The NWFAA supported the South Walton Community Council’s annual ‘Back To Nature’ event with a Sky View on the 15th of October. The weather was forecast to be good and, for once, it was. As we were setting up and aligning telescopes, the guest observers checked in with the event coordinator.
Each observer was given a sky map courtesy of http://skymaps.com . These provide not only a map of the sky but a calendar of events appropriate to the month. There are also separate lists of objects visible to the naked eye, binoculars, or telescopes. As the sky darkened a quick briefing on how to orient and use the map, what some of the possible objects that would be seen and star party etiquette were presented.
While we waited for the sky to completely darken, Tom displayed imagery he has taken at the Pear Tree Observatory. And once the sky was dark, the guest observers started visiting each telescope. All the while, Professor Russo provided running commentary on the nights visible constellations and some of the historical background for each.
We had several telescopes going so I lost track of all the objects that were seen. We started off with Comet Garradd which is still providing an easy target and went from there. The Ring Nebula (M57), the Great Hercules Globular Cluster (M13) and the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) were in the list as well as Jupiter when it cleared the trees. The sky was dark enough (normal for a clear night at Topsail Hill) that the Milky Way was easily visible but the transparency dropped a little later in the evening.
Due to our favorable location we were able to view two different passes by the International Space Station. The first was quite high with the second low on the northwestern horizon, but both easily viewable.
In all, some 30-40 guest observers attended and the event was well received. We look forward to supporting the ‘Back to Nature’ event again next year.