NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

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.

The NWFAA regularly supports both Boy And Girl scout education programs. So when we were contacted by a Boy Scout troop for help with Astronomy merit badge requirements, we were happy to oblige. Troop 97 is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, but luckily, we didn’t have to head west. They were coming east to Topsail Hill State Park for a summer camping trip.

We had a good turnout of club members each bringing a scope for use by the scouts.

• Dean Covey
• Walter Dunn
• Tom Haugh
• Dennis & Marietta Hausch
• Dave Halupowski & Kennedy Odom

Tom (in engineer’s cap) explains how to use the sky maps.

Dean discusses the optics of his 8″ Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain.

Thirty-five scouts and leaders were at the star gaze but not all the scouts were Boy Scouts. There were several American Heritage Girl scouts and their leaders as well.

American Heritage girls keeping notes about the dobsonian telescope Dave brought.

Dennis demonstrates the steps necessary for telescope alignment.

We set up fairly early allowing close examination of our equipment and procedures. Although the sky was fairly clear the atmosphere was quite heavy with haze due to the proximity to the gulf. These conditions kept us from viewing dim objects but did not hamper bright ones, starting with the red giant star Arcturus well before sunset.

• Arcturus
• Mars
• Alcor & Mizar – although hazy, the atmosphere was quite steady (Mizar A & B were easily visible).
• Castor & Pollux
• The Big & Little Dipper – constellation recognition.
• Polaris
• Spica
• Omega Centauri – the haze really washed out the cluster, but it was visible over the southern treeline.
• Vega

Eventually, Jupiter crept over the southeastern treeline but by then most of the group had headed back to the campground and we packed up and headed home. Once again we need to thank Marietta Hausch for her event photography.

Although this was not our fist visit to Walton Middle School, it was our first Science Palooza Day event. We spent the whole day with telescopes setup outside the school and were able to provide 200+ eighth grade students multiple safe views of the Sun.

Marietta & Dennis Hausch provided a white light filtered view of the Sun. Dean Covey set up his Hydrogen-Alpha scope to show the Sun in that frequency of light and Tom Haugh set up his spectroscope to view the Sun’s spectrum.

Dennis discusses the white light filtered Sun.

Dean explains Hydrogen-Alpha.

The day started out clear but as the morning wore on clouds started to creep into view and began to interfere with the observations. But, as the day continued, the gaps between the clouds started to widen and by the end of the day it was mostly clear. Luckily the clouds never completely blocked the sky so even though some had to wait a bit, everyone got to view the Sun using all three instruments.

Tom explains the information available in the solar spectrum.

All 3 instruments gainfully employed.

Unfortunately, the Sun, being in a minimum activity phase provided nothing other than a boring featureless surface. In fact, the only excitement of the day was when the school sprinkler system came on. Telescopes and equipment were quickly removed from the observing field and the situation was relayed to the school staff. The sprinklers were turned off and the rest of the observing sessions went on without incident.

Some equipment still needs rescued.	Students discussing the situation.
Starting to dry out.	Sprinkler recovery complete. Tom briefs the next class.

We would like to thank the staff of Walton Middle School for the invitation and for the great lunch that was provided. We had a really good time and hope to get invited to next year’s Science Palooza Day.