The galaxy cluster Abell 2744 contains so many unusual phenomena that astronomers have dubbed it "Pandora's Cluster," after the mythological box said to contain all the world's ills. A galaxy cluster is a large scale structure that contains hundreds to thousands of gravitationally bound galaxies. When galaxy clusters collide they can release energies equivalent to 10,000 supernovae per year for one billion years. By studying these collisions, astronomers can study the behavior of dark matter by its interaction with normal matter.

The Family Herschel, William, Caroline, and John, were the most productive astronomers of their times. They bridged the visual and photographic eras in astronomy, and catalogued thousands of faint, fuzzy objects in the night sky. To the Herschels we owe the terms “infrared,” “asteroid,” and “photography.” William wrote:

“I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.”

And so he did. In this SkyTalk we will visit the highlights of this remarkable family and sample modern images of what they saw in the eyepiece 200 years ago.

Early navigators learned to use the rising and setting stars to find their way. The stars are so far from Earth; they can be used as stationary markers to chart a voyage across the sea. This technology is not useful for space travel. When you look at star in the night sky can you tell if it is a faint nearby star or an incredibly bright star very far away? Just like on Earth, we need maps to tell us where things in space are located. What will we use to find our way in space?

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation. Please note that Rose Street is closed south of the Chem-Physics building.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

 Isaac Newton proposed Universal Gravitation in 1687, when the Principia Mathematica was published. The notion that stars, planets and apples followed the same rules everywhere was, and remains, a novel idea. Newton's theory was suffi-cient until the middle of the 19th century when improved technology exposed inconsistencies. In 1915, Einstein advanced a theory that extended Newton's ideas of gravity. Since then, the most exquisitely subtle experiments have been performed to test Newton and Einstein. To the current limits of precision, these theories have been confirmed. But are they complete?

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 7:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation. Please note that Rose Street is closed south of the Chem-Physics building.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

  You may think of comets as gossamer, cloudy objects that grace our skies from time-to-time.  All that gas and dust has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is a dusty ball of ice, the comet nucleus. Only when that dirty snowball gets close to the Sun will it begin to grow a visible tail.  The European Space Agency is attempting a space exploration first, to land a probe on a comet while still far enough from the Sun that the snowball is largely quiescent. The landing is scheduled for 11AM EST on November 12. There will be a live feed from ESA, here: #CometLanding webcast.

The MacAdam Student Observatory staff are pleased to welcome the public to our facility. We present a program of public outreach on the second Thursday of every month.  A 40-minute presentation on astronomy will be held  in  the Chemistry-Physics Building, before moving across the street to the observatory, weather permitting. Note that the temperature at the telescope is the same as it is outside. The Observatory is located on Parking Structure #2 on the University of Kentucky campus on this map.)

Parking Note: Guests for the monthly SkyTalk that bring vehicles should plan on leaving them in Parking Structure #2, next to the observatory. Visitors that park elsewhere are subject to citation. Some streets near the observatory will be closed due to construction intermittently over the next few years. The recommended path to Parking Structure #2 is outlined in red, here: 2014-Sept Directions with street closures.pdf.

For millennia, people dreamed about travelling to stars. Now, in the 21st century, are we closer to fulfil this dream? I will survey the present status of travelling to distant stars and galaxies during my 1 hour talk.

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

Stars within galaxies hardly ever collide at random, they are just too far apart compared to their sizes.  But galaxy collisions are occurring all over the universe!  A galaxy collision may take hundreds of millions of years to play out.  But the results can be spectacular - new stars forming, black holes merging, and quasars erupting.  And look out!  Our own Milky Way Galaxy may be on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy.  Fireworks ahead!

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

Have you ever wondered how the solar system formed? Why are there rocky planets close to the sun while the giant planets reside farther away? What kinds of environments are suitable for the formation of our sun? In this talk we will investigate the current theories of solar system formation and evolution. We will also see different kinds of planetary systems around stars other than the sun and discuss abnormalities and their possible formation.

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

It’s considered rude to ask a person their age. But like someone sensitive on the subject, the universe has offered up many conflicting ages. History records that the answer to the title question depends strongly on when the question was asked. The discovery that stars age and die was a beginning of our modern understanding of cosmology, and gives us an insight into what the universe will look like in the future.

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 155 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory

Our Sun is amazingly stable in its energy output and has been for several billion years. There are other stars which do not remain stable and actually pulsate with a well-defined period. I will discuss two types of pulsating stars, the Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables.  Brighter variables can be easily observed with small telescopes making them interesting objects for professional and amateur observers. Understanding of the pulsations allows astronomers to determine aspects of how stars evolve. As they beckon in the night, they allow accurate distance determinations of galaxies that are very far away.

The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to welcome the public to our astronomical observatory. Part of our program of public outreach is a presentation on an interesting topic in astronomy followed by a visit to the observatory. The Kentucky SkyTalk is held on the second Thursday of every month.  A 45 minute program on astronomy will begin at 8:00 PM in Room 220 of the Chemistry-Physics Building. After the presentation, you are invited to view the sky through our 20-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Free parking is available on the top floor of parking structure #2, next to the observatory. With the exception of paid parking, without a valid parking permit, leaving your vehicle somewhere other than next to the observatory will result in a parking citation.

All are welcome and there is no charge. Tell your neighbors. Bring your kids.

A flyer in pdf format and a link to a campus map are available here:  https://pa.as.uky.edu/observatory