Stargazers to View Smoke Ring Nebula
Westmont’s powerful Keck telescope will feature glimpses of the Moon, Saturn and the Ring Nebula during a free, public viewing Friday, Aug. 16, beginning at about 8 p.m. at the Westmont Observatory. The observatory opens its doors to the public every third Friday of the month in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, whose members bring their own telescopes to Westmont for the public to gaze through. The viewing lasts for several hours. In case of inclement weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 and check the Westmont website to see if the viewing has been canceled.
The Moon, a bit more than 10 days old in its current cycle, will lie fairly low in the sky, skimming across the top of Sagittarius. “The wonderful crater Copernicus will be out of the shadows this evening and, if the seeing is good, the public should be able to see some of the mountainous details in the center of this large crater,” says Thomas Whittemore, Westmont physics instructor.
Stargazers may also be able to get a final peek at Saturn during the early part of the evening’s viewing. “Saturn will be a challenge in Westmont’s large reflector since the gas giant is so low in the sky, 34 degrees above the horizon at sunset,” Whittemore says. “We will do our best to get a glimpse of this beautiful, ringed planet before it gets too low in the sky.”
M57, which resembles a smoke ring in Lyra, will be nearly overhead at about 9 p.m. “This nebula is actually the remnants of a dying star’s atmosphere as it expands into space,” he says. “To the viewer, this expanding gas cloud will look like a fuzzy doughnut. If the sky is reasonably transparent, the cloud will reveal its blues and greens and maybe even red.”
Westmont students and faculty use the Keck Telescope, a 24-inch reflector, to conduct astronomical research. The telescope is housed in the observatory between Russell Carr Field and the track and field/soccer complex. Free parking is available near the baseball field.