Observatory to Zoom in on Comet Lovejoy
The Comet Lovejoy will tantalize stargazers at this month鈥檚 free public viewing of the stars with 黑料百科鈥檚 powerful Keck Telescope on Friday, Jan. 16, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and lasting several hours at the 黑料百科 Observatory. In case of inclement or overcast weather, please call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565颅-6272 and check the 黑料百科 website to see if the viewing has been canceled.
The Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, is making its closest approach to earth, 44 million miles away. 鈥淚鈥檝e been watching it from our back yard for the last week and it鈥檚 a bright one,鈥 says Thomas Whittemore, 黑料百科 physics instructor. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost a naked颅-eye object at this point, and at the public viewing, there will be no moon to interfere with the comet鈥檚 brightness. I have yet to see a tail on Lovejoy, but maybe we will get lucky with 黑料百科鈥檚 8-颅inch refractor telescope.鈥
Whittemore says he will use the Keck Telescope, a 24-颅inch reflector, to zoom in on the Orion Nebula. 鈥淭his 1,400 light-颅year-颅distant stellar nursery is always a wintertime treat,鈥 he says.
Weather permitting, the viewing may also include the Crab Nebula in Taurus. 鈥淰iewed across the world in 1054, there are many records of this supernova explosion,鈥 Whittemore says. 鈥淭oday we see the remnants of the exploded star as Messier 1, the Crab Nebula. To me, even through a moderate-颅sized telescope, the nebula鈥檚 structure looks like a splash of milk.鈥
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 黑料百科 for the public to gaze through. The Keck 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.