For this Month's Club Meeting on Wednesday Oct. 5, we will have Robert Victor show us some upcoming sky events on the dome, and I came across a Michigan Tech University presentation on their "Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise" in which students design, test, and implement robotic technologies for extracting (and using) local resources in extreme environments. That includes Lunar and Martian surfaces. Students are working on building a Rover and mining extractor. See you at 7:00pm at Abrams Planetarium Oct. 5, 2022
We had a great event Saturday Night Oct. 1 at MSU for the International Observe the Moon Night! It was a great turn out. The MSU astronomy folks had a few children's activities setup inside the observatory along with views through the 24". We had telescopes set up outside for the public to view while waiting for the big scope. I was using the new 12 inch Dobsonian and after getting it collimated, the views of the Crescent moon were wonderful. Once it got dark we had great views of Saturn and Jupiter as well. There were a lot of OOHH'S and Ahh's when people saw the rings of Saturn and the moon craters close up. We were lucky to have such nice weather and clear skies. At 9:40 the space station made a bright fly over and we had everyone come outside to watch it pass over. Make sure you come out to the October MSU open house- it will be the last weekend public night until Spring!!
The next Public Observing at Fox Park will be Oct. 14 and 15
The Next MSU Observatory Public Nights will be Oct. 28 and 29.