Berry College Physics & Astronomy News

The Transit of Mercury: Monday, 15 November 1999 at 16:32 EST

An expert team of professors, astronomy students and other interested persons ventured out into the field behind the administration building on 15 November 1999 in order to witness the last transit of Mercury until May 11, 2391. Armed with inadequate knowledge, the child of spotty (sic) research, the team didn't know that the transit would be a grazing one, and that Mercury would barely skim the limb of the Sun. The end was that we saw it but thought we didn't. It was a blunder, but photos later revealed the clear difference between the sunspots and tiny disc-like Mercury. The photo above was taken by Dr. Robert Young with a basic 35-mm camera through a six-inch Newtonian reflector with a solar filter. Not bad for such a thrown-together setup.

Later that same week, Drs. McDonald and Wallace hosted a very large star party at Berry's Pew Observatory. The reason for the gathering was the Leonid Meteor shower, expected to be very large in 1999. About 200 folks showed up for a great time; the near total lack of brilliant meteors was made up for in camaraderie and sheer fun. Not often do you get 200 people bundled up on a hillside in the middle of nowhere at 2:30 AM, looking at the sky together. The few bright meteors were greeted by shouts of approval from the happy throng.

A total lunar eclipse will occur on the night of January 20, 2000. We plan to have a party at the Observatory that night for all interested persons. It should be a good one! Here at Berry, the eclipse should begin at 9:06 PM EST, reach totality at 11:02, and end at 2:22 AM EST on the 21st. Totality should last about 2.5 hours. Come on out and join the fun. During the time that the Moon is in the darkest part of the Earth's shadow (caled the umbra), it takes on a ghostly red glow thanks to the fact that the earth's atmosphere refracts more red light than blue.