astronomy 7. "Astronomy when the Clouds Appear" June 17: Radio Astronomy 4. "More on Radio Astronomy and EM Spectra" Radio Astronomy 5. "How did our VLF Radios become SDR Radios?" Radio Astronomy 6. "Radio Transmitter
for GPS and Data Relay"
Radio Astronomy 3. "Data Relay from Remote Sensing Instrumentation"
Maryville Scouts visited us on March 5, 2016 Scoutmaster Chris brought Troop 700 from Maryville and they filled the classroom. What a group -- with questions and a lot of interest in learning how to find Jupiter (and moons) with our 8" refractor. They were already a part of the TAO action since it was one of their Eagle Scouts who built our camping area in our woods. They brought us coffee and 3 types of strudle (!) and we shared our telescopes (Thanks Jan, DR, and George), Jim Long's Spagetti, 2 kinds of bread, cookies, chips, etc. It was a beautiful evening, after those clouds cleared.
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