NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

Our first visit to Camp Longleaf at E.O.Wilson Biophilia Center was a great success. The center is located in a heavily forested area of the Florida panhandle. It is also in an area of little light pollution. Understandably, they are reluctant to cut down any of the pines they are preserving and our past events at the center were exercises in matching gaps in the trees to objects in the sky.

This past year though, the center constructed an overnight camping area and as a result had to do a little land clearing. That resulted in a small area of much clearer viewing than was available before and we took advantage of that for the Girl Scout event. Since we already had an event scheduled for International Observe the Moon Night, the scouts changed their schedule and asked us to come out the night before.

We had plenty of members support this event with scopes and information:

• Walter Dunn
• Chris Foley (our newest member)
• George & Renee Gollehon
• Tom Haugh
• John Walker (all the way from Milton, FL)

Once we had the scopes set up and were waiting for the sky to darken, we were treated to a great spaghetti dinner. After dinner and before we headed out to the scopes, Tom gave instructions on how to use the sky maps that we handed out. He also handed out a NASA solar system trading card set to each of our guest observers.

We had about 20 Girl Scouts and leaders. In addition to the scopes set up by our members, there was also the binocular table and a library scope that the scouts could use at their leisure. This scope had continuous usage throughout the evening and one scout got a great smart phone picture of the Moon using it.

Since the event was one day shy of International Observe the Moon Night, the Moon was well situated and was a prime target. In addition to the Moon we also observed:

• Jupiter (before sunset)
• Saturn
• M 13 (The Great Hercules Cluster)
• M 31 (The Andromeda Galaxy)
• NGC 869/884 (The Double Cluster)
• Neptune

We would like to thank the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council for the invitation to share our passion for the night sky with their scouts. We would also like to thank the E.O.Wilson Biophilia Center for once again hosting one of our events.

Our first visit to the Children in Crisis center was a resounding success. We had about 50 youngsters and house parents take advantage of our telescopes throughout the afternoon and evening. Some stated early enough to view the Sun using both white light and Hydrogen-Alpha telescopes.

Several club members were able support the CiC event:

• Walter Dunn
• George & Renee Gollehon
• Tom & Christopher Haugh
• Scott Morgan

Once the skies darkened more guest observers arrived on scene for the nighttime portion of the event. First up was Jupiter which was visible well before sunset. Afterwards Saturn, then Vega and Arcturus. Once the skies were dark the other members of the summer triangle (Deneb and Altair) joined the growing target list. We also brought along our copy of the library scope to be used by the guests. Chris was kept busy providing the instructions on how to point the scope and how to adjust the focus. He had a constant line of budding astronomers.

Other notable objects were Alcor & Mizar in the Big Dipper asterism as well as the Wild Duck Cluster (M 11).

The only annoyance during the evening was a motion controlled security light. The constant movement of the enthusiastic youngsters kept the light very busy.

We would like to thank the staff of the Children in Crisis center for the invitation and opportunity to share our passion for the night sky.

The star gaze in support of the Destin library’s “A Universe of Stories” summer reading program was a success. We had plenty of support from the club and the library estimated an attendance of 80+ patrons. The following club members all brought scopes to the Dalton Threadgill Little League Park:

• Dean Covey
• Dave Halupowski & Kennedy Odom
• Tom Haugh
• Dennis and Marietta Hausch
• Scott Morgan

The site is city property and has a larger view of the sky than Clement Taylor park where we held the library’s Moon gaze. It has fairly dark skies with only one partially obscured street light to interfere with the view. The view for this gaze was dominated by Jupiter and Saturn.

Dave and Kennedy wait for sunset.

Before sunset Dennis’ Maksutov already has a line.

Dennis was the first to spot the solar system’s largest planet well before sunset. The Galilean moons came into view as the skies darkened and it was not too long afterwards that Saturn rose above the eastern treeline.

While waiting for sunset, Scott discusses his telescope with library patrons.

Dean shows a future astronomer the planet Jupiter.

Twilight ended at 9:15 PM which was shortly before the scheduled end time for the star gaze. That left little time to find and observe any deep sky objects. It was dark enough however, that a couple of meteors were seen. They may have been a couple of early Perseids. But by 9:15 most of the guest observers had left anyway so, along with the library staff, we packed up and headed home.

We would like to thank the Destin library staff for the invitation to share our passion for Astronomy with their patrons and we need to thank, once again, Marietta Hausch for her star gaze photography.

The skies were somewhat clear as we started setting up for the Mt. Zion solar gaze but they quickly went downhill from there.

Dennis & Marietta Hausch and Tom Haugh were able to support the event as part of Crestview library’s summer reading program “A Universe of Stories”. Dennis set up his Hydrogen-Alpha scope and Tom brought his properly filtered library scope as well as his spectroscope.

By the time most of the students were assembled, the skies were very cloudy. There were a couple of blue holes but they refused to line up with the Sun. The students were taken inside the meeting hall for alternate activities.

Tom was invited to give a quick talk to the children. He passed out sky charts to each child and instructor. He then told everyone how to use the chart and to identify what they could see in the sky using the symbols on the chart. By the end of his impromptu talk there were bright shadows visible outside so everyone quickly went back outside and were finally able to view the Sun. Ultimately, 22 students and leaders were able to see the Sun through each of our instruments.

We would like to thank the Crestview library and the Mt. Zion church for the warm welcome and the chance to share our passion for Astronomy.

This event was our first at the Community Church of Santa Rosa Beach. As part of their summer Vacation Bible School activities we set up solar scopes to show the students and leaders the Sun. The weather did its best to discourage us, but we held out and eventually everyone got to view the Sun through very broken clouds.

Tom Haugh set up his library scope outfitted with a solar filter for a white light view of the Sun along with his spectroscope to view the solar spectrum. Dennis set up his Hydrogen-alpha scope for a view at that frequency. There was no evidence of any sunspots but there was a very small prominence. You had to know where it was and look closely to see it but it was there.

Future astronomers take a look at the solar spectrum.

Dennis(left) and Tom(right) explain to the guest observers what they are seeing.

We had 68 students and 15 adults take a look when the clouds allowed. At one time there was enough rain to force us to cover the equipment, but it was over very quickly and we pressed on.

Some of our youngest guest observers take a look.

Some of the more experienced observers take a look as well.

We thank the Community Church of Santa Rosa Beach for the invitation to share our passion for Astronomy. We also thank Marietta Hausch for her event photos.