On the 20th of November we added a third state park to our theater of operations after being invited to hold a sky view at Eden Gardens State Park.
We expected a lot of trees and a reconnaissance visit verified that prediction. The tree line is high enough that it made a solar viewing session untenable. There would just be too much time waiting between the Sun dropping behind the trees and the Sun actually setting. But a high tree line will not stop a star gaze.
Due to the park’s location we expected a dark sky which resulted in a great turnout by club members:
- Frank Atchison
- Dean Covey
- Bob Gaskin
- Dave Halupowski
- Tom Haugh
- Dennis Hausch
- Chuck Lynch
The assembled members were not disappointed as the dark sky prediction was very accurate.
 Dennis and his 12″ dob. |
 Dean in front of the Wesley house all decorated for the holidays. |
Since this was the park’s first star gaze we only had a moderate turn out of guest observers. But there were enough to keep all the scopes busy without any waiting lines. We even had a group of cadets attend from Eglin AFB’s Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. All were treated to some great views of deep sky objects as well as a bright meteor that crossed the sky from tree line to tree line. Another transient visitor was the Air Force’s X-37B space plane, easily visible as it passed overhead.
“Can you take a photo through a telescope with a {insert your favorite phone name here}?” has become a very common guest observer question at our events. The answer is “Yes”, so there were several smart phone pictures taken through scope eyepieces during the event. Also during the evening, Frank Atchison attached his Canon camera to his 8″ Meade and demonstrated some of the advantages of CCD observing.
 Chuck and his guest observers. |
 Dave supervises his wooden dob. |
This picturesque location as well as the dark sky will make Eden Gardens State Park a favorite location for the NWFAA. We look forward to returning to the park in 2016.