Washburn Observatory

What you can see at Washburn

The telescope will typically be pointed at two or three objects over the course of an evening. Depending on what is up in the sky at a particular time of the year, typical targets are: the Moon, planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are popular), double stars, star clusters, and nebulae. The choice of targets depends on their availability, the darkness of the night and the skill of the host!

Washburn has high enough magnification to see many craters on the Moon, the polar ice cap on Mars (under ideal conditions), the Great Red Spot and the four Galilean moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. Other popular targets are the Orion Nebula, the Pleides, the Ring Nebula, Albireo, and various globular clusters or galaxies.

Every week, Sky and Telescope magazine publishes a list of This Week's Sky at a Glance. These are often the type of things that Washburn will be looking at. If there is something you particularily want to see, tell the grad student on duty at the telescope, and he or she would probably be happy to try pointing at it - but no guarantees!

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last update: September 22, 2003 .

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