FREE Total Lunar Eclipse Viewing Party on Sunday, May 15, 2022 from 8-11pm
Join us to watch the Moon enter Earth’s shadow with our 20" PlaneWave telescopes.
The party continues at Fiske Planetarium --- See the eclipse through binoculars or watch the new fulldome film Forward! To the Moon at 8pm, 9pm, or 10pm ($5 for adults, $3.50 for students/children/seniors/veterans/military).
Details of the eclipse:
Duration: 4 hours, 51 minutes, 7 seconds
Duration of totality: 1 hour, 24 minutes, 52 seconds
Moonrise: May 15 at 7:59:42 pm
Partial begins: May 15 at 8:27:52 pm
Full begins: May 15 at 9:29:03 pm
Maximum: May 15 at 10:11:28 pm
Full ends: May 15 at 10:53:55 pm
Partial ends: May 15 at 11:55:07 pm
Want more info on all the eclipses occuring in 2022? Check out this Sky & Telescope magazine article, Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2022.
Also, preview the eclipse with this video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
Note: This event may be canceled due to inclement weather.
We observed the Transit of Mercury on November 11, 2019 from 8-11am.
Despite the clouds and periodic snow, we watched Mercury cross (transit) in front of the Sun. Sommers-Bausch Observatory and Fiske Planetarium hosted live events.
Mercury appeared as a tiny dot moving across the brilliant Sun. Why was this a big deal? This astronomical rarity will only occur 14 times this century. The next transit observable in North America won’t happen until 2049. The only other planet we can see cross in front of the Sun is Venus. The last transit of Venus occurred in 2012 and the next one won’t happen until 2117.
The only safe way to view this astronomical event is through a special solar telescope or projected via a Heliostat or Sunspotter. REMEMBER! Looking at the Sun directly or through a telescope without proper protection can lead to serious and permanent vision damage.
The event was FREE! The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory hosted a livestream from space and the National Solar Observatory hosted a livestream from CTIO in Chile too.