July 2014

What kind of observing program do you enjoy? Is your astronomical interest casual, and you're just looking up on a clear night? Perhaps you like to track down faint, deep-sky objects with your telescope, or perhaps it's looking for and identifying interesting features on the moon? Whatever your interest may be, please consider sharing your passion for astronomy with your fellow stargazers, either during our open house nights, or at our monthly meetings after the evening program.

We were able to enjoy clear skies at our June meeting, and, after a fine talk by Steve Hubbard, members and guests stayed on to do some observing through our telescopes, which made for a very enjoyable evening.

The gibbous moon was shinning brightly, and we used the Clark telescope to track down some interesting geologic features on the moon. It's fairly common to look at the moon just casually with a telescope and marvel at the view. But on that night, we hunted down some small, ancient shield volcanoes not far from the Copernicus crater (located near the terminator), allowing us to see them with ideal lighting conditions provided by the lunar sunrise in that area. A great aid to identifying lunar features were some photographs provided by Prof. Peter Schultz, and with these photos, everyone present was able to see the little volcanoes.

The point I am making is that if you take the time to share your astronomical interest with others, we will all benefit and expand our knowledge and enjoyment of astronomy. Prof. Schultz shared his interest in observing the moon, and then, a month later, we found ourselves looking for things we most likely overlooked for years. Looking at the moon that night was a lot of fun!

So please consider spending some time with your fellow observers on a Saturday night at Seagrave, or hang around after a meeting. Use one of the society's telescopes, or even better, please bring your telescope and set it up for the rest of us to check out. And whether it's observing faint deep-sky objects, the planets, or the moon, or perhaps taking astrophotos, please consider sharing your knowledge with the rest of us. If you do, I am willing to bet you will find the experience rewarding!

Robert Horton
Skyscrapers, Inc.