On the evening of Jan. 24th Io and Ganymede will be transiting Jupiter. Io will begin crossing Jupiter's disk at about 6:51 PM EST with Ganymede following at...
Beginning Jan, 26th, 2011, I'll be writing a weekly astronomy column called "Burnsville Stars" for the Yancey Common Times Journal! Sarah Overstreet will...
Bob the camera is a Keyence Vision system cv-501/551 ccd camera . It has a hand controler so you can change settings such as (shutter speed,black/white ...
The weather is looking good, at least better than it's been for a long time. So this is it! I'll see you all on the Square Saturday night, Jan 29th! By all...
Bob, I will be coming up for the stargaze this evening in Burnsville. Sunset is just before 6pm. I would like to set up in the light if possible. What time...
Hey Nancy, Come as early as you like, I'll be there by 4 or 5. I wasn't able to get much done about the parking, but I really don't think it will be a...
Wow! What a night we had! Our event far exceeded anyone's expectations! We had wonderful sky, an excellent variety of telescopes, and a happy, enthusiastic...
My granddaughter and I were there last night, and it was wonderful!! Many thanks to all who brought telescopes and shared their knowledge with us. And many...
Stars on the Square is definitely going to be a quarterly event! We will have one each season. So now we need a schedule for the rest of the year. We need...
Please schedule the events as early as possible. I would like to participate, but need enough notice to fit it into my work schedule. It's great to have this...
I created this FB page a year or so ago for those interested in making and/or modifying telescopes. Feel free to join. The only scopes I own, I've made...
The Spring Stars on the Square will be on Saturday night, April 9th, 2011! We'll be announcing the dates for the Summer and Fall events very soon. From now on...
I love the clear winter skies! Orion is still available, and M42, M101, and Bodes nebula are available at a reasonable hour!!! I posted up a new pic... Next...
This website: http://lackawannaastronomicalsociety.org/?p=873 now has updated their predicted meridian transit times through the end of February! Bob...
I've seen it! At least I'm 90% sure that I saw it. 4:15 - 4:45AM Feb 19th. Saturn was just at the local meridian with very good seeing but with full...
That's great! I am hoping it will be visible during the next new moon, March 4-5, and that the skies are clear! If you couldn't see it with at 13", I doubt...
Tuesday night, March 1st, Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmango is giving a lecture entitled "Astronomy, God, and the Search for Elegance" at ASU in...
We now have a web page for Stars on the Square. This is where everyone can get the latest info about our events: http://thunderstruckobservatory.com/stars/ ...
Awesome :D Though I just found out my parents are going to be in Vermont on April 9th. I plan to have my license before then, but if I don't then I might need...
Hi Bob, I wanted to thank you fo having us over a couple of weeks ago. I was really impressed with your observatory! I have to say viewing the Sombrero nebula...
Hey Jason, That was real fun having you guys over, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yes, I would very much like to see the controller and your entire setup,...
Tonight at a few seconds after 8:31PM EDT there will be an Iridium Flare visible from the Burnsville area. An Iridium flare happens when sunlight reflects off...
Jason suggested I try the celestial mapping program "Stellarium". I downloaded it today and have tried it out a little. Jason has added a link to Stellarium...
Saturday night's full moon occurs at the same time as lunar perigee (the closest point in the Moon's elliptical orbit). This means that this full moon will...
I've been using stellarium for a while. I really like how simple it is to use, and it makes it easy to find things. I especially like that it has a night mode...
