News & Events

New Event: Friday, October 31st

Candy! Telescopes! Spooky Noises!

The Schwartz Observatory will be setting up at our usual location on 7th Place to give out candy AND views of the cosmos to the trick-or-treaters. Come one, come all!

The calendar of events and all upcoming event information has been updated. The Calendar has a spiffy new interface that should make updates easier (and more timely) in the future.

An addendum to my previous information, the opening of the Mars exhibit at the AZ Museum of natural history, for which I will be providing telescopes for public viewing, MAY be pushed back a week to Friday, November 7th. This information is subject to change and the S.O. homepage will be updated to reflect this as soon as concrete information is nailed down.

After a 2 year hiatus (due to educational pressures), the Schwartz Observatory is finally returning to regular operation, HOWEVER, this means a SLIGHT change of venue for some of our events.

A few of our events will now be hosted at The Arizona Museum of Natural History!

(applause)

I have been volunteering in the Paleontology lab at the museum for about a year and a half, and in May we did a "test run" observing event on the museum's rooftop terrace to celebrate the landing of the Phoenix Mars probe. The event was a SPECTACULAR success, and we are now planning the next event to coincide with the opening of the museum's upcoming MARS exhibit on October 30th!

Additionally, there MAY be an observing event at the museum on October 10th as well, but this is still to be determined. Further announcements will be forthcoming, along with announcements of the Schwartz Observatory Halloween plans (yes, there is something on the burners).

Hope to see you at the shows!

This Fall, Winter and Spring BIG things (and changes) are coming to Schwartz Observatory, both on-line and at events. While 2006 has largely been a "hiatus" year for SO events, once monsoon season ends and Autumn begins, I will be scheduling some fabulous events for the whole neighborhood.

Also, some of the events may not be astronomy related. I have some irons in the fire for an entirely new kind of nighborhood event. When they're ready, I'll be pulling them out for all to see. Lets just say it'll be something fun, educational and entirely unexpected.

Watch this space!

Yes, I know there have not been a great deal of 7th place Astronomy Events lately (okay, there haven't been ANY!), but this dry spell won't last much longer.

In fact, the previous dry spell only took place due to obligations with the Arizona Renaissance Festival season and an extremely heavy schoolwork load. However, now with the spring semester over and looking ahead to what will likely be a less intense fall semester, a new round of Schwartz Observatory events are on the preliminary drawing board.

In fact, to tide everyone over in the meantime, I would like to announce the All-new Schwartz Observatory Podcast! Full details are available at the link. Remember to sign up to the Schwartz Observatory mailing list so that you can have the Podcast sent directly to your e-mail inbox as soon as it becomes available!

I feel I owe you all an explanation for the cancellation of the 7th Place Satellite Spotting Spectacular (and my absence at Doug's wedding- VERY sorry!).

My father is an acoustical architect and pro audio designer who does consulting/design work for the South Cariolina State Capitol building. He is currently on location doing technical support and maintnence.

However, he discovered he was missing a key blueprint and had to have me on call for all of Friday to read notes for him before Express mailing it to him before the post office closed. This prevented me from doing any of the preperation necessary for the Satellite Event, in addition to the fact that patchy clouds were beginning to appear. Satellite spotting in particular needs COMPLETELY clear skies.

On saturday pressing personal matters presented themselves, in addition to an overcast morning sky. At this point I decided to call off the whole shebang.

As a result of two events in a row going south, I am considering revamping the event planning and promotion, in addition to scheduling biweekly "mini" events, satellite nights, and general observing nights.

Look for a large update coming in the next week.

I know this is ridiculously after the fact but...

Massive extenuating personal circumstances forced the sudden cancellation of the Satellite Spotting Event.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The MARS SHOW was, tragically, cut down before it's time by the will of the ineffable weather gods.

C'est la vie, the astronomer's curse.

A few of the die-hards came by for glimpses of the moon through brief gaps in the clouds and haze. Unfortunately, there was lots of smoke in the air. Smoke particles can settle on the mirrors and gum up the works of a telescope. It can also potentially corrode optical coatings, so we called it a night at about 8:30 PM.

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for a potential future event before the Christmas holidays, "the Seventh place Satellite Spotting Spectacular". I hope to nail down a date for this soon. It may even be spread out over two or three nights.

At the Satellite spotting spectacular, visitors will learn about the fun hobby of satellite watching. See dozens of timed flyovers, iridium flares, and maybe even Hubble or the International Space Station. Learn how you too can know when satellites will be visible and how to read a prediction chart.

The HALLOWEEN SPACE JOURNEY went off with very few hitches. Towards the end of the evening we ran out of candy for the trick-or-treaters, but good views were had of Albireo, the Ring Nebula, the Pleiades and even the planets Venus and Mars. Seeing conditions were pretty steady, so the views were solid. We handed out plenty of flyers for next week's MARS SHOW, so I'm expecting a pretty good turnout. Unfortunately, I lost the printout with all of the times for the satellite flyovers, so we didn't know when to look up. A minor drawback, but we made do.

I looked perfectly deranged with the mad scientist outfit. Expect me to look saner for THE MARS SHOW.

Last night I set up the 'scope and took a few peeks at mars.

Atmospheric steadiness was first rate, and very abundant detail was visible.

Lets just hope the same holds true for the seventh!

It has been brought to my attention that there are currently massive dust storms on mars, visible in amateur telescopes. Info is at the link below.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1617_1.asp

As such, I will likely be setting up the telescope a time or two prior to "The Mars Show" to attempt to observe this.

If you see me outside with the scope, stop on by and check it out!

Our next event has been tentatively scheduled for the evening of Monday, November 7th. This will be for observing the closest approach, or "opposition" of the planet Mars. Remember, this information is SUBJECT TO CHANGE! Be on the look out for a red "Event Update" notice once more details have been finalized.

All scheduled events take place WEATHER PERMITTING.

Welcome to the first ever entry at The Official Schwartz Observatory homepage!

Hopefully I will be updating soon to schedule our next event, hopefully timed for the close approach of Mars at the end of the month. Stay Tuned!