A planetarium show and sunspot viewing are part of this year’s Homecoming Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Dr. Gary Henson will conduct the events. He is an associate professor in the physics and astronomy department at ETSU and has been a member of ETSU faculty since 1989. He is also the director of the Harry D. Powell Observatory.
The planetarium show will take place in ETSU’s planetarium, an indoor sky theater, on the top floor of Hutcheson Hall Room 207. The planetarium is housed under a 24 foot dome in the observatory and seats approximately 50 people.
“I’ll be showing visitors what the current night sky looks like, what constellations, bright stars, and planets are visible and where to find them,” Henson said. He will also demonstrate how the appearance of the sky changes as the Earth rotates and orbits the Sun.
The sunspot viewing will take place outside Hutcheson Hall. Several telescopes will be set up with special solar filters to allow safe viewing of the Sun, Henson said. “If there are currently sunspots on the Sun’s surface, and at times there can be no spots visible, they will look like small black patches of various shapes and sizes,” he said.
The spots are magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun which prevent some of the energy from below the surface to get through. “Thus, the sunspots are much cooler than the surrounding area which is why they appear darker or black compared to the normal surface,” he said.
One purpose of the Fall Festival events is to allow parents, students, children of students and prospective students a chance to visit the many facilities at ETSU and see what types of activities the various departments offer. “In our department, astronomy is a major component, so what better way to show this than to allow visitors to actually participate in astronomy activities,” Henson said.
Henson said this event is appropriate for all age groups. “However, to see the sunspots, a child would need to be able to comfortably look through an eyepiece, like looking through a microscope or set of binoculars,” he said.
The astronomy event is free of charge, however literature will be available and the “Friends of Astronomy Foundation” will accept donations to help support the program.

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