MacAdam Student Observatory
The MacAdam Student Observatory is a University of Kentucky building located on top of parking garage structure #2 that is used by faculty and students for research and learning.
Except when the observatory is open to the public, even though the parking gates in parking structure #2 are up, the structure is patrolled by parking officers. On public nights you may drive to the top of the parking structure and leave your vehicle without receiving a parking citation.
Our street address is 301 Hilltop Ave., Lexington, KY 40506.
Timothy Knauer, Director
MacAdam Student Observatory
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Email: TimKnauer@uky.edu
Phone (Office): (859) 257-7147
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News & Updates
Kentucky SkyTalk: Thursday July 13, 2017 - 8 PM Chem-Phys Room 155
Tim Knauer - The “WOW!” Signal, 40 Years On
- (PDF maps on this page were created using Guide 9)
The MacAdam Student Observatory staff are pleased to welcome the public to our facility. We present a program of public outreach on the second Thursday of every month. A 40-minute presentation on astronomy will be held in the Chemistry-Physics Building, before moving across the street to the observatory, weather permitting. Note that the temperature at the telescope is the same as it is outside. The Observatory is located on Parking Structure #2 on the University of Kentucky campus on this map.)
Parking Note: Guests for the monthly SkyTalk that bring vehicles should plan on leaving them in Parking Structure #2, next to the observatory. Visitors that park elsewhere are subject to citation. Some streets near the observatory will be closed due to construction intermittently over the next few years. These include Rose Street and Alumni Drive. The recommended path to Parking Structure #2 is outlined in red, here: Directions with street closures.pdf.
To AST191 and 192 Students:
The observatory is now closed for the Spring 2017 term.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day: A visually stunning page with a cogent paragraph explaining the daily image. Their archives go back to June, 1995.
- SpaceWeather: Updated every day, the site covers the Sun, the Solar Wind, Aurora Borealis, Noctilucent Clouds, and information of bright satellite passes over your location. (See Satellite Flybys in the panel on the right.)
- Is it going to be clear or cloudy tonight? See Attilla Danko's page for your area. In Lexington, KY, we use this Clear Sky Chart. Read the top line of the chart, white is cloudy and dark blue predicts clear skies.
Calendar of Events
| Date | Time & Place | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2017 | 8 PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland | The August 21 Total Solar Eclipse - Don't You Dare Miss It! |
| July 13, 2017 | 8 PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | The “WOW!” Signal, 40 Years On |
| June 8, 2017 | 8 PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Powers of Ten |
| Apr 13, 2017 | 8 PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer |
Dark Clouds Don’t Always Mean Stormy Weather |
| Mar 9, 2017 | 7 PM CP-155 |
Dr. Tom Troland |
Life in the Solar System - Where Else Besides Earth? |
| Feb 9, 2017 | 7PM CP-155 | Angela Coller |
Pandora’s Cluster: Abell 2744 |
| Jan 12,2017 | 7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer |
Keep Looking Up: The Heavenward Herschels |
| Dec 8, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr, Gary Ferland | The Star of Bethlehem |
| Nov 10, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | What Causes Gullies on Mars? |
| Oct 13, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland | A Tribute to Cassini at Saturn |
| Sept 8, 2016 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer |
Rosetta at Comet 67/P: Thereby Hangs a Tail |
| Aug 11, 2016 | --------------- | No SkyTalk this date. | |
| July 14, 2016 | 8PM CP-155 | Gemunu Ekanayake | The Heart of the Milky Way |
| June 9, 2016 | 8PM CP-155 | Angela Collier | The Search for Planet X |
| May 12, 2016 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer |
Fundamental Astronomy:Where is That Star in the Sky? (And will it stay there?) |
| April 14, 2016 | 8PM CP-155 | Dr. Pamela Marcum | Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy |
| Mar 10, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | Surfing in the Dark: The First Detection of Gravitational Wave |
| Feb 11, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland | Pluto and the Outer Solar System Revealed |
| Jan 14, 2016 | 7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Fundamental Astronomy: How Bright is that Star? |
| Dec 10, 2015 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Gary Ferland | The Star of Bethlehem |
| Nov 12, 2015 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland | Lunar Visions |
| Oct 8, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Clouds: Bane, Boon, and Boom |
| Sep 10, 2015 | 8PM CP-139 | Dr. Robert O'Dell |
Traveling Through the Orion Nebula |
| Aug 13, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Angela Collier | Galactic Navigation and Mapping |
| July 9, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Stacy Long | Journey to Pluto |
| June 11, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Preview the Summer Spectacular |
| May 14,2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Dr. Kyle McCarthy | The Hubble Tuning Fork: Harmonizing The Galaxies |
| Apr 9, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | A Blast from the Past: Tambora at 200 Years (Exactly) |
| Mar 12, 2015 | 8PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | The First Stars in the Universe |
| Feb 12, 2015 | 7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Kristian Birkeland and the Northern Lights |
| Jan 8, 2015 | 7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | A History of Gravity: An Attractive Theory for 300 Years |
|
Dec 11, 2014 |
7PM CP-155 | Dr. Renbin Yan | The Enterprise of Mapping the Structure of the Universe |
|
Nov 13, 2014 |
7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Rosetta: Landing on a Comet |
| Oct 9, 2014 | 8PM CP-155 | Dr. Isaac Shlosman |
The Current Status of Space Travel: Science versus Fiction |
| Sept 11, 2014 | 8PM CP-155 | Dr. Thomas Troland | When Galaxies Collide |
| Aug 14, 2014 | 8PM CP-155 | Kyle McCarthy | The Inception of the Solar System |
| July 10, 2014 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | To the Universe: Just How Old Are You, Anyway? |
| June 12, 2014 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Saturn: From Cassini to Cassini |
| Night of May 23-24 | 2-4 AM EDT ? | Possible New Meteor Shower - NASA Video Link to the right | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw3hVTUQ43U |
| May 8, 2014 | 8:00 PM CP-220 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | Stars that pulsate and what they teach us about the universe. |
| April 10, 2014 | 8:00 PM CP-139 | Tim Knauer | The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man Made Missions |
| March 13, 2014 | 8:00 PM CP-139 | Dr. Thomas Troland | A Trip to Mars |
| February 13, 2014 | 7:00 PM CP-139 | Dr. Joseph Straley | The Science of Climate Change |
| January 9, 2014 | 7:00 PM CP-155 | Rick Schrantz |
Amateur Planetary Imaging Over the Years |
| December 12, 2013 |
7:00 PM CP-155 |
Dr. Gary Ferland | The Star of Bethlehem |
| November 14, 2013 |
7:00 PM CP-155 |
Tim Knauer | Comet ISON and the Sungrazers |
| October 10, 2013 | 7:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | How old are Surface Features on the Planets and Moons? |
| September 12, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Thomas Troland | The sky at many wavelengths |
| August 8, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Aaron Morris | Dwarf Planets: Stellar Pets |
| July 11, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Gururaj Wagle | The Midlife Crisis |
| June 13, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Kyle McCarthy | Stellar Daycare |
| May 9, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Dale Kocevski | Black Holes through Cosmic Time |
| April 11, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland |
Where we live in the universe |
| March 14, 2013 | 8:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Renbin Yan | The Universe in Rainbow Colors and Beyond |
| February 14, 2013 | 7:00 PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Inquisitive About Quasars |
| January 10, 2013 | 7:00 PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | What Ancient Stars Tell Us about the Universe |
| December 13, 2012 | 7:15PM CP-155 | Dr. Gary Ferland | The Star of Bethlehem |
| November 8, 2012 | 7PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | The Real Big Bang Theory |
| October 11, 2012 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Tom Troland |
Why We Don't Need Humans in Space: A Robotic Tour of the Solar System |
| September 13, 2012 | 8PM CP-155 | Tim Knauer | Inquisitive About Quasars |
| August 9, 2012 | 8PM CP-155 | Gururaj Wagle | Eclipses: Superstition to Fascination |
| July 12, 2012 | 8PM CP-155 | Furea Kiuchi | |
| June 14, 2012 | 8PM CP-155 | Aaron Morris | Denizens of the Galactic Zoo |
| June 5, 2012 | 6PM-8:40PM | SPECIAL EVENT | Weather permitting, join us at The Arboretum to safely view the last Transit of Venus in you and your children's lifetimes. |
| May 31, 2012 |
7:30 PM CP-155 |
Tim Knauer | Standing in the Shadow of Venus |
| May 10, 2012 | 8PM CP-155 | Kyle McCarthy | Finding Alien Planets Around Nearby Stars! |
| Apr 12, 2012 |
8PM CP-155 |
Dr. Robert O'Dell | Building the Hubble Space Telescope |
| Mar 8, 2012 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Gary Ferland | The Mars they saw, and the Mars that really is. |
| Feb 9, 2012 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Thomas Troland |
The Andromeda Galaxy - The most distant object you can see with your naked eye, but it's getting closer all the time! |
| Jan 12, 2012 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | How Einstein's Relativity Changed Our Cosmic Perspective |
| Dec 8, 2011 | 7PM CP-155 | Dr. Susan Gardner | Illuminating the Dark Sector of the Universe |
| Nov 10, 2011 | 7PM CP155 | Dr. Brad Plaster | Why is there more matter than anti-matter in the Universe? |
| Oct 13, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Dr. Moshe Elitzur |
How do we know the age of the Universe? |
| Sep 8, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Tim Knauer | Astronomy from the Big City |
| Aug 11, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Furea Kiuchi | Black Holes: No Escape Even at the Speed of Light |
| July 14, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Tim Knauer | Killer Asteroids and Comets: Ignorance is Bliss |
| June 9, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Aaron Morris | Pulsars: The Galaxy's Lighthouses |
| May 12, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Kristen Thompson | Our Solar System's Shining Star - The Sun |
| Apr 14, 2011 | 8PM - CP155 | Dr. Richard Gray | Exploring the Personalities of Stars through their Spectra |
| Mar 10, 2011 | 7PM | Dr. Gary Ferland | The Man in the Moon |
| Feb 10, 2011 | 7PM | Dr. Tom Troland | A Voyage to Orion |
| Jan 13, 2011 | 7PM | Dr. Joe Straley | Is the Earth Getting Warmer? |
| Dec 9, 2010 | 7PM CP155 | Dr. Jennifer Birriel | Life in the Universe |
| Nov 10, 2010 | 7PM | Dr. Thomas Pannuti | Supernovae: Things That Go *BOOM!* in the Night |
| Oct 14, 2010 | 7PM | Dr. Marco Ciocca | Telescopes, Planets and Stars, oh my...What can be seen and what is needed. |
| Sep 9, 2010 | 8PM | Tim Knauer | Our Universe in 3-d |
| Aug 12, 2010 | 8PM | Tim Knauer | The Perseid Meteor Shower: See and Hear Pieces of Comet Swift-Tuttle |
| Jul 8, 2010 | 8PM | Dr. Ron Wilhelm | Size in the Universe: What Are You Really Seeing? |
| Jun 10, 2010 | 8PM | Tim Knauer | Exploding Stars: the biggest bangs since the first one. |
| May 13, 2010 | 8PM | Dr. Brad Canon | Where are they? Hypotheses about why intelligent life in the Galaxy hasn't contacted us. |
| Apr 8, 2010 | 8PM | Jake Gamsky | Students for the Exploration and Development of Space |
| Mar 11, 2010 | 7PM | Dr. Raymond LeBeau | A Galaxy of Giant Planets |
| Feb 11, 2010 | 7PM | Brandon Hargis | The Hubble Space Telescope: Scientific Breakthroughs and Breathtaking Images |
| Jan 14, 2010 | 7PM | Dr. John Yopp | Astrobiology: What Earth's Extreme Life Forms Tell Us about the Possibilities of Life on Other Planets |
| Dec 10, 2009 | 7PM | Anna Quider | The Dusty Universe |
| Nov 12, 2009 | 7PM | Bill Brockman | Elements of Digital Astrophotography |
| 8 PM CP-155 |
