| ||||
![]() |
||||
The above photo was taken in our classroom during a Public Stargaze with a guest lecturer, Les Johnson, of NASA/MSFC. |
||||
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). |
ORION meets, RSCC-Oak Ridge Campus, Golf Bldg. on Wed., May 16 at 7 pm
TAO Program for May 5 7:30 PM at the observatory will be Recent Space Developments and May Skies May skies provide stargazers with ample opportunities to observe far-off galaxies. With the Virgo Galaxy Cluster and bright galaxies in the Big Dipper and Coma Berenices well-positioned in the sky, April evenings are truly a gift for galaxy hounds. Check out a few of our favorite galaxies: M101, M51, and M106 near the Big Dipper asterism; M86, M87, M84 and M104 in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster; and don't miss NGC 4565, M64, M99, and M100 in the constellation Coma Berenices. Jupiter Shines Brightly During New
Moon Mercury is at Greatest Western Elongation
Monitor ORIONastronomy on Twitter
Radio Astronomy Series: 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"
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 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.
|