Cool Images

Since the fall of 2000, Calvin College Observatory has been equipped with a CCD camera with a filter wheel and a spectroscope. This equipment is used by Calvin students both in introductory and advanced classes to make a quantitative record of celestial observations. On this web page, we have links to some of the images that have been made along with descriptions of what we can learn from the images and the practicalities of how they have been processed. Beginning in 2004, the images are made with our telescope in Rehoboth, New Mexico.

• Screensaver
• Solar system objects
  • Phases of Venus (or Venus movie) (updated 6/25/01)
  • Crescent Moon (posted 3/16/01)
  • Comets:
    • Comet LINEAR (C/2001 A2) (posted 7/6/01)
    • Comet Pojmanski (C/2006 A1) (posted 3/13/06)
    • Comet 17P/Holmes (posted 10/26/07, updated 11/1/07)
  • Mars (posted 8/20/03)
  • Asteroids
  • Serendipitous Discovery of Asteroid 128177 (2003 RA11) (posted 9/16/03, updated 3/21/06)
  • Recovery of Asteroid 128177 (2003 RA11) (posted 8/18/05, updated 3/21/06)
  • Asteroid Discovery Laboratory (posted 8/18/05)
  • Table of Calvin College Asteroid Discoveries (updated 6/26/08)
  • Asteroid 188847 (2006 FT9): Discovery of a Trojan Asteroid (updated 6/21/08)
  • Asteroid names:
    • First Official Names for Calvin Asteroids: Spoelhof and Griffioen (posted 6/15/06)
    • Asteroid Rehoboth (posted 4/11/07)
    • Asteroid De Young (posted 4/11/07)
  • Jupiter at High Resolution and the Jupiter Movie (updated 8/5/02)
  • Two Views of Saturn (updated 8/1/02)
  • Pluto in Motion (updated 8/15/02)
  • Sedna: the limit of the observable solar system (posted 1/1/05)
• Messier Catalog of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies
• NGC catalog of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies
• Stars and Nebulae
  • U Gem: A Dwarf Nova Outburst and Scale Model Movie (posted 8/15/02)
  • Ring Nebula in Lyra (M57) (updated 4/28/05)
  • Dumbbell Nebula (M27) (posted 10/14/03)
  • Crab Nebula (M1) (posted 4/27/05)
  • Orion Nebula (M42) (updated 5/8/05)
  • Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (M13) (posted 7/3/01)
  • North America Nebula (NGC 7000) (posted 12/21/5)
• Galaxies
  • Grand Design Spiral Galaxy M100 (posted 5/19/05)
  • Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) (updated 4/28/05)
  • Supernova in Whirlpool Galaxy M51 (updated 9/7/05)
  Class observing projects
  • Astronomy 112, Fall 2007
  • Astronomy 212, Spring 2007
  • Astronomy 111, Spring 2007
  • Astronomy 110, Fall 2006
  • Astronomy 110, Spring 2006
  • Astronomy 112, Spring 2006
  • Astronomy 110, Fall 2005
  • Astronomy 110, Spring 2005
  • Astronomy 112, Spring 2005
  • Astronomy 212, Spring 2005
  • Astronomy 110, Fall 2004
  • Astronomy 111, Fall 2004
  • Astronomy 112, Spring 2004
  • Astronomy 384, Spring 2004
  • Astronomy 112, Spring 2003
  • Astronomy 212, Fall 2002

updated 6/26/08 by L. Molnar