Sunday, December 8, 2019

Observing the Heavens from City Center


At the end of our day yesterday, before heading home, our group went to the rooftop observatory at the Franklin Institute to do some observing of the heavens with this 10" Zeiss refractor.  Of course in the center of Philadelphia, there is so much light illuminating the sky, there were only a few things to see.  We looked at Epsilon Lyrae, the "double double."  Those are two stars that, when you look at them under high power, turn out to be four stars - each one is a close double star!  It is wonderful sight through a telescope like this!  We also looked at some craters on the Moon under high power.  In the center foreground is Derrick Pitts, the Chief Astronomer and Planetarium Director who spent a lot of time with us, showed us some telescopes on display, and was so generous with his time.  It was an amazing day!

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