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September Programs
Summer Constellations — The mythology and science behind star patterns in the Summer sky above Lincoln. [Plays when the sky is clear and there is no moon.] Run time: approximately 20 minutes.
Earth’s Nearest Neighbor — A new program about the moon, runs only on evenings when the moon is visible. Run time: 21 minutes.
Jupiter — The latest science from the Juno Mission to the Solar System’s largest planet, which is in our sky all evening this month. Run time: 20 minutes.
Cassini’s View of Saturn — The last science from the Cassini spacecraft that crashed into Saturn last year. Run time: 22 minutes.
Explore Mars 2018 — A new program on the Red Planet, which is now prominent in our evening sky, and closer to Earth than it has been in 15 years. Run time: 23 minutes.
Your Window on the Universe
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Our Telescopes
Featuring views of the night skies through our 3 Telescopes!
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Presentations & Programs
Astronomy Presentations every Saturday Night!
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It's all FREE
There is NO ADMISSION CHARGE
HOURS
We’re open every Saturday year-round.
Hyde may be closed if Saturday falls on or very near a major holiday. If in doubt call first: (402) 441-7094.
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March 15-August 31
Sundown to 11 PM
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September 1-30
8 PM to 11 PM
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October 1-March 14
7 PM to 10 PM
What we’re looking at through the observatory’s telescopes in September:
The Planets
Venus is low in the west after sunset. It appears as a crescent in the telescopes, but will be too low to view by the end of September. Jupiter, too, is dropping into the solar glare and is growing dimmer and smaller as Earth speeds away from it. Jupiter will be too low to catch in the telescopes by the end of September. Saturn is low in the South through most September evenings, but it gets too far down in the west for our telescopes to pick up around 11 p.m. closing time at the end of the month, so best get to the observatory around opening time at 8 to see it. Mars is bright orange in the southern sky all month. Its bothersome planetwide dust storm has ended, and dust is slowly settling out of the atmosphere, so some surface features are beginning to reveal themselves.
The Moon
On Saturday public nights this month: September 1 — nearing Last Quarter, not visible in the evening sky; September 8 — a day before New Moon, not visible; September 15 — nearing First Quarter, the moon will be in the sky all evening and the terminator (boundary between light and dark) will provide excellent contrast for surface features — the best night this month to see the moon through our telescopes; September 22 — Three days before Full Moon, there is still enough of a shadow line on the moon’s flank to reveal some surface features, although most are lost in glare…the second-best lunar viewing Saturday night in September; September 29 — 4 days after Full Moon, the moon rises about 45 minutes before the observatory closes at 11 p.m, and there is enough of a terminator to see some surface features well.
Deep Sky Objects
Galaxies, Nebulae, globular star clusters and other objects will be targets for the Hyde telescopes throughout the month, depending upon sky conditions (best seen on September 1 and 8, when the moon will not be blotting out faint objects in the sky). Three bright stars moving from directly overhead towards the west herald the end of summer: Deneb in Cygnus (the Swan), Vega in Lyra (the Lyre), and Altair in Aquila (the Eagle) make up the easy-to-find Summer Triangle. Their drift away from the zenith is a reliable indicator that summer is ending. Another: The Autumn Equinox, official end of Summer, occurs September 23. After that, we will be running the Autumn Constellations program.