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Welcome to the
Osten Observatory on the campus of Concordia University in Seward,
Nebraska!
The
observatory supports a Meade LX-200 16" telescope in a Sirius
Observatories 10-foot fiberglass dome. Students and faculty
host
regular public viewing in the spring and fall, and use the Meade DSI
CCD imager for photography and research.
News:
- The first open house of the
school year was September 1. Eight people braved temperatures
in
the mid-90's and a heat index of 110 at the start of the show to see
the fall skies.
Thanks to
all
who came out!
- The
next public viewing will be Thursday October 6, 2011 from 8:00 - 0:30
pm.
Come out and see the Moon, the Ring Nebula, a pretty
double star, a rich globular cluster and a nearby galaxy!
- There is now abundant parking in the new
HHPAC parking lot just west of the observatory! Please do not
park on Hillcrest. There is an illuminated path from the
parking lot to the observatory.
- Please
note that in the fall we will be having one open house per month in
September, October and November. See the "Events" page for
details.
- We have had several questions about an
email saying that August 25 would be a great night to view Mars.
Unfortunately, this email is a hoax. There was a
great viewing of Mars on August 25, 2002 (where we had over 400 people
see it through the telescope!). Since then the email has
re-circulated every year, but with the year removed from the date and
with details becoming more and more enhanced. Please see this
NASA
page and this
page from Snopes about the Mars Hoax.
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