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After three days of on-site training, we have the keys to our new Spitz SciDome system, and we can’t wait to welcome you!

You may have heard; on the night of August 11-12 the earth plows into the trail of particles left behind along the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle, resulting in the annual Perseid meteor shower.  The stream of comet dust is denser at some parts of the comet’s 130-year orbit than others, and some meteor experts believe this will be a plentiful year, up to twice the average rate. Now for the reality check: The average observer under average skies may well see less than half of the published hourly rate (called ZHR, which means “zenith hourly rate” observed by an excellent observer under perfect conditions). With the normal Perseid ZHR being 100, and this year’s predicted to be around twice that, an average observer in OK skies might see more than one a minute. That’s still a great show! But wait – these meteors are burning up in the upper atmosphere, high above any cloud cover – that means cloudy skies will spoil the show. Current forecast is for a partly to mostly cloudy night, but we are still a couple days away.

Here’s what to do. First, wait until after moonset (1:08 AM local).  You don’t need moonlight washing out the fainter meteors. Find an unobstructed location as far from lights as possible, allow your eyes to dark-adapt, and just stare up. The meteors  can appear anywhere in the sky, though all true shower members will be traveling away from their namesake constellation, Perseus. Don’t expect Hollywood, and you’ll be happier.

Not only is our facility moving into the modern age, but so it our website. We are moving out of user-land and onto the official college pages. The old web site has been replaced with an “under construction” message. We will post a link to the new site there, and also on this blog, when it’s live. Speaking of the blog, it will be moving to the college’s Sites at Gettysburg account (WordPress). If all goes well, we should be able to import old posts from this blog and leave it intact during the transition. Time will tell . . .

Along with the old site, our request form for school and community groups is also down. Rest assured, we will continue to offer free shows to school and community groups. However, given the time needed to develop curriculum for the new system, I do not anticipate activating the a new form to accept requests until October, and I expect we will be not be doing any field trip shows until November.

Public shows will resume in September! The schedule will be posted in the next few weeks.

After a bit of a hiatus, the Hatter Planetarium and WZBT astrominute returns! Since the college astronmy folk were all together at “planetarium camp,” something strange happened:

http://public.gettysburg.edu/~iclarke/hatter/podcasts/astrominute071316.mp3

Next astrominute should be posted around the middle of August.

Twitter followers of @GCPlanetarium know that some of us spent the last week in Chadds Ford at the Spitz Institute. Conducted by the makers of both our 1966 and 2016 planetarium systems, this annual training and skills development session was crucial for us to get to know the new system and to learn some of the many, many ways we can use it to benefit our astronomy students, students and faculty of the College as a whole, and the public. Summing up what we learned is more than I can do in this brief post, so for now I just want to acknowledge those who attended: Jackie Milingo, astronomy professor and the driving force behind the re-invention of the Hatter Planetarium; Ryan Johnson, astronomy professor and the first user of the new planetarium as a classroom; Eric Remy, Director of Instructional Technology at the College; Craig Foltz, astronomy lab instructor and retired observatory director and NSF administrator; and your humble correspondent, Ian Clarke, Planetarium Director and astronomy lab instructor. Thank you to all just mentioned, and to Spitz and Gettysburg College for the incredibly valuable week!

Looking south from a campsite in the Hammersley Wild Area.

What to do while your planetarium is being renovated? It’s summertime and you want to see the gorgeous silver band of the Milky Way stretched across the sky. Where do you go? Here in the Gettysburg area the Milky Way is visible on a good, clear moonless night. But you want more than “visible”; you want a truly dark sky where the River of Heaven is the first and most memorable sight in the sky.

Modified snip from darksitefinder.com

Most people in the US live in places where the Milky Way isn’t visible at all. Here in the east, that’s even more true. Have a look at the mid-Atlantic states on this dark sky map. Over land, there are only
three dark sky areas: the Adirondacks, an area round the VA-WV border, and north-central Pennsylvania. This is the sparsely populated area sometimes called the “Pennsylvania Wilds.” It includes Cherry Springs State Park, a designated dark sky park that is managed to provide a place for astronomy. But of course much of the area around Cherry Springs is equally dark and sometimes more remote. If you want a backcountry experience in this heavily wooded region that includes dark skies, you are mostly limited by the view.

Campsite before dark.

On the afternoon of June 29, I hiked into the Hammersley Wild Area, largest roadless area in Pennsylvania. I know of a few lovely meadows in the Hammersley down near the headwaters of the Hammersely Fork, but on this evening I was headed for higher ground – a clearing that was the site of a 1964 forest fire. (It’s well-described in this hike write-up.) The night sky did not disappoint! The moon phase (waning crescent) had the moon below the horizon for most of the night, and the full band of the Milky Way was strikingly bright from horizon to horizon. The Andromeda Galaxy, when it rose, was evident without the least bit of hunting.

I certainly don’t consider myself a photographer, but I could not let the trip go without documentation. These images were taken with a Nikon D5300 and a Rokinon 14mm wide angle lens on a mini-tripod. Exposures were 20-25 sec, and raw images were processed with ViewNX 2.

Looking northeast: Delphinus is over the peak of the tarp.

Looking north after darkness falls.

Hammersley Wild Area

Happy July! We’ve tweeted a few photos of the ongoing work in the planetarium as it’s been happening. Here’s a summary of the work so far.

On May 1 we gave the last presentation with the 1966 projector. It was a packed house!

Last ride of the A3P! pic.twitter.com/FfoBG2JiNU

— Hatter Planetarium (@GCPlanetarium) May 1, 2016

Soon after the show planetarium director Ian Clarke and astro professor Jackie Milingo sorted through the materials and extra equipment.

Renovations already underway! Here’s a keepsake from the old #planetarium #hatter2016 #bigbang pic.twitter.com/C2XTJFekxY

— Hatter Planetarium (@GCPlanetarium) May 3, 2016

Then Spitz removed the old projector (it’s being stored by the Physics Department for potential display) and the contractor completed demolition.

The Hatter Planetarium after a week of demo. #hatter2016 #astronomy #planetarium pic.twitter.com/zsUXHXclQR

— Hatter Planetarium (@GCPlanetarium) May 13, 2016

Since then work has been ongoing to turn the space into a its new purpose as a digital planetarium classroom.

Update on progress with architect, facilities, and IT. #Hatter2016 #planetarium pic.twitter.com/f7W06tWbns

— Hatter Planetarium (@GCPlanetarium) June 15, 2016

Not a planetary surface! It will be the entryway of our renovated #planetarium #hatter2016 pic.twitter.com/wnTaii7vL3

— Hatter Planetarium (@GCPlanetarium) June 27, 2016

The next milestones will be installation of the Spitz SciDome projector and the attendance by six Gettysburg College faculty and administrators at the Spitz Institute, a training and skills development program. By the first day of Fall 2016 classes (August 29) the new Hatter Planetarium will be ready both for public shows and, for the first time ever, as a home for the college’s astronomy classes.

It’s almost here! I have heard a lot of buzz about this show, so I expect a big audience. It might be a good idea to get to the planetarium early. But not too early! The doors will open at 4:30. When arriving at the College, please be mindful of the fact that we are just beginning final exam week, and students may be studying or testing. Thank you! -IC

The last show with our 50-year-old optical-mechanical projector, that is. As you may know, we’ll have a brand new Spitz SciDome digital projector AND a room renovation in time for the 2016-17 academic year. You can read about it, with an interview from yours truly, in this Hanover Evening Sun article from March 1.

But first, and before we go “from an etch-a-sketch to an iPad,” we have the opportunity to make the last doodle with our beloved etch-a-sketch. That chance is this coming Sunday:

The show will rely 100% on the 1966 projector–no Powerpoint allowed!–and at the end, we’ll lower it on its elevator and cover it up. Hope to see you there!