Author
A DeWitt Lunar Eclipse
Jul. 10, 2020—Lunar eclipses are a celestial treat, but for many observers it seems like either the clouds know when to interfere or the eclipse inconveniently happens during the early morning hours. This was not the case for the total lunar eclipse of February 20, 2008. Shown above in the three-second exposure, Dyer Observatory’s beloved Seyfert Telescope...
Slice of a Meteorite
Jun. 30, 2020—Happy Asteroid Day! Today marks the 112th anniversary of the Tunguska Event. On June 30th, 1908, the skies over Tunguska, Siberia, lit up as an object, likely a stony meteor about the size of a football field, exploded a few miles above the surface of the Earth. The blast wave generated by the explosion leveled nearly...
ISS and Atlantis Flyover
Jun. 20, 2020—It seems like only yesterday that we would see a news segment about one of NASA’s famous space shuttles blasting off of the launchpad from Kennedy Space Center. Believe it or not, it has been almost a decade since the flight of the last shuttle mission. The image above was taken from Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory...
Northern Red Oak and the Derecho
May. 26, 2020—The Dyer Observatory grounds enjoy a large number and variety of trees, but we still hate to see one go. On May 3, 2020, a derecho struck the Nashville area and snapped off this unfortunate northern red oak. While it was being cleaned up on the property, Dyer Observatory Superintendent Nathan Griffin paused to count the...
Russia Plans Second Sphere
May. 20, 2020—The Space Race took off in earnest with the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik I on October 4, 1957. The United States was making plans to launch its own satellite, the Vanguard, in the near future, but the American public was caught off guard and thus alarmed by the orbiting 184-pound, beach-ball-sized craft. As...
Cumulonimbus Calvus Cloud
May. 18, 2020—As an astronomical observatory, we most look forward to perfectly clear skies which allow us to see distant cosmic bodies, but on occasion we enjoy lovely surprises cooked up by the Earth’s own atmosphere. This photo was taken from the Dyer Observatory grounds looking westward on a summer afternoon. Our main dome, which houses the...
Great Horned Owl
May. 4, 2020—Dyer Observatory is a unique parcel of the Vanderbilt University campus due to its seclusion at the peak of Brentwood ridge. The site is made even more special by being entirely surrounded by the verdant Radnor Lake State Natural Area. A special feature of Radnor is the Barbara J. Mapp Aviary Education Center which can...
Shatter Cone from the Wells Creek Basin
May. 1, 2020—Tennessee’s Wells Creek impact basin, located about an hour and a half drive northwest of Nashville, is the source of this shatter cone. It was formed by the shock wave of a meteorite impact massive enough to travel through underlying rock in a branching pattern, which created cone-shaped rock fragments with distinctive striation radiating from...
Comet Mrkos
Apr. 29, 2020—Occasionally, Nashville residents are lucky enough to see a comet pass in the night sky. In August 1957, Comet Mrkos, named for the Czechoslovakian astronomer Antonín Mrkos who discovered it, was visible for a few weeks to the naked eye. It was dubbed the “2nd Visiting Comet” because that spring, the passing of Comet Arend-Roland...
The Ferguson Fused-Quartz Mirror
Apr. 28, 2020—Vanderbilt University’s Dyer Observatory owes its existence to this 24″ fuzed-quartz disk, which unbeknownst to many first-time visitors to the observatory, is actually an uncoated (no reflective layer) telescope mirror. Vanderbilt University’s acquisition of this mirror, formally known as the Ferguson fused-quartz disk, began around June 1943. The 24″ mirror was made by John Ferguson...