January: The Horsehead Nebula February: Supernova Remnant IC 443 March: NGC 2841 April: Close-up of a Comet May: M81 - A Grand Design Spiral June: Planetary Nebulae - Death shrouds of suns	... the North America nebula, 1600 light-years away, is visible in binoculars high overhead on a dark late-summer night...     Images from Splendor of the Iowa Skies:   The 2003 Fick Observatory Calendar	July: NGC 6791 - An Old Star Cluster August: Flyby of a space rock September: Supernova in galaxy M74 October: Aurora Borealis November: NGC 5566: A Galaxy Group December: NGC 1977: The Dove
Bonus: NGC 2174

Iowa State University's Department of Physics and Astronomy is engaged in internationally recognized forefront research, and is proud to provide outstanding teaching and training for all levels of students who want to become their best.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy currently consists of 42 faculty, approximately 90 graduate students and about 60 undergraduate majors. Four major research groups span the range of traditional efforts in physics and astronomy - our groups include condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, high energy physics and, of course, astrophysics.

The Astrophysics group operates Fick Observatory - a state-of-the-art astronomical observatory. Fick Observatory is used for research as well as for teaching graudate and undergraduate students. This calendar features some of the glorious sights visible to ISU's telescope under the Iowa Skies.

For a more detailed description of activities within the department, and opportunities for students at all levels, please visit our Web page at http://www.physics.iastate.edu

NGC 7000 - The North America Nebula (and a Pelican!) The cover of our 2003 calendar features the vast emission nebula NGC 7000. More commonly known as the "North America Nebula," This cloud of glowing hydrogen bears an uncanny resemblance to a map of North America - the detail is amazing, down to and including the Panama Canal at bottom center. To the right, aa portion of the nebula resembles a giant pelican staring at the mid-Atlantic coast. This nebula is visible though binoculars during dark summer nights just north of the star Deneb, high overhead in the constellation of Cygnus. It lies approximately 1600 light years from Earth. The wide-field image was produced with a smaller telescope piggyback to the 0.6m Mather telescope - the field of view here is approximately 2.5 degrees across - about 5 times the size of the full moon.

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