UNL's Behlen Observatory sets public night for Feb. 24

            The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Behlen Observatory near Mead will be open to the public from 7:30 to 10 p.m. on Feb. 24.

            Provided the sky is clear, visitors will be able to view a variety of objects with the observatory's 30-inch telescope and with smaller telescopes set up outside of the observatory. These include the moon, the planets Jupiter (early in the evening) and Mars (the latter part of the public night), the Great Orion Nebula, a star cluster, and double or multiple stars. At 8 p.m., a member of the observatory staff will give an illustrated talk about objects in the evening sky.

            The constellation Orion will be high in the sky during the public night. Viewed through binoculars the middle star in the "sword" of  Orion turns out to be a small, fuzzy patch of light, while the 30-inch telescope reveals a glowing cloud of interstellar gas called the Orion Nebula. The visible nebula is just a small part of a large, dark interstellar gas cloud. All of the stars visible in the telescope formed from the cloud and new stars are still forming within it. These newly formed stars heat the front surface of the cloud to a temperature of about 8,500 degrees Centigrade (about 15,000 degrees Fahrenheit) causing the gas to glow.

            There is no admission charge for the public night. Further information, including directions to the observatory and maps, can be found on the observatory website at http://astro.unl.edu/observatory/.

            Two more spring semester public nights are scheduled on March 30 and April 27. They will also be from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

Writer: Edward Schmidt