NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

The “WEBELOS Weekend” event at Spanish Trails Scout Reservation south of Defuniak Springs was a short notice event.  Maybe we should always hold short notice events.  One of the on-site scout leaders told me the normal Friday attendance of around 75 boys doubled once word got out that telescopes would be set up on opening night.  That should tell you how many boys plus additional parents, sisters, etc. showed up for the Sky View.  We had brought 3 telescopes and the binocular chair, and they all had lines at one time or another during the event. 

Early birds observe the moon before it got dark.

The evening started off with the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope both making passes pretty much at the same time.  The ISS crossed the northern horizon and Hubble crossed the south.  The skies were just getting dark and most of the guest observers were still setting up tents and getting ready for the weekend, so the members of the NWFAA had the two satellites to themselves.  While the  ISS was very bright and easily visible, the Hubble was much dimmer and escaped notice.

Once the skies darkened, the cub scouts started arriving in packs (Sorry, couldn’t help myself).  As soon as one group made the rounds and started to head back to their campground another group showed up and the observing started all over again.  The evening followed that pattern until about 10:00 P.M.   It was obvious that these boys came prepared as we answered many very challenging questions and our queries to them were answered promptly and correctly.

The sky over the scout reservation was very dark and the temperature dropped quite a bit leaving the observing overhead clear and steady.  Tom targeted the moon for the entire night with his 6″ Newtonian.  Once Jupiter cleared the tree line, Dennis targeted his 12″ Dobsonian on it for the most part.  Dave’s binocular chair proved as popular as ever, looking at whatever the observer wanted to see.  Frank and his 8″ SCT handled many targets of opportunity as they came into view.  Tony, as usual, provided roving commentary, keeping observers not at an eyepiece entertained and educated.  As is our normal practice, parents were required to view the objects with the scouts so as to share the experience and allow informed discussion with the boys.  And as usual, the parents were glad for the invitation.

I would like to thank Cub Scout Den Leader Lori Shepard for the initial information about the “WEBELOS Weekend”.  We would also like to thank the staff and leaders at the Spanish Trails Scout Reservation for the opportunity to share the night sky with so many young observers and for such a great evening.  There was some talk of making this an annual event.  That sounds like a good idea; it’s going to take that long for us to recover from this one.

Although the weather threatened to interfere with the Sky View earlier in the day, it was clear by the time we started setting up at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park.  While we setup the telescopes we received the requisite visit by the park rangers and entertained the first astronomical questions of the night. 

Just after we were all setup, the Hubble Space Telescope was scheduled to make a west to east pass.  While we were scanning the skies a very bright but unidentified satellite made a quick north to south pass.  A couple of minutes later a slightly dimmer Hubble appeared.

It was fairly dark when the first of the guest observers started to arrive.  But, from then on, a steady relay of visitors arrived and made the rounds to each telescope.  With four telescopes up an running, we kept everyone busy.

Frank started off with the double cluster in Perseus viewed through his 8″ Meade.  We cycled through several of the Messier objects, the comet Garradd, and the planet Uranus.  When the atmosphere calmed, it was just possible to see the disk.  It was not an impressive sight, but several observers can now check off that block.  Dennis turned his venerable 8″ Dobsonian on Jupiter and was a big hit with several of our younger observers.  Toward the end of the evening, the Pleiades climbed out of the muck, and made a grand sight.  Justin brought his refractor and provided an alternative view to all the mirrors.

This was our best attended Topsail monthly event, the skies remained clear and a good time was enjoyed by all.  It was also the last of 2011.  We look forward to 2012 and resuming our monthly Topsail Hill Sky Views.

Once again dark skies were the rule at Topsail Hill State Park.  With several telescopes available and even more club members, we were able to keep the light turnout busy going from scope to scope.  We handed out a number of Evening Sky Maps provided by skymaps.com and both Tom and Ken had examples of their astrophotography on display.

Starting with comet Garradd, the guest astronomers got to see quite a number of visible targets including the Ring Nebula, several open and globular star clusters and ultimately Jupiter when it finally cleared the tree line.  Early on, the Milky Way was plainly visible but the sky hazed up a little later in the evening but did not put a damper on the event.

We had discussions with our contact at the state park on additional methods for advertising the Sky Views and we will try those for the next Topsail event on the 27th of October. 

Our first periodic sky view at the state park was lightly attended, but those that did show up left with very favorable comments.  Three club members brought scopes and although Tom’s failed hard, we had enough to keep the viewers occupied.  We started off with Saturn.  It is now low on the western horizon at dusk and the sea level atmosphere was very apparent, but Saturn is always a crowd favorite.  During the brief moments of good seeing, it still inspired vocal reaction.

While waiting for their turn at the eyepiece the observers listened to the narrator as he described several of the different visible constellations and asterisms along with some historical trivia relating to the star patterns.

The state parks sky was dark and clear enough that the Milky Way was visible.  The Tea Pot asterism in Sagittarius along with it’s ‘steam’ was dead south of us and quite apparent.  The southern horizon at the park is low enough to see the entire tail and stinger of Scorpius.

We had a great time and we would like to thank the staff of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park for the opportunity to share our passion of the night sky with their guests.  I was remiss in not writing down their names but we would also like to thank the two members of the press representing The Walton Sun for covering our first event.

The July meeting was held at the NFSC campus observatory.  After club formalities were complete, Ken Leone gave a presentation on a wedge being manufactured to enhance an iOptron alt-az mount.  He demonstrated several capabilities that the new mounting will provide.  He also explained the engineering process needed to get the prototype to it’s current state and future enhancements that are currently being planned.

Ken shows club members some of his recent imagery.