Eastern Connecticut State University

Department of

Physical Sciences

Planetarium

School and Scout Bookings

Bring you class or your scout troop on a tour of the Universe. See the wonders of our solar system; learn about the night sky and much, much more. All shows are free of charge. Please be aware that the dark environment of the planetarium may not be suitable to children under 7 years of age.

To make your reservation contact Dr. Zoran Pazameta at (860) 465-5300. The planetarium has a maximum capacity of 50 people. Because of the heavy usage of the planetarium for our university classes there are only a limited amount of available times for school or scout bookings. Currently, only Wednesdays are reserved for planetarium bookings. The planetarium is open for bookings only during the ECSU school term and is closed during Spring break, Thanksgiving, ECSU intersession (about December 20 to January 20) and the summer break (about May 10 to September 15).

Private Bookings

Is your community group or office looking for a unique experience? Why not consider a lunch hour or late afternoon star show at the Wickware Planetarium. The shows are free of charge; however a small donation to the ECSU Science Club would be greatly appreciated. All private bookings must be done through Dr. Zoran Pazameta at (860) 465-5300 or through Dr. Russell D. Sampson through email at: sampsonR(at)easternCT(dot)edu. The planetarium has a maximum capacity of 50 people. Due to heavy usage of the planetarium by our ECSU classes, there is only a limited amount of available time for private booking. Currently, only Wednesdays are free for planetarium bookings. The planetarium is open for bookings only during the ECSU school term and is closed during Spring break; Thanksgiving, ECSU intersession (about December 20 to January 20) and the summer break (about May 10 to September 15). Please be aware that the dark environment of the planetarium may not be suitable to children under 7 years of age.

Public Star Shows

The staff of the Wickware Planetarium put on special star shows three or four times a semester. If the weather permits telescopes will be set up outside for free viewing. If you are interested in attending our shows please email Dr. Russell D. Sampson at sampsonr(at)easternCT(dot)edu for a free brochure or free tickets to the next show. Our shows are free but because seating is very limited you should obtain tickets to reserve your seat. Please be aware that the dark environment of the planetarium may not be suitable to children under 7 years of age.

Spring 2008 Schedule (watch this space for updates!):

Total Lunar Eclipse (Weather permitting, there will be free telescope viewing of the lunar eclipse after the show starting around 8:30 p.m. and ending around midnight)	Wednesday, Feb. 20	6:30 p.m.
Spring Skies and Space Update	Thursday, Mar. 27	5:30 p.m.
Meteors, Meteor Showers and Meteorites	Thursday, Apr. 24	5:30 p.m.

Parking

Parking is very limited, especially during the day. All groups visiting the planetarium are encouraged to arrive on campus 20 minutes prior to the start of the show. There is limited public parking to the east of the Eugene Smith Library. During the day there is ample parking at the Baseball Park on the north side of Highway 6. A shuttle bus comes every 15 to 20 minutes to pickup your group (the bus holds about 20 people).

Finding the Planetarium

The Wickware Planetarium is located across from the front doors of the Eugene Smith Library which is just west of the ECSU clock tower. There is limited visitor parking to the east of the library. Directions to the ECSU campus can be found at http://www.easternct.edu/ecsu/map/directions.htm

Celestial Images from Students and Faculty

Images of the June 8 2004 Transit of Venus

This image was taken by Jonathan Wilson, as a project for Dr. Sampson's AST 480 class (Independent Studies in Astronomy). The image shows hundreds of star-trails caused by the rotation of the Earth. The brightest trail is of the planet Mars moving behind a thin cloud. There are also numerous trails left by aircraft taking off and landing at a distant airport.

This image shows the northern lights (aurora borealis) over Mansfield Hollow CT on the night of October 30, 2003. The photo was taken by; Marcelo Lopes, Daniel Spada and Sara Woodward, students in Dr. Sampson's AST 225 class (Stars and Galaxies)

Dr. Sampson's Web Picks:

I've been searching the web for many years looking for the coolest astronomy and meteorology web sites. Here is a very short list of some of the best I’ve found. Try not to get hooked!

Astronomy Events and News

One of the best sources of news and tips on sky gazing: http://www.skyandtelescope.com
Lots of space technology, astronomy and other science at: http://www.Space.com
An almost limitless source of data and news at the NASA home page at: http://www.NASA.gov

Astronomical Data, Images and References

JPL – one of the most authoritative sources of planetary data at: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/
3.3 million archived astronomy papers, tables and books at: http://adswww.harvard.edu/
Astronomy Picture of the Day – one of the web’s best sites at: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
Information on calendars and different measures of time at: http://www.calendarhome.com/clink.html
Astronomical Urban myths and just plain bad astronomy at: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/index.html
Maybe the best solar eclipse photos ever taken are at: http://www.wendycarlos.com/eclipse.html
Your very own on-line planetarium at: http://www.skyviewcafe.com/index.php
Artificial satellite tracking from your own backyard at: http://www.heavens-above.com/
Cloud and “seeing” forecasting for astronomers at: http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/htmls/mainpage.html
Astronomical myths and stories at: http://www.ufrsd.net/staffwww/stefanl/myths/index.htm
Astronomical poetry at: http://www.baltastro.org/AstroPoetry.html
Astronomical art at: http://iasos.com/artists/dondavis/
History of Astronomy with lots of biographical information at: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~pbrosche/astoria.html
Hubble Space Telescope news at: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/
Mars Global Surveyor home page at: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/index.html
NASA Satellite simulator and animation: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTRACK3D.html
Solar observatory in space with some great movies at: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Comets and meteors at: http://comets.amsmeteors.org/
Eclipses at: http://www.mreclipse.com

Meteorology (when you need to know if it's going to be clear)

Doppler radar for Eastern Connecticut at: http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p19r0/si.kokx.shtml
Satellite image of North America at: http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/satellite/index_e.html
Weather maps of North America and beyond at: http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/analysis/index_e.html
Current and past North American weather balloon data at: http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html
Many different weather forecast maps and animations at: http://weather.unisys.com/
Windham Airport current weather conditions at: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KIJD.html
Cloud and “seeing” forecasting for astronomers at: http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/htmls/mainpage.html