Join us on clear Monday nights from 9:30pm to 11:30pm for Public Night. Anyone is welcome to come by and take a look through our telescopes. You'll be able to see the Moon, planets, stars, star clusters, and more (depending on what's in the sky that night).
Sky Alerts!!!
Launch Update: The launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour has again been rescheduled for July 11 at 7:39 pm EDT. The launch was posponed due to a leak in the hydrogen gas venting system of the external fuel tank. More updates to come. Read more from NASA...
Mars Hoax: Each year for the past six years, an email gets spread around that claims on August 27th Mars will look as big as the full Moon. This is not the case. Six years ago, Mars did make a close encounter of around 56 million km from Earth, but even at this distance, Mars would not look more than a bright red star in the sky, nowhere near the size of the full Moon. Read the article from science.nasa.gov.
The International Space Station flys over Columbia often either shortly before sunrise or just after sunset. The ISS appears as bright as Venus and moves faster than an airplane across the sky! Click here for flyby times in your area.
Click here for seeing conditions over Columbia, SC tonight.
Check out the Sky Info section for more on what's in the night sky.
Observatory News
03.08.09 Due to the recent time change, our Public Night hours are now 9:30 pm to 11:30 pm beginning March 9.
11.30.08 We have a new website! Check out our Image of the Week column to see recent images captured at the Melton Observatory and learn about the objects in these images.
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