UIS Observatory
@uisobservatory.bsky.social
This account does not express the opinions of the U of Illinois. It is the home of UIS Friday Night Star Parties ⭐️🎉 and other outreach and research by Prof Martin. Go.uis.edu/starparties
I fell down a rabbit hole and saw this beautiful Russell W Porter cut-away drawing of the CWRU Burrell Schmidt Telescope that I remember hanging in the CWRU Astronomy Library. Porter basically invented the cut-away technical drawing. All his work is super interesting and beautiful.
A week from Wednesday on August 12 the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks. Join us on the Cawley Meadow at Lincoln Memorial Garden to watch. Go.uis.edu/starparties
This event is one week away. Join us under dark skies in Pittsfield, IL to hear stories about the night sky from the Underground Railroad and look through telescopes.
UIS Observatory@uisobservatory.bsky.social · last mo.We are excited to to announce we are partnering with the NPS New Philadelphia Historic Site to do Star Gazing and Freedom Stories on August 8 and August 29. Mark your calendars and we will see you there. www.nps.gov/neph/planyou...
My teams have completed all necessary checks and testing of the Cebreros station. After careful review, we have declared the antenna GREEN for nominal operations as of 27 July.
Josef Aschbacher@josefaschbacher.esa.int · 2w agoBased on current information, the Cebreros station appears to have remained unharmed. My deepest thanks go to the Spanish emergency services whose efforts helped protect the site as wildfires approached. Left: 24 July 19:57, Right: 25 July 07:54
All good! bsky.app/profile/jose...
Josef Aschbacher@josefaschbacher.esa.int · 2w agoBased on current information, the Cebreros station appears to have remained unharmed. My deepest thanks go to the Spanish emergency services whose efforts helped protect the site as wildfires approached. Left: 24 July 19:57, Right: 25 July 07:54
It also will cripple all of our robotic missions beyond Earth’s orbit. The DSN was already oversubscribed - time and bandwidth books out months in advance - and there simply is no substitute for it. The Spain station is 1/3 of the DSN.
UIS Observatory@uisobservatory.bsky.social · 2w agoI’d like to make it clear for all the people following me what the sheer gravity of the news is. Without this facility we can’t ensure constant communication with spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. If this facility is off-line, the Artemis program cannot send a crew to the Moon.
I’d like to make it clear for all the people following me what the sheer gravity of the news is. Without this facility we can’t ensure constant communication with spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. If this facility is off-line, the Artemis program cannot send a crew to the Moon.
Andy Scollick@andyscollick.bsky.social · 2w agoThe Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex at Robledo de Chavela municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain on fire. Burgohondo wildfire. 📷 via Infues Avila
Today I visited the SSPI Astronomy summer program at Knox College to talk to the students about massive stars. I’m always happy to accept invitations to talk to groups across central Illinois.
Sunday night we worked through the smoke and bad air to image fields in the Andromeda Galaxy for the Luminous Stars project.
Nearby galaxies Barnard’s Galaxy and the Fireworks Galaxy composed from images taken this week with the 20-inch telescope.
We had beautiful weather the first half of this week to begin this year‘s imaging campaign for the luminous stars project in the Andromeda galaxy.
A picture of globular cluster M10 imaged last night with the UIS research observatory wide field camera.
The purloined planet: Astronomers find a third planet around the nearby very young star Beta Pictoris… and it was hiding in plain sight for over a decade! [with amazing video of the planet's orbital motion] badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-third-pl... 🔭 🧪
A third planet for the nearby star Beta Pictoris!
The gas giant has been hiding in plain sight for over a decade
badastronomy.beehiiv.com
A nice sky last night before the fog rolled in around dawn. We snapped this deep image of globular star cluster M92 with the wide field camera.
It gets knocked down, but it gets up again. You’re never gonna keep it down. The global meteor network camera at the UIS Lake Station is back online! Go.uis.edu/LakeGMN
go.uis.edu
The star cluster NGC 7790 and the surrounding starfield imaged by the UIS research observatory wide field camera last Sunday night.
Four years of Webb science! And what a time it has been! We've learned so much about our universe and ourselves. Here are some of our favorite images and most interesting science results!
Approaching ***300,000*** comments on the proposed OMB regulations on federal grants. TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY, GET YOUR PERSONALIZED (NOT COPIED-AND-PASTED!) COMMENT IN BY NOON EST. www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM...
Absolutely gorgeous clear sky on Sunday night. While doing science in parallel, we took this image of the Fireworks Galaxy with the wide field camera.
Images of the Witch’s Broom nebula taken by the UIS research observatory wide field camera on Tuesday night.
This is a presentation I made recently at ta Society for Astronomical Sciences symposium about the UIS Research Observatory’s ongoing work with the Be Star Kappa Draconis youtu.be/mRqdASZ8dSY?...
Society for Astronomical Sciences 2026 Symposium: Saturday part 7 out of 10
YouTube video by Dr. Martin at the UIS Observatory
youtu.be
The beginning of this week the Star Lab portable planetarium is at Fairview Elementary for Camp Compass. @compassforkids
Another clear night on Wednesday and we used it to take spectra of the Be stars Theta Corona Borealis, 66 Ophiuchus and 59 Cygnus with the 20 inch telescope.
On Tuesday night we used the 20-inch telescope to record spectra of Be Star Theta Corona Borealis and 66 Ophiuchus.
Low-Earth orbit has gotten so crowded that new NASA mission proposals need to include (and pay for, out of a limited cost cap!) three collision avoidance maneuvers, and are told to expect 1-5 potential collisions that need to be avoided.
We are excited to to announce we are partnering with the NPS New Philadelphia Historic Site to do Star Gazing and Freedom Stories on August 8 and August 29. Mark your calendars and we will see you there. www.nps.gov/neph/planyou...
I have the Star Lab at Jane Addams Elementary school this week to do planetarium shows for kids attending Camp Compass
