NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

Last year our support for Baker School’s family STEMM night was weathered out. Not so this year.

Club members started setting up at 6:00 PM with students and parents arriving as early as 6:30, before the formal start time. The day was still bright, but we observed the 10 day old moon until after dark.

Dennis discusses his telescope before the skies darken.

Viewing the daytime Moon.

In all, there were about 60 students and parents attending. Besides the moon, we viewed Mars, Jupiter, and the Orion Nebula.

Frank explains what the observers will view before the skies get dark.

Observers take a look through the club’s 16″ Dobsonian telescope.

Any dark sky objects were limited by the moon and a new security light that was very bright and aimed directly at us. Our club contact felt real bad about the light and said she would take care of it for next year. When we cleaned up at about 9:00 PM the outside temperature was down to 56 degrees.

Thanks go to the club volunteers who supported Baker’s family STEMM star gaze with additional thanks to Marietta Hausch for her fine event photography and Dennis Hausch for the event report:

• Frank Atchison
• James Dubben
• Marietta & Dennis Hausch
• Robert Sutphen

Once again the NWFAA was glad to support the 2017 Boy Scouts of America Scout-O-Rama. Attendance was down from last year, but the guest observers who did stop by enjoyed beautifully clear skies.

Dennis Hausch brought his white light filtered iOptron Maksutov and Tom Haugh set up his Lunt Hydrogen-Alpha scope. The Sun was not real active so there wasn’t a lot to view. One minor prominence and a couple of small sunspots was all the Sun could muster.

The NWFAA made its first visit to Walton Middle School to provide a daytime star gaze for the school’s 8th grade science classes. Unfortunately, early morning fog thwarted the first period classes but as the day wore on the fog lifted, the clouds thinned and the by early afternoon the skies were perfectly clear.

As is usual for our daytime star gazes, Tom Haugh gave the NWFAA’s short solar presentation to a pair of classes and then, for the rest of the period, the students adjourned outside to view the Sun through the telescopes. Since there was a gap in the 8th grade class schedule, the school was able to schedule a pair of 7th grade science classes as well. In total, we hosted 11 classes with about 200 students.

Frank Atchison provided a white light filtered scope; Dennis Hausch, a Hydrogen-alpha scope and Dave Halupowski brought his Unitron refractor and provided a projected image of the Sun. Tom brought his spectroscope to round out the group’s equipment.

Dennis’ H-alpha scope is just starting to see through the fog.

Students view the solar spectrum through Tom’s spectroscope.

Although the Sun had been clear of sunspots for over 20 previous days, a group formed over the weekend and another set rotated into view just in time for the middle school event. Luckily, there was also a couple of small prominences visible as well.

Dave demonstrates solar projection through his Unitron refractor.

Franks scope displays the newly formed sunspot group.

We were able to discuss the upcoming total solar eclipse with the teachers to make sure their plans were started well in advance of the August event. We also provided the teachers with an example of eclipse glasses that we purchased in anticipation of the event.

You had to look carefully, but a couple of small prominences were visible in Dennis’ H-alpha scope

Viewing sunspots through Frank’s white light filtered scope.

We would like to thank the faculty and staff of Walton Middle School for the invite and warm welcome. We look forward to supporting the school’s science night activities in the future.

Our final star gaze of 2016 was sponsored by Eglin AFB’s digital library. The event was minimally successful at best. Even though the forecast was for mostly cloudy skies, it was perfectly clear when we made the go/no go weather call. The club’s response was outstanding considering the extra hoops we needed to jump through to clear base security.

Frank Atchison, Dean Covey, Dave Halupowski, Dennis Hausch, Tom Haugh, Kennedy Odom, Tony Russo and Ken Sharp all supported the event even though the skies had already started to cloud over. We decided to stick around for a while since satellite imagery showed an approaching break in the clouds. Eventually, Ken needed to leave for another event and sure enough, right afterwards, Venus started to peek through the clouds and slowly the skies cleared. Mars was well placed for viewing and the skies were dark enough to easily see M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. However, the weather kept the attendance down to a couple of active duty airmen and one student and his parent. By the time M42, the Orion nebula, rotated into view the clouds had regrouped and brought an end to the evening.

We would like to thank the library for the invite and assistance in gaining access to the base and we look forward to future events there.