Eyes Full Of Stars

The Capital City Astronomy Club kept up the pace on outreach last week with two more stargazing events.

First, we had a potluck/astronomy night with the students and families of La Mariposa Montessori School on Friday the 20th. Yummy food and clear skies attracted a large crowd of excited children and parents. The club had 6 members on hand ready to sample the gastronomical and the astronomical.

My son is third year student at La Mariposa. He brought his telescope along to share with his schoolmates. While I worked with my 20″ reflector and targeted distant globular clusters, he used his 8″ reflector to share views of the Moon and Jupiter.

Last week, the LCROSS team announced preliminary findings. You may recall that on October 9^th, the LCROSS mission guided a spent Centaur rocket stage and its shepherding craft to dual impacts at crater Cabeus near the Moon’s south pole. The impeding strikes grabbed headlines and spawned observing parties at science centers and planetariums. Anticipation ran high as impact time neared, but many were crestfallen as expectations of a visible debris plume were met by an unchanged vista at the target crater.

In July 2008, I began the process of forming a local astronomy club. My objectives were to find a group of enthusiasts to help with public outreach and education and to assist folks interested in learning more about astronomy and equipment to join with their eyes wide open. The result is the Capital City Astronomy Club.

Last night, we held an event at a local school. More here:

http://tinyurl.com/yjvxh8w

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Already a familiar sight to night owl observers during past months, the planet Mars is now becoming visible in the evening sky. Rising before midnight, the Red Planet can be found amongst the dim stars of the constellation Cancer. Mars’ ruddy color makes it a close match to the red giant stars Aldebaran and Betelgeuse. By month’s end, its path will carry it into the stars of Leo. Along the way, Mars will brighten and increase in apparent size.