Behlen Observatory to host Public Night on Sept. 27

Released on 09/17/2015, at 2:01 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

WHEN: Sunday, Sep. 27, 2015

WHERE: Behlen Observatory, southeast of Mead

Lincoln, Neb., September 17th, 2015 —
The end of the lunar eclipse on Oct. 8, 2014, the second eclipse in the current tetrad of lunar eclipses. (Shawn Langan/UNL Department of Physics and Astronomy)
The end of the lunar eclipse on Oct. 8, 2014, the second eclipse in the current tetrad of lunar eclipses. (Shawn Langan/UNL Department of Physics and Astronomy)

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a Public Night at Behlen Observatory from 8 to 11 p.m. Sept. 27.

The evening will feature the last eclipse in a series of four lunar eclipses over the past two years, known as a tetrad. Photos of past lunar eclipses and other astrophotography done in Nebraska can be found at http://observatory.unl.edu/nebrastrophotography.

"Tetrads happen every 10 years or so this century, but there were no tetrads from 1600-1900 so we are in the middle of an interesting time for lunar eclipses," said Shawn Langan, lab manager with the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Behlen Observatory near Mead, Nebraska, has been in operation since 1972 with dozens of publications credited to it.

More details and directions to the observatory can be found at http://observatory.unl.edu. Contact Langan at 402-472-2199 or slangan@unl.edu with questions.