WHAT''S UP. . .
. . . in the News
Close Encounter of the Stellar Kind - Our Sun had "near-miss" 70,000 years ago
Artist's conception of Scholz's star and its brown dwarf companion (foreground) during its flyby of the solar system 70,000 years ago. The Sun (left, background) would have appeared as a brilliant star. The pair is now about 20 light years away. Credit: Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester.
New Dawn on dwarf planet Ceres - Spacecraft encounter on March 6
NASA's Dawn mission will be the first to arrive at and study a dwarf planet, Ceres.
Build your own model of the Dawn spacecraft -
from Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota
What you'll need: see link below
SpaceCraft Model (download PDF)
Assembly Instructions (download PDF)
2 bamboo skewers
Scissors, glue, tape
. . . in the Sky - Fall 2018
The Evening Sky -
The Evening Sky -
This is the sky we'll see at sunset in summer -
Saturn, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and the center of our Milky Way Galaxy
Spring Equinox March 20
April 20, 21 - Lyrid Meteor Shower
. . . at Dome Education?
Dome Education brings the night sky to every 4th & 8th Grade in Charleston County in 2012-2013 School Year
For the third consecutive year, Charleston County has committed to bringing the portable planetarium to every 4th and 8th Grade student in the school district. Supervisor of Science Curriculum and Instruction, Rodney Moore, has contracted with Dome Education to bring the dome to every classroom for standards-based instruction. Each year, students performance on the astronomy content of South Carolina's state standardized assessment, PASS, is lower than any other content area.
(Reference SC Dept of Education website to be provided)
Orion rules the sunset sky in Spring, high to the south. Mars gets lost in the sun while Venus brightens moving west to south as it moves toward us in its orbit. Jupiter in Leo stays bright in the east.
. . . with Stargazing?
College of Charleston Open Observatory
Observatory will be closed through 2016 for renovations to the Math & Science Building
Lowcountry Stargazers Club
Contact information to be provided
Getting Started with Stargazing
Where to Go
What to Buy