Enjoy the view of spring constellations during this month’s Observatory Open House at Indiana University Kokomo, on Sunday, March 8 beginning at 8 p.m.
It will be hosted by Patrick Motl, associate dean of the School of Sciences, who plans to show those attending both Venus and the moon during sunset, weather permitting. Several spring constellations will also be viewed, including Al Jabhah, sometimes referred to as “the lion’s mane.” Al Jabhah is one of the main stars in the Leo constellation.
While spring is right around the corner, many of the winter constellations will still be visible during the open house. The Orion Nebula, one of the brightest nebulae in the greater constellation of Orion, will be in full view, along with Auriga and Taurus, two open clusters of stars.
Motl plans to begin the open house with discussion of new developments in the astronomy world.
“I will discuss recent news in astronomy and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanent Survey Satellite (TESS) that has begun to return results for planetary systems about stars relatively close to our own sun in the galaxy,” he said.
The TESS was launched in 2018 by NASA to search for exoplanets, which are planets outside of our solar system. As of March, it has identified nearly 2,000 exoplanets, 41 of which have been confirmed.
The event is free and open to the public at the IU Kokomo Observatory, 2660 South Washington Street. Free parking is available on campus.
Story written by Braden Dunlap. Braden is an intern in the Office of Media and Marketing.
Indiana University Kokomo celebrates 75 years as north central Indiana’s choice for higher education.