Bsuobservatory - Bridgewater State University Observatory

NASA Science

What is Dark Energy? Inside our accelerating, expanding Universe - NASA Science

Some 13.8 billion years ago, the universe began with a rapid expansion we call the big bang. After this initial expansion, which lasted a fr

Article of the Day!

"What is Dark Energy? Inside our accelerating, expanding Universe" by Chelsea Gohd

We'll be closed tonight, Wednesday Oct. 11. We expect up to 70% cloud coverage depending on which forecast you believe, and the satellite images look terrible.

HOWEVER keep an eye out this Saturday for the solar eclipse! If the weather is clear, we'll start giving out information and eclipse glasses around classes at 10:30 am and set up some solar telescopes on the observing decks. The eclipse lasts from12:18 to 2:34 pm. In the case of clouds, we'll only stream the eclipse in the lobby on the first floor.

Solar Eclipse Event, Monday April 8th!

Next Monday, a solar eclipse will be visible from Bridgewater! Looking at an eclipse without proper eye protection can permanently damage your eyesight, but the observatory has prepared various ways to observe the eclipse safely. Our event and resources will be open to the public.

On Friday, April 5th, we'll have safe eclipse glasses/viewers available for pickup from 10:00 am - 7:30 pm while supplies last. They'll be located at the counter in the central lobby on the 1st floor of the Dana Mohler-Faria (DMF) Science and Mathematics Center. Each person may take up to 3 glasses/viewers. Be careful with these. If they're scratched or punctured, they are not safe.

On Monday, April 8th, weather allowing:

Starting at 9:00 am, we'll have safe eclipse glasses/viewers available for pickup while supplies last. These will be located at the counter in the central lobby on the 1st floor of the DMF Science and Mathematics Center, at several tables surrounding that building, and up on the 5th floor. (There will be additional locations meant for BSU Students only).

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll have projections of the Sun at several tables surrounding the DMF Science and Mathematics Center.

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll have solar telescopes on the 5th floor observing patios also in the DMF Science and Mathematics Center.

On Monday, April 8th, rain or shine:

From 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm, we'll stream video of the eclipse from the path of totality in the auditorium and central lobby on the 1st floor of the DMF Science and Math Center.

Parking will be available in the West Campus Lot behind the DMF Science and Mathematics Center. If that lot fills, you can park at the parking garage on East Campus.

Webb + Hubble > peanut butter + chocolate? We think so!

In this image of galaxy cluster MACS0416, the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have united to create one of the most colorful views of the universe ever taken. Their combination of visible and infrared light yields vivid colors that give clues to the distances of galaxies (blue = close, red = far).

Looking at the combined data, scientists have spotted a sprinkling of sources that vary over time, including highly magnified supernovas and even individual stars billions of light-years away.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Diego (Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria, Spain), J. D’Silva (U. Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), J. Summers & R. Windhorst (ASU), and H. Yan (U. Missouri).

ALT TEXT: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle, stretching from left to right, is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. They form a rough, flat line along the center. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. At center left, a particularly prominent example stretches vertically about three times the length of a nearby galaxy. A variety of brightly colored, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated. Near the center are two tiny galaxies compared to the galaxy cluster: a very red edge-on spiral and a very blue face-on spiral, which provide a striking color contrast.

Rosette Nebula by space.by.jase

2024 January 9

Thor’s Helmet Image Credit & Copyright: Ritesh Biswas

Explanation: Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor’s Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor’s Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown with a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble’s center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This remarkably sharp image is a mixed cocktail of data from narrowband filters, capturing not only natural looking stars but details of the nebula’s filamentary structures. The star in the center of Thor’s Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240109.html

2023 December 29

Shakespeare in Space Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Explanation: In 1986, Voyager 2 became the only spacecraft to explore ice giant planet Uranus close up. Still, this newly released image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on the James Webb Space Telescope offers a detailed look at the distant world. The tilted outer planet rotates on its axis once in about 17 hours. Its north pole is presently pointed near our line of sight, offering direct views of its northern hemisphere and a faint but extensive system of rings. Of the giant planet’s 27 known moons, 14 are annotated in the image. The brighter ones show hints of Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes. And though these worlds of the outer Solar System were unknown in Shakespearean times, all but two of the 27 Uranian moons are named for characters in the English Bard’s plays.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231229.html

So far, the forecast this Wednesday doesn't look good, but we'll wait til that day to make the announcement. Stay tuned for August public night announcements, too!

Wed. 4/16: Check back for our weather decision after 4 pm! The forecasts disagree.

Pumpkin space latte, anyone? ☕

Hubble captured this festive array of stars, Terzan 12, found in the Milky Way about 15,000 light-years from Earth. The stars in this cluster are bound together by gravity in a sphere-like shape and are shrouded in gas and dust. As the starlight travels through that gas and dust to Earth, blue light scatters, leaving the redder wavelengths to come through.

Download the full-resolution image here.

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