NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

Cloudy skies started to clear just as we were making a go/no go decision on Saturday. Satellite imagery showed the clouds over the gulf were dissipating so we headed on over to Topsail Hill State Park early enough to set up our solar scopes. Dennis Hausch set up his IOptron Maksutov with a white light filter and Tom Haugh set up his H-alpha scope. Several early birds got to see the few sunspots and a fairly large prominence that the Sun was sporting.

There were a few clouds still drifting in from the south, but they were not a serious problem and ultimately the skies cleared. By then, the skies were darkening and the solar equipment was stowed. Dave Halupowski arrived with his binocular chair as a novel alternative to the tripod mounted scopes. As the nighttime alignments were underway we were joined by several of the staff of Emerald Coast Middle School. They brought one of the schools telescopes and were looking for a little assistance with a recalcitrant mount.

Venus was the first object to draw our attention. Jupiter quickly followed, but it quickly became apparent that although there were no clouds, there was still some high altitude haze; both Venus and Jupiter had halos. The haze did little to effect the views of the planets but definitely put a damper on any deep sky objects. Dave pointed out a couple of bright satellites that graced the skies. Our group of guest observers were sparse but enthusiastic and we look forward toward the dark skies that we usually enjoy at Topsail Hill.

We were honored to be invited to support the E.O.Wilson Biophilia Center’s Astronomy for Kids Day. The weather was perfect, the kids were great and we had a wonderful time. NWFAA members Dean Covey, Ken Leone, Gaetan Godin, and Tom Haugh each brought solar observing equipment. Club member Virginia Schreitmueller provided adult supervision and manned our information shelter. She spent the day handing out club flyers, sky charts and answering questions about the club.

Virginia manning the booth.

EAAA member David Cochran

David’s H-Alpha shot of the Sun and its prominences.

Dean answering solar questions.

Gaetan and some of the crowd.

A future spectroscopist getting a better view.

Our first meeting of each new year is a “How to use your new telescope.” event. We hear so many comments from the public at our star gazes about the telescope they have at home. Unfortunately, it is in the closet because it doesn’t work, they don’t know how to put it together any more, or they just don’t know how to use it. This annual event is our attempt to remedy those situations. By holding this event is January, we hope to capture the enthusiasm still in place with any recently acquired Christmas telescopes and give any new astronomers a little help if they need it.

Last year’s event was clouded out, but this year the skies stayed clear enough. We had a great turnout of club members. Dennis Hausch, Dave Halupowski, Frank Atchison, Tom Haugh, Bob Schritter and Dean Covey all manned the telescope array. Tony Russo, manned the observatory so that anyone that mistakenly went there, would be able to find us on the college driving pad.

We don’t know if it was a lack of publicity, the mid 40’s temperatures or just the clouds earlier in the day, but we only had one guest observer attend. But that is all that is necessary for us to consider the event a complete success.

Shelly showed up with a nice 8″ Dobsonian and with just a little finder alignment help, was viewing Jupiter and the Andromeda galaxy like a pro.

The skies were dark enough that Dennis aimed his 12″ Dob toward M 82 and its newly discovered supernova. Several members have gotten photos of the explosion, but this is the first visual attempt for most of the assembled observers. SN 2014j was just visible in averted vision, but it could be seen.

After we wrapped up, we adjourned to the observatory for a quick, impromptu meeting. All-in-all a great start to 2014.

The last Henderson Beach Sky View of 2013 started, as usual, with setting up telescopes 3 hours prior to sunset.  Dean Covey, Dennis Hausch and Tom Haugh provided safe views of the sun to the sparse guest observers.  Solar activity was on the low side with only a couple of small sunspot groups visible.  H-alpha scopes showed only a few limb prominences.

Once the sun set and the sky darkened, the solar scopes and filters were replaced for night time viewing.  As the crowd of guests assembled, Tom handed out sky charts and briefed their usage as well as sky view etiquette and some safety rules.  Ultimately, Dean, Dennis and Tom were joined by Frank Atchison, Ken Leone  and Dave Halupowski as each added their scope to the group.

Since October 12th was 2013’s International Observe the Moon Night (IOMN), and the crescent Moon was high overhead, it was the first target of opportunity.  It was quickly joined by a similarly crescent Venus in the western sky.

Guest observers lined up to view Epsilon Lyrae, the Great Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula and M-13 in Hercules as well as many other celestial objects.  Dave had a video camera attached to his scope and hosted a crowd of guests watching the objects that he was viewing.

The park rangers reported an attendance exceeding 100 people.

We would like to thank the Henderson Beach State Park rangers and volunteers that make our events here so successful.  We also look forward to next year and continuing our series of public sky views.

Edwins Elementary School is located across the street from Fort Walton Beach High School. With football season here and the associated lights necessary for games, practices and security, a night time sky view was out of the question for the students. So, we chose a star that could not be overwhelmed by stadium lights: the Sun.

Tom Haugh gave a classroom presentation about the sun to each group of students prior to the class adjourning to the athletic track to view our nearest star. Club members Bob Schritter, Frank Atchison, Dean Covey, Dennis Hausch and Chuck Lynch manned the telescopes setup outside. White light, spectroscopic and Hydrogen Alpha views were all available to the students.

There were a couple of small sunspot groups visible as well as several prominences on the solar limb. The clouds stayed away for all but a couple of minutes, unfortunately, several students were not able to take advantage of the H-alpha telescope during their turn.

We would like to thank the staff and students of Edwins Elementary School for their invitation and warm welcome. We are also very grateful to the teachers who provided us with an excellent lunch during the noon time break.