Friday Nights, Celestial Lights: View the heavens through UTSA's telescopes

Ursa Major (Great Bear or Big Dipper)

By Christi Fish
Public Affairs Specialist

(Jan. 6, 2010)--UTSA's faculty astronomers invite the community to the UTSA Main Campus on Friday, Jan. 15 to enjoy the ninth installment of its signature series, "Friday Nights, Celestial Lights." The evening event is free and open to the public.

At 7:30 p.m., weather permitting, attendees can use UTSA's telescopes, including a 15-inch telescope and several 8-inch Cassegrain telescopes to view celestial objects. Night viewing will be from the fourth-floor patio of the Science Building, which is wheelchair accessible. If the sky is clear, constellations such as Orion, Canis Major and Ursa Major will be visible, along with the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and other celestial objects.

Sponsored by the UTSA Department of Physics and Astronomy, the astronomy event series is inspired by the International Year of Astronomy, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei using a telescope to observe the heavens.

For more information, contact Professor Eric Schlegel at 210-458-6425 or lecturer Mark Jurena at 210-458-4922.