Observatory to Explore Autumn Sky Oct. 25
The Department of Physics will present “A Tour Through the Autumn Sky” on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Joseph Bryan Jr. Auditorium, on the college campus.
Thom Espinola, Glaxo Wellcome Professor of Physics, will give a short presentation using the college’s new planetarium projector. He will point out the constellations, planets and deep space objects that can be seen this fall. The presentation will be followed by a tour of the college’s Cline Observatory and, weather permitting, viewing through the main telescope.
Guilford installed the planetarium projector over the summer. Developed by the Australian company Cosmodome, the projector operates by bouncing computer images off of a mirror onto the auditorium’s curved ceiling. The curved mirror projector allows more flexibility of use than a traditional ball projector. Because it would have been installed on the floor, a ball projector would also have limited the auditorium to use as a planetarium.
The presentation and tour are free and open to the public. Joseph Bryan Jr. Auditorium is located in the Frank Family Science Center, accessible by the campus’s North Entrance (Arcadia Drive/George Fox Road).
For more information, call 316-2193 or visit the observatory’s Web page at www.guilford.edu/observatory.
Oct. 17, 2008