KAON Public Observing Sessions
At Queen's Observatory
The Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy (PEPA) in collaboration with
the RASC Kingston Centre, are holding Monthly Open Houses for the public at the
Queen's Observatory at Ellis Hall
on University Avenue.
These typically consist of telescopes on the Observing deck where you can take a look at some
of the spectacular nighttime objects, tours of the 16" McGirr Family telescope, and a short
10-15 minute talk on something Astronomical.
They take place on the second Saturday of the month, at varying times due
to the changing sunset times (winter, summer hours) since 2003.
2009 Dates and Times of Public Observing Sessions
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Saturday 2009 January 10 7:30-9:30pm EST (Sunset 16:47 EST)
IYA Kickoff speaker Dr. Judith Irwin: Galileo |
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Saturday 2009 February 14 7:30-9:30pm EST (Sunset 17:34 EST)
Susan Gagnon: Telescopes
Daylight Savings Start Sunday March 08, 2009
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Saturday 2009 March 14 7:30-9:30pm EDT (Sunset 19:11 EDT)
Terry Bridges: 100 hours of Astronomy |
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Saturday 2009 April 4th time 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 19:37 EDT)
IYA 100 Hours of Astronomy Events |
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Saturday 2009 April 11 time 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 19:46 EDT)
Fred Barrett: Observing the Moon |
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Saturday 2009 May 09 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 20:20 EDT) |
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Saturday 2009 June 13 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 20:51 EDT) |
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Saturday 2009 July 11 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 20:50 EDT)
Susan Gagnon: Astronomical websites |
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Saturday 2009 August 08 9:00-10:30pm EDT (Sunset 20:21 EDT)
Emily Sheridan: "The Solar System" |
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*SPECIAL DATE* Saturday September 19th 6:30-11:00pm EDT Lake Ontario Park King
Street West of Portsmouth Avenue in Kingston Ontario. (Sunset 19:09 EDT) A request to all RASC-KC members to
come out with their telescopes for display, solar observing (if you have a filter),
and stellar observing of Jupiter that evening. Rain or cloud or shine their will be
a short talk in the pavilion. (Bring your own chairs for the talk).
Talks starting at 7:45pm in the Pavillion rain or shine.
If clear, solar observing starts at 6:30pm and stellar observing to
start around 8:30pm.
Special targets will be Jupiter and its moons along with Sagittarius and possibly Neptune |
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Saturday 2009 October 10 time 7:30-9:30pm EDT (Sunset 18:30 EDT)
Brian Hunter: The Galilean Moons
Standard time starts Sunday November 01, 2009 |
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Saturday 2009 November 14 7:30-9:30pm EST (Sunset 16:40 EST)
Stephane Courteau |
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Saturday 2009 December 12 7:30-9:30pm EST (Sunset 16:27 EST) |
About the Observatory
The observatory is located atop Ellis Hall on University Avenue, across from
Grant Hall on the Queen's Campus. Parking is available in the underground
parking lot (pay parking) across from KGH or at the Mac-Corry Parking Lot (free parking)
off Union Street. The aim of each
session is to popularize and bring astronomy closer to the public, viewing the
sky through real telescopes, familiarizing constellations and opening discussion
forums. If the weather is clear, visitors will be able to look through a variety
of astronomical telescopes to see celestial objects visible at the time of their
visit (depending on their visibility, it can be the Moon, planets, brighter
galaxies, star clusters, etc.) In the unfortunate event of bad weather tour of
the observatory facilities, films of astronomical nature and discussions will be
offered. The admission is free and everybody is welcome!
Directions: From Highway 401 take the Sir John A MacDonald offramp and head south.
You will cross Counter Street, Princess Street, Bath Road, and Johnson Street.
Take the next left turn onto Union Street. Continue for 1 km east to the
first traffic lights at Albert Street. Go past Albert and turn right into
MacCorry Parking Lot. You can see the observatory dome from there. Proceed on
foot to the front of Ellis Hall and take the stairs to the 4th floor.
There is an elevator at the back of the entrance hall that can take you up to the
third floor.
Parking is available on the new Mac-Corry Lot with a longer walk along Union
to University then down University to Ellis Hall, as well as behind Grant Hall
and beside Jackson Hall.
Google Map of the Campus Area
Some Observing Tools
www.heavens-above.com
is a great web site for predictions of satellite passes. They also give you
ISS
(International Space Station) pass predictions for the next 10days,
Iridium Flares
for the next 7 days, and a list of the
Brightest
Satellites for that night (all from a Kingston Ontario Canada location).
Coordinates for Queen's Observatory at Ellis Hall Public Observing Site:
44.2262 North Latitude 76.4963 West Longtitude