Remember to use
Star Party Etiquette
Everyone wants to have a good time at the star party, so please follow
these simple rules:
1. No Running or Playing around the Telescopes. It’s dark,
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someone might get hurt, or damage the equipment.
Try Not to kick-up dirt. The dust and sand doesn’t do anyone
any good, not to mention what it does to telescope optics.
Ask before you Touch a telescope. They move very easy. These
scopes are valuable personal property of the astronomer, and
some are handmade.
No Food or drink close to the telescopes. Accidents happen.
Let’s not take any chances.
No White lights around the telescopes after it’s really dark.
Look thru the eyepiece for 10-15 seconds or more. Your eye
needs time to get used to what it sees, so the most detail is seen.
If you don’t see anything, don’t be afraid to say so. Sometimes
the scope gets bumped, or the object may drift out of view. If
you can’t see anything, speak up!
Think about what you’re seeing, and feel free to ask questions!
We love to answer questions.
Don’t stand in front of a telescope & block the view. You’d be
surprised how many people do.
Be sure to look through each scope. You may not get a chance
like this again soon, so enjoy!
The Astronomical Society of Las Cruces
www.aslc-nm.org
* Oñate High School *
Spring 2014
Star Party
April 24
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Brought to you by Oñate High School
& the telescopes & astronomers of the
Astronomical Society
of
Las Cruces
www.aslc-nm.org
The info below briefly describes the objects we will probably
look at – it will help you better understand & remember what you
see tonight, after looking carefully through each scope and
listening to the astronomer.
1. Jupiter. The fifth planet from
our Sun is high in the southwest
tonight. It is a gas giant, which means it
may have no solid center at all and may
be entirely a giant ball of gas. It
contains more mass than all the other
planets combined.
2. Pleiades. Low in the west is an
open cluster with many names
including Pleiades, Seven
Sisters, and Subaru. It is a
compact group of very hot and
bright blue-white stars. There
are more than seven stars, but
usually only seven are visible
without aid of a telescope.
3.
Great Orion Nebula.
Also known by its catalog
number M42, the 42nd
entry in Charles Messier's
list published in 1771, the
Orion Nebula is a starforming area of hot stars,
dust, and gas. The brightest nebula in our sky, it is visible
without a telescope as the middle "fuzzy star" in Orion's
sword.
4. Mars. The fourth planet from the
Sun, one of Earth’s neighbors, was in
opposition ten days ago, which means
that it was then in nearly a straight
line from the Sun through the Earth.
Mars will rise tonight before the
Sun sets. The ruddy red color of
Mars is mostly due to iron oxide on
its surface and is why it is called
“The Red Planet”. We jokingly say it is made of rust, but don’t
believe everything you hear.
5.
Double Cluster.
This is a pair of open star
clusters that are close
enough visually to be seen
together in a small
telescope. Both are
approaching Earth at about
13 miles per second, but
are about 7000 light years away and at that velocity are in no
danger of crashing into us. One light-year is about six trillion
miles.
6. Saturn. Saturn is the sixth
planet from the Sun, and
tonight rises just before
9:00pm. It may clear the
mountains to the east in
time for us to view it
tonight. Saturn is a gas giant smaller than Jupiter and has a
beautiful ring system consisting mostly of chunks of ice. The
NASA Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn for years,
taking close-up pictures.