Three physics students presented at today’s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC): Cody Cripe gave a talk entitled Acoustic Transducer Sensitivity near Cryogenic Temperatures, based on the work he’s been doing in Prof. Levine’s astroparticle-physics lab on transducer design and construction; and Phillip Derrickson and Emilee Edmonds presented a poster entitled Exoplanet Light Curves and Confirmations to… Read more »
Meet the Stars
Early-November Meet the Stars Event
Tonight turned out to be a great evening to observe, with cool, but comfortable, temperatures, reasonably clear skies, and a fantastic team of volunteers to escort visitors up to the observatory and operate the telescope. Early arrivals got to see Venus, followed by Saturn, with Jupiter and Uranus planned for after that. My kids and I… Read more »
Campus Observing Event Thursday, November 4th
The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 4th, for viewing of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus through the 16” telescope. Come to the elevators on the 1st floor of Northside Hall and wait to be escorted to the rooftop observatory. Please be sure to check back here before traveling… Read more »
Campus Observing Event Wednesday, 9/29
The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 8:30-10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29, for viewing of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune through the 16” telescope. Come to the elevators on the 1st floor of Northside Hall and wait to be escorted to the rooftop observatory. (Sponsored by the IUSB Dept. of Physics and Astronomy… Read more »
IUSB to Host Public Viewing of Mercury Transit: Monday, November 11, 2019
Day-Of-Update: Unfortunately, as we hit 7:30 a.m., it’s looking like the forecasts have been spot-on, and snow is flying with, essentially, 100% cloud cover. Accordingly, we won’t be setting up for constant viewing. However, we’ll be watching out our office windows, and if there’s a break in the clouds, we’ll do our best to take… Read more »
Planets, planets, planets!
Four bright planets — Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars — spread across the ecliptic from West to Southeast were the stars of the show at tonight’s “Meet the Stars” public observing event. We also viewed Pluto (maybe) and Neptune, and wrapped up the evening with the Ring Nebula (M57). Venus and Jupiter were bright enough to… Read more »
Bird’s Eye View of IU South Bend Observatory
James Brosher, of IU Communications down in Bloomington, visited our campus this past weekend and used a drone to capture some bird’s eye views of our observatory. Thanks, James!
Great Viewing for 7/24/2018 MTS!
I wasn’t able to stay for long (most people are still there as I write this!), but we had a good turnout and perfect conditions tonight. The moon, Jupiter and Saturn were early targets. And, as a nice surprise, IUSB Physics alum Nathan Smith (’11) came with his six year old son. Nathan is now… Read more »
Incoming Students Visit Observatory
Prof. Jerry Hinnfeld gave tours to groups of incoming students at today’s New Student Orientation. Looks like we’ve got a great crop overall and some very promising incoming physics majors!
Next Meet the Stars: Tuesday, July 24th
Our next public observing night will be Tuesday, July 24th, from 9:00-10:30 p.m., weather permitting. Check the MTS page for the definitive word on whether we’re going ahead with it.