Spanish Trail Scout Reservation near DeFuniak Springs, Florida was the site for Boy Scout Troop 553’s February sky view. The scout reservation is one of our favorite locations as it hosts very dark skies. The weather also cooperated as far as clear skies was concerned, but the temperature could have been a little better. The night was one of the coldest so far this year.
Dennis Hausch, Dave Halupowski, Tom Haugh and Frank Atchison supported the event with telescopes. Tony Russo provided a seasonal constellation lecture/tour. Jupiter was the obvious starting target as it was high in the sky right at sunset. Other targets included the Crab and Orion nebulae, the Andromeda galaxy, and the Beehive cluster in Cancer. Double stars Castor and Mizar were on the list as well.
Once the scouts and leaders made the rounds of all the sights and listened to all the stories, the star view broke up fairly quickly. Did I mention that it was cold (for Florida).
We would like to thank the scouts and their leaders for the invitation to share the night sky with them.