Welcome to the RIT Observatory! Most of the time, students and faculty at RIT use our telescopes to perform experiments and study celestial objects. But tonight, we are giving everyone a chance to look through our telescopes at three big, bright objects:
I'd like to thank our wonderful volunteers (and my apologies if I've accidentally forgotten you -- let me know!)
Brittany Vanderhoof Sadie Coffin
Edwin Alexani Sophia Sosa Fiscella
John Nijim Askold Vilkha
Shaelyn Shadwell Jaime Lertprasertpong
Bailey Filer Bailey's friend
Mimi Harrison Ethan Adkins
Myrra Small Jack Conners
Stacey Davis Michael Lam
Roger Easton
Roughly 70 visitors came to the Observatory, hoping to see the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. A thin layer of clouds covered portions of the sky, but we didn't let it stop us! Our astronomers -- faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates -- did a great job: they kept our telescopes focused on the targets, talked to people about astronomy, and answered lots and lots of questions.
These pictures taken by Brittany Vanderhoof. Click on each photo to enlarge.
Sadie and Shaelyn work the welcome table, while Roger points his Questar at Jupiter in the background.
The Questar was the smallest telescope through which our visitors looked at Jupiter -- but it produced excellent images.
Michael Lam taught people how to recognize the Summer Triangle.
Any visitor who could answer the questions on our flyer won super prizes -- stickers and stamps!
Bailey and Edwin were in charge of the two telescopes in front of the garage.
Jaime won the prize for Epic Astronomer of the Night.
Stacey and Mr. Sheet Metal spent the evening on the concrete pad in the back, showing people the Moon and Albireo (of course!).
Thanks very much to all of our great volunteers! (Roger missed the picture, but he did manage to come in time for post-event snacks).
Good resources for astronomy in Rochester:
And other excellent resources:
Last modified 11/4/2022 by MWR.