Photo above by Todd Bush

Appalachian State University's Dark Sky Observatory is the research facility used by faculty and their students to conduct observational research in astrophysics. Established in 1981, the observatory is located about 20 miles northeast of Boone at an elevation of a kilometer. Far from major cities, its dark skies provide a good setting for digital imaging and spectroscopy done in stellar and extragalactic research projects. With the planned opening of the Cline Visitor Center (hopefully Spring 2009), a new public access program will bring viewing opportunities to everyone in our region.

We thank local photographer and amateur astronomer Todd Bush for providing the wonderful image at left, during a special evening at DSO. The Milky Way streams from the top of the 32-inch telescope's dome. You can even see the dark dust lanes in the Milky Way. Thanks, Todd!

Dark Sky Observatory has first night online with Skynet GRB scope.

A special telescope has been assembled at Appalachian State University’s Dark Sky Observatory with the support of North Carolina Space Grant to observe the afterglow of gamma ray bursts (GRBs). Those events are observed by NASA’s Swift or GLAST satellites which automatically notify a network of ground-based telescopes to observe the visible-light event that follows the gamma ray burst. Since only a few bursts happen per week the telescope will spend its idle time (while waiting for a GRB notification), searching for exopolanets (planets around other stars), by looking for drops in brightness when those planets come between us and their parent star.

Construction is complete and after one test night June 17th online on Skynet, the telescope had its first all-night run on Skynet on August 11-12.

This is also the thesis project of graduate student Adam Blythe Smith.

The C14/Paramount Skynet telescope. Click on image for larger version.

Perseid meteor shower at DSO

The image at right shows a Perseid meteor caught by a camera at the Dark Sky Observatory on the night of August 11-12, at about 2:45 am.

The "fisheye" view shows the 18-inch telescope's dome silhouetted at top left and the feed horn support for the radio telescope at bottom right. Northeast is at the bottom. (See the marked up image at bottom for identifications).

The Milky Way runs from top to bottom with its dark dust lane cutting through the middle. The brightest stars of the constellation Perseus are at the bottom and the sideways "W" shape of the constellation Cassiopeia is above that. The meteor appears to come from a point between--the radiant of the Perseid shower.

Cygnus, the swan (or northern cross) is at top. It's brightest star, Deneb, combines with Lyra's brightest star, Vega (top left), and Aquila's brightest star, Altair, to comprise the "Summer Triangle."

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