In the dome now
The Long Night of Andromeda
Started 19:00 · ends 19:45. Latecomers enter by the red lamp on the north door; the lights stay down.
Doors close in 4 minObservatory & Planetarium · open every clear night since 1931
Eight minutes with a research telescope. You’ll always know what it’s doing.
Pick an object from tonight’s list. The console glows while the mount slews and the shutter follows, then settles the moment your target is locked — so nobody on the gallery stairs wonders whether it’s working.
- Tonight
- 11 visitors queued
- Sunset
- 18:31
- Moon
- 4% · sets 19:02
Dome B · Telescope 2
0.6 m Ritchey–Chrétien
Slewing
- Slewing to
- Andromeda Galaxy M31
- RA
- 00h 42m 44s
- Dec
- +41° 16′ 09″
- Altitude
- 62°
- Mag
- 3.4
Moving the mount to M31 — dome shutter following
0%M31Andromeda GalaxySpiral galaxy · 2.5 million ly62°
PlanetSaturnRings open 4.1° · Titan east34°
β CygAlbireoGold and blue double · 35″ apart48°
M57Ring NebulaPlanetary nebula in Lyra41°
Live console · choose another target to slew again
01 · Ask the sky
One bar for every question about tonight.
The edge of the bar lights quietly while your cursor is in it, and runs blue along the bottom while we check the ephemeris against the trees on the western ridge. The words underneath always say what is happening; the light only points at it.
Try “planets after 23:00”
- Andromeda GalaxyNE · 62°Naked-eye from the car park once your eyes adapt.
- AlbireoW · 48°The prettiest double star we own. Gold and blue.
- Ring NebulaW · 41°Small and grey — ask the operator for the 300× view.
02 · The dome tonight
Only one thing glows red: the show you can still walk into.
Shows you save get a single slow lap of light and then keep a plain outline. The planetarium is dark; the interface shouldn’t compete with it.
- 20:15Two Voyagers, Still Talking35 min · all ages · narrated live
- 21:30Why the Sky Turns Green40 min · aurora science · 10+
- 22:45Deep Field, Slowly50 min · no narration · late session
03 · How the console talks
Four states, one priority order.
Loading outranks selection, selection outranks focus, focus outranks hover. With reduced motion on, every beam stops and the outlines, labels and ARIA attributes carry the state alone.
StateWhere at Kettle HillPresetPaletteStrength · cycleMeaning carried by
01 LoadingTelescope slewing, sky query runningpulse-inner · lineocean0.65–0.72 · 2.4–2.6 saria-busy
02 SelectedTarget just chosen, show addedmd · ~1 s then staticmono0.42–0.50 · 4.2–4.4 saria-selected · aria-pressed
03 FocusCursor in the ask barlinemono0.45 · 3.1 s:focus-visible kept
04 LiveThe one show in the dome right nowpulse-outside · one per viewsunset0.55 · 3 svisible label