Year: 2012

Partial Lunar Eclipse this Monday morning

This Monday morning look west for the Moon around 6:00am.  You should see the Moon in the middle of a partial eclipse.  For more information please visit one of my favorite sites: earthsky.org  If you want to know more specific times for viewing from our location visit this lunar eclipse computer.


June 2, 2012 0

Annular Solar Eclipse this Sunday

We won’t be in the best viewing spot to see the annular solar eclipse, however we will be able to see less than half of the eclipse before sunset here in Austin.  What we can see here will begin at 7:35pm and the maximum annular eclipse we will see will be at 8:20pm.  Remember to…
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May 18, 2012 0

Making telescopes at the Austin Mini Maker Faire

Brave telescope makers at the Austin Mini Makers Faire.  We ran out fast!  For instructions on how to make the telescopes we made today visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIAdyljrwI (Thank you stormthecastle.com for the youtube tutorial) I ordered the lenses from the Surplus Shed: http://www.surplusshed.com/lens.cfm We used a 50cm focal length and a 5cm focal length double convex lens, both with 38…
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May 12, 2012 0

Come see me at the Austin Mini Maker Faire tomorrow!

Make a simple telescope out of two small lenses cardboard tubes, foil and toilet paper rolls. (Come early! We have only enough telescopes for the first 20 kiddos.)  Make a constellation projector out of toiled paper rolls.  Cut out your very own star charts to take home.  See ya there!


May 11, 2012 0

5 week course for ages 5-13 ends

What a great course we had!  By the end of it everyone was finding the planets all by themselves in the telescopes.  Everyone could pick out the major constellations, and towards the end we started having conversations about life on other planets and discussing theories about the formation of the solar system.  It was a…
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May 2, 2012 0

ASTRO Camp! A camp that is truly out of this world!

 Austin Planetarium’s Astro Camp: The camp that is truly out of this world! Explore the Sun, Moon, planets and galaxy with lots of hands-on activities. Learn constellation stories and make up your own. Build a simple telescope. Take part in Astronaut activities. And every day spend time in the Austin Planetarium’s incredible Discovery Dome mobile planetarium…
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April 7, 2012 0