NorthWest Florida Astronomy Association

Two members of the NWFAA supported Longwood Elementary School’s science night activities with a star gaze. Dennis Hausch set up his telescope and targeted the setting planet Saturn. Ken Leone provided his tripod mounted astronomical binoculars to give the students views of the evenings other planets, Venus and Mars.

The first half hour of observing Saturn was with very light skies and the planet was not visible naked eye. Many guests were amazed that it could be seen in the telescope with the skies that bright. The lines at each telescope were short but there was a continuous flow of guest observers. Once Saturn set behind the tree line, Dennis shifted to the colorful double star, Alberio.

We would like to thank Longwood Elementary School for the invitation and warm welcome. We look forward to supporting the school’s future science activities.

This year the attendees of the Explore The Outdoors Festival had a 50/50 chance of observing the Sun. The cloud cover was broken enough for us to setup the scopes but not clear enough for everyone to get to see our nearest star. Dave Halupowski setup his Unitron and projected a clear image of the Sun while Tom Haugh setup his H-alpha scope for a different view. We had plenty of people stop by and we handed out quite a few flyers and star charts as well as some photos of the recent transit of Mercury that were donated by a member of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association (EAAA).

Hopefully, next year will be free of clouds so all the guests get a chance.

The E.O.Wilson Biophilia center’s first Biophilia @ Night event was a great success. The NWFAA supported the event with four observing stations; one at the entrance to the center, one at the beginning of the nighttime trail and two at the end of the trail.

First in line was Dave Halupowski and Kennedy Odom with Dave’s ever popular binocular chair. They also manned a parallelogram mounted pair of binoculars on a tripod. The two were setup on the decking spanning the pond leading up to the visitor center entrance. Needless to say, the younger guest observers enjoyed the rotational flexibility of Dave’s chair.

Next in line was Dennis and Marietta Hausch with Dennis’ 12″ Dobsonian mounted reflector. Since the Biophilia event coincided with International Observe the Moon Night, Dennis’ target was the waxing Moon. He was located at the head of the nighttime trail and at the same time, adjacent to the bonfire destined to heat many s’mores into delicious gooeyness later in the evening. Dennis also handed out numerous NWFAA star gaze schedules as well as October sky charts.

At the end of the trail Tom Haugh and Ken Sharp setup scopes amongst the trees. Early reconnaissance trips to the center were helpful finding locations that had open areas in the tree canopy allowing narrow views of the night sky. Careful positioning allowed Ken to start his scope on Saturn while Tom initially sighted in on Mars. As the evening progressed and each target became obstructed by branches other objects were selected. The hikers were treated to very clear dark skies and we answered a lot of questions about the universe and Astronomy in general.

We had a great time and look forward to supporting the Biophilia Center whenever they call.

Dennis Hausch was the first NWFAA member to make it through the summer tourist traffic on US 98 and start setting up for solar viewing at Topsail Hill State Park. As each member made it through the gauntlet additional equipment was added to the collection. Dennis and Dean Covey setup white light filtered scopes and Tom Haugh set up a Hydrogen-Alpha telescope. It was fortunate we had three solar scopes. We had 50+ guest observers view the Sun before sunset. That is a record for Topsail Hill.

Guest observers look for sunspots.

Dennis and his filtered IOptron.

Well before sunset Dave Halupowski unloaded his dobsonian and waited for the Sun to set. As usual Jupiter started the nighttime viewing before the Sun set. As the sky continued darkening Mars and Saturn came into view high in the southern sky. By then club member Robert Sutphen joined us as he made his first trip to a Topsail Hill event. Additional celestial targets viewed were Alberio, the Ring Nebula, the globular cluster M 4 as well as the Milky Way; the skies were that clear and that dark. In addition, the ISS was also visible as it made a low pass across the northern horizon.

Dave checks out the Sun with Dean’s Celestron.

Tom and Dennis share the Sun with the guest observers.

The estimated attendance was in excess of 80 people, but some of those were returning solar observers. Still this was our best attended Topsail Hill public star gaze. All-in-all a great event.

Once again the weather threatened but did no harm. Following our normal Henderson Beach schedule, we setup solar equipment about 3 hours prior to sunset. We had a few more early observers than usual. Ken Leone started off the solar viewing through his filtered 70mm binoculars. Dean Covey set up his white light filtered Celestron and Dennis Hausch set up his Coronado H-alpha scopes. Even though the sunspot count was very low and there was only one prominence, the observers were all pleased with their first telescopic view of the Sun. Tom Haugh set up his spectroscope which provided the observers with one additional view of the Sun.

	Ken re-centers the Sun in his binoculars.	The line for Dennis’ H-alpha scope.
	Dean and Scott discuss the coming evening’s activities.	A young guest observer takes a look at the solar spectrum.

As our star started to set and the skies started to darken, we were joined by Frank Atchison, Chuck Lynch and Scott Morgan. Frank and Chuck each added a scope to the collection. Tom handed out star charts to the additional observers starting to assemble. Even though the sky was not yet dark, Jupiter was easily found and the lines started to form. In turn, Mars and Saturn were added to the list of targets as well as Arctutus, Alcor and Mizar, and the great Hercules cluster (M13) as well as several other celestial sights.

Checking out a terrestrial target in Chuck’s telescope.

Club members waiting for the sky to darken.

As the crowd started to thin, new club member Katie Milner showed up. This was her first star gaze with us. Unbeknownst to us, she had set up her scope at the westernmost parking lot of Henderson Beach and held her own star gaze. Luckily, word got to her and she made her way east and we were able to join forces and finish the star gaze. Park rangers reported attendance to be 80 to 90. This is a little low for a Henderson Beach event, but we’re pretty sure the threatening weather had something to do with it.

UPDATE:
 
This proved to be Chuck Lynch’s last sky view. On the 5th of July Chuck suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
 

Chuck was one of our most steadfast supporters. Even before he had a telescope he was at our events helping out wherever he could. In addition to our public star gazes, Chuck adopted the Fort Walton Beach library as our library telescope program representative and he supported the Emerald Coast Science Center’s planetarium nights.

Chuck will be missed.