Horseshoe Bend Star Gazes

November 1, 2008
February 9, 2008


Horseshoe Bend Stargaze
November 1, 2008

On November 1,the Auburn Astronomical Society met at  Horseshoe Bend National Military Park the invitation of park ranger and host for the event, Randall Becker who made special arrangements for the park to be open after dark for the stargaze.    Rand began the indoor portion of the program including some Creek, Cherokee, and Mississippian star lore at 7:00.  At the conclusion of the indoor presentation, the guests came out to enjoy their views through the telescopes.   Among the celestial objects we shared with the visitors: 

• Jupiter and the four Galilean moons; 
• Venus, visible early in the evening in the west; 
• The Moon; 
• The Andromeda galaxy (M-31); 
• Globular Clusters:  M-2, M-13, M-15, M-22, M-92; 
• Open Clusters:  The Lagoon (M-8) , The Wild Duck (M-11), Perseus Double Cluster; 
• Planetary Nebulae:  The Ring (M-57),  Dumbbell (M-27); 
• Binary Stars:  Alberio, Almach (gamma AND), and Double Double, (epsilon LYR). 
We had at least one example each of the three most common telescope optical configurations:  A refractor (uses lenses), a Newtonian (uses Mirrors) and a Schmidt-Cassegrain (uses both lens and mirrors). 

Thanks to the following AAS members volunteered their time and telescopes: 

  • John Tatarchuk, 25-inch Dob, Auburn 
  • Scott Thompson, 7-inch refractor, Alex City
  • Russell Whigham, C-11 SCT, Montgomery 
  • Everett Leonard,  10-inch Dob, Opelika 
  • Brent Holman, Photographer, Alex City
  • John Howard, Photographer, Childersburg,
    • And, thanks again to Rand and park ranger Heather Tassin for their help in hosting the event.
     

    Photo by Russell Whigham

    Photo by Brent Holman

    Photo by Russell Whigham

    Photo by Brent Holman

    Photo by Brent Holman
    Photo by Brent Holman

    Photo by John Howard

    Photo by John Howard

    Photo by John Howard

    Photo by Russell Whigham


     
     

    February 9, 2008

    We had clear, dark skies for the Horseshoe Bend star gaze.  Horseshoe Bend National Military Park is located 12 miles north of Dadeville on Hwy 49, about one hour from Auburn-Opelika; and 1.5 hours from Montgomery. Representing AAS were:  our host, Rand Becker, along with Scott Thompson, Brent Holman, Russell Whigham, Frank Ward, and Allen & Christi Screws. Rand estimated that we had about 70 guests attending.


    Photo by Brent Holman

    Rand began the indoor slideshow at 7:00 with a short Power Point presentation covering light pollution awareness, basic orientation to the night sky and some Creek/Cherokee star myths. 


    Photo by Brent Holman

    About 7:30, the guests exited onto the field behind the park's main building where we had the telescopes set up:  Rand, with his 70mm refractor on the 3-day old Moon; Scott, and his 7-inch AstroPhysics refractor on the Great Orion Nebula; Frank, using tripod mounted binoculars,on the  Moon and Pleiades; Allen, using the AAS 8-inch Dobsonian, on the Andromeda Galaxy and later, Saturn;  and Russell, with hte Celestron C-11, viewing the Crab Nebula, M41, and M46.  We also pointed out naked-eye objects, including the Double Cluster in Perseus, the Beehive Cluster and several fainter Milkyway clusters. 


      Scott and Brent putting the finishing touches on the 7-inch


    Photo by Brent Holman
    Rand's 70mm with Canis Major emerging from the trees


    Photo by Scott Thompson
    Russell, Frank, Brent, Scott, Christi and Allen