The Rice Campus Observatory is used primarily as a teaching facility for undergraduate education. Classes which make use of the observatory include Astr 201: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe and Astr 202: Exploration of the Solar System, both introductory classes for non-science majors; Astr 221: Observing the Night Sky, a new lab class for students in all academic programs; and Astr 230: Astronomy Lab, the primary course for Astronomy majors and others to learn to use a research calibre telescope and equipment including spectrometers and CCD imagers. Students in Astr 230 also learn advanced image processing techniques such as IRAF which they use on data taken at the campus observatory to do a final research project.
Observatory Location:
The
Open Houses:
General: Approximately once a month we have public
viewing open houses on a weekend night near first quarter moon. The dates for these are posted at this
website approximately two weeks in advance.
During special astronomical events we may also have special public
viewing sessions. The times for open
houses depend on local sunset times, but generally start about an hour after
sunset and go on for 2-3 hours thereafter.
During summer months, when school is not in session, we might have
additional open houses. During mid-November
through mid-February we suspend open houses due to the combination of bad
weather and holidays. Reservations for special
nights by groups or for during scheduled open houses are not practical given
our limited staff, so viewing through the 16inch telescope is done on a “first-come,
first-served” basis (sign-up sheets during high attendance nights). School groups interested in seeing an
astronomical observatory and looking through telescopes should contact the George
Observatory in
Fees: Unless specifically noted as Rice only above, the open houses are available to anyone. Aside from parking described above, there is no fee to attend the observatory open house.
Notes on Telescopes: The best views of planets, stars clusters and nebulae are with our computerized 16inch telescope in the dome, but we can only accommodate about 60 people an hour looking through it and on busy nights a sign-up system is employed. However, in addition to this telescope, there will be 2-3 (or more) smaller telescopes set up in the parking lot for viewing. These smaller telescopes do not require sign in. Our experience has been that the large telescope is able to see planets and the Moon well through thin clouds, and if it is clear we get good views from the smaller portable scopes as well. When the Moon is out, we will get some wonderful resolution with all the telescopes.
If you have small children, (i.e., less than about 7 years old, we recommend that they use the telescopes set up in the parking lot. The wait to see through these telescopes is much shorter than for the telescope in the dome, and small children are rarely able to discern any more detail through the large telescope. The Moon is probably the ideal target for children, as it is bright and easy to see.
Weather:
For more information about astronomy and space science at Rice please refer
to our research pages
and our course
listings. Additional space-related events of interest to the public
can be found on the Rice Space Institute
home page.
Special Reserved Nights
Friday Dec 5 Tom Williams' group
Sat/Sun Nov 15/16 – occultation research (Tom Williams)
Thu-Tues Nov 20-25 – mornings,
Sun-Fri Oct 26-31 and Sun-Tue Nov 2-4 TV Astronomy projects (Dufour)
Weather Links:
Open House Schedules in Previous Months:
November 2003:
October 2003:
September 2003:
August 2003:
June 2003:
May 2003:
April 2003:
March 2003:
February 2003:
Sunday, Feb 23rd; 7-10PM - Dufour - Telescope operation for interested undergraduates.
Authorized users can send email to
rjd@rice.edu to get put on the observatory
schedule.
Dept Home
|| Graduate
Study || Undergraduate
Study || Courses
|| Research
Programs
Campus Observatory
|| Directory
|| Colloquia
|| News
|| Related
Organizations || Rice
Department of Physics & Astronomy - MS 61,
Office: 713-348-4938 Fax:713-348-4150 physics@rice.edu