Welcome to the Rochester Astronomy Club
Rochester, Minnesota
*** COVID-19 vaccination recommended for all events attendees ***
FrontPage
Lunar Eclipse
I stayed up for the 93% lunar eclipse that was visible very early Friday morning. I didn’t setup my telescope because I thought the clouds and wind were going to ruin it but it actually turned out to be an incredibly beautiful night. Through binoculars it was the best lunar eclipse I’ve yet witnessed. I caught this series of photos […]
FrontPage
Frontenac 11/6
Visitors of the Frontenac State Park had on Saturday November 6 opportunity to see celestial object through telescopes. There were three stations with telescopes on parking loop in short distance from beautiful overlook. People could watch sliver only four days old Moon above southwest horizon not so far from brilliant Venus. On South were shining Jupiter and Saturn. And of […]
FrontPage
RAC Forum Migration
Hello! We have migrated the original RAC forum to a new platform that will better integrate with the RAC website and allow us to make some nice enhancements in the near future. If you used our original forum, your user account, posts and photos / media attachments have been migrated to the new forum. Original forum: https://rochesterskies.org/forums New forum: https://rochesterskies.org/forum […]
FrontPage
Nova Cas 2021
A bright nova ignited in the constellation Cassiopeia, which is also available in the binoculars. The current brightness is around 7.8 mag (March 19, 2021) and still is getting brighter. Nova was given the designation Nova Cas 2021. It can be found close to the M52. The flare of the nova discovered Japanese Yuji Nakamura March 18, 2021 as an […]
FrontPage
Solstice December 21, 2020 sunrise
December 21, 2020
Josef Chlachula
FrontPage, Members Blog
Comments Off on Solstice December 21, 2020 sunrise
On Monday December 21, 2020 at 10:02 UTC (4:02 AM CST) Sun has reached the southernmost point in the Earth sky. Picture shows sunrise above Root River Park, even though sky was mostly cloudy. There was a surprise on the opposite side of the horizon in form of Sun dog, something rare to see.
FrontPage
Morning Mercury
Weather permitting, second half of the November is a good time to see Mercury on East horizon before sunrise! To spot Mercury can be difficult. On Friday November 13 2020 it was actually very easy. Mercury was visible under sliver of the Moon between two trees, as you can see on picture taken at 5:52 AM (exposure 1.3s, ISO 800). […]
FrontPage
Minnesota Statewide Virtual Star Party by the Bell Museum
November 9, 2020
John Martin
FrontPage
Comments Off on Minnesota Statewide Virtual Star Party by the Bell Museum
When you look up at the night sky, do you ever wonder how different it would look under really dark skies? What do others across the state see compared to the view in your town? What actions can you take to protect our night skies or help scientists understand the effects of light pollution? Join us for the Bell Museum’s […]
FrontPage
The Most Astounding Fact
By Mitchel Medvec The video idea came from a day when I was incredibly bored, sitting on my couch during quarantine watching astrophotography videos on youtube. I have always had an incredible interest in astronomy and the cosmos in general, which is why I am currently majoring in Astrophysics at the University of Minnesota. It wasn’t until I started this […]
FrontPage
Winter Sky above Oxbow
February 28, 2020
Josef Chlachula
FrontPage, Members Blog, Public Events
Comments Off on Winter Sky above Oxbow
On Friday February 28 the Rochester Astronomy Club hosted Public Sky Observing at Oxbow Park. It was a nice winter day, that turned into beautiful evening for observing. This public event started at 6:30 PM and several RAC members provided telescopes. Tables and chairs were also setup inside the visitor center so observers could warm up and see presentations by […]
FrontPage
Evening Mercury
The first three weeks of February 2020 there is good chance to spot elusive planet Mercury on the evening sky. Mercury is the innermost planet and doesn’t go far from Sun. This time of year Mercury can be seen on the evening sky about half hour after sunset. High above southwest horizon, there is also visible much brighter planet Venus. […]
