Where:

Frosty Drew Observatory

When:

Friday May 13, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Cost:

$1 Suggested Donation per Person

Tonight is Stargazing Night at Frosty Drew Observatory and relentless Friday's continue with the usual forecast of clouds, rain and fog. As such Frosty Drew telescopes will remain closed tonight. We will open the Sky Theatre from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. featuring a showcase of celestial objects captured at Frosty Drew Observatory including images we captured during the Transit of Mercury on May 9th. A commentary will be available as well as an open discussion on general astronomy. We remain hopeful that 2016 will shift to better Friday night conditions and allow us to look at the night sky at Frosty Drew Observatory.

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Weekly Happenings
Scott MacNeill

This past week, the NASA Kepler mission announced that it has verified the existence of an additional 1,284 exoplanets. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits another star (not the Sun) and is outside of the Solar System. This week's announcement brings the number of exoplanet confirmations made by the Kepler mission to 2,325. Of the 1,284 announced exoplanet confirmations, 550 could be rocky planets, with 9 of those orbiting inside the habitable zone of their parent star. The habitable zone is the distance from a star where temperatures allow for orbiting planets to pool liquid water on their surface, a requirement for life as we know it. Kepler scientists continue to analyze data sets that Kepler collected over a four year period of 150,000 stars, so expect additional confirmations in the near future. Then, in 2018, the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will use the same method as Kepler to monitor 200,000 nearby stars, searching for Earth and Super-Earth sized exoplanets. These discoveries help us design future missions to search for habitable environments and living worlds outside of the Solar System.

This past Monday, May 9th, the Transit of Mercury happened. And, we actually had pretty clear skies to observe the event at Frosty Drew Observatory. We had about 150 visitors throughout the day visit the campus to check out Mercury silhouetted by the Sun. It was a fabulous day of astronomy under comfortably warm, sunny skies. Check out our Transit of Mercury photo gallery

Save the Date! If skies are clear enough tomorrow night (Saturday, May 14), Ballard Park in Newport, RI will be hosting a Stargazing event from 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Frosty Drew Astronomer, Scott MacNeill, will be operating a telescope and showcasing the night sky for visitors to the beautiful park. So have a spring Saturday night out in Newport and catch a much needed astro-fix at Ballard Park. $5 suggested donation; $15 suggested per group/family. Check in at our Facebook before setting out as we will post if the event is happening.

-Scott