The 2016 Pack 52 tiger growl star gaze was a major success. As always, the skies above Spanish Trails Scout Reservation were very dark and we had a large group of very enthusiastic guest observers and their leaders/parents.
Club members Dave Halupowski, Tom Haugh, Dennis Hausch and Ken Leone all brought scopes. Tom Haugh and Dennis Hausch started off the afternoon with solar equipment. This was poor planning on our part since the 4th of March was a Friday and our guest observers were still in school. As the sky darkened the solar scopes were put away and the nighttime equipment was brought to bear. Club member James Dubbin joined the group and provided running commentary and constellation identification to those waiting for their chance at the eyepiece.
As you would expect, Sirius was the first nighttime object to come into view. This meant that Orion was well placed as the sky darkened. The stars of the Trapezium are quite easy to see before the sky darkens enough to bring the surrounding nebula into view. Star clusters M41 and M44 were targeted as well as many other celestial objects. Eventually, Jupiter and it’s moons climbed over the eastern treeline and provided a great view.
We had a continual stream of scouts/leaders/parents throughout the evening. Just before 10 PM the last group of scouts visited the observing field. These were the older Boy Scouts who were assisting the adult leaders with the large group of 1st grade Tiger Scouts (thanks guys). A lively discussion on the effects of time dilation ensued, but eventually, ‘time’ caught up with us and we had to wrap up the evenings activities.