Basic Astronomy

When my friend Louise retired, she gave me a lot of reference books, activity books, a spotting scope, and a bag of binoculars. She is really interested in stargazing, astronomy, geology, and nature in general and taught junior high-aged students how to enjoy the outdoors. I'm willing to bet that most of what I learned about nature, and my love of the outdoors, came from her! I also keep in touch with a lot of friends who were also in the Escape Club.

Louise ran a club at our junior high school called the Escape Club. I'll post more on the club later, but we did hikes, service projects, and tours of the local dinosaur quarry at Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, UT. We had to do a certain number of hikes and service projects to be able to go on the BIG trip at the end of the year. When I was in school we went to Moab and spent three nights exploring, hiking, camping, and rafting the Colorado River. When my sister was in school, the trips alternated between Moab and the Tetons.

For the astronomy program tonight, I brought my bag of binoculars, the spotting scope, and a few of the reference books to have with me. I don't have a lot of constellations memorized, but I'm hoping to keep adding to the ones I know, and be able to point out interesting stars and features in each constellation.

We do have a great spot for viewing the night sky!

Tonight I'm talking about Orion, Taurus, Ursa Major, and the Great Square of Pegasus (which is not a constellation, but an asterism, just like the Big Dipper). In Orion, I'll point out Betelgeuse, Rigel, and the Orion Nebula. In Taurus, I'll point out Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades. I also want to show people the Andromeda Galaxy. Unfortunately, it hasn't been clear enough at night to go out recently and look, but I remember where they are from other astronomy programs and I've got a couple star charts to take with me. I don't have a green laser pointer yet, but I'm planning to ask for one in an interpretive grant I'm about to write up.

At the very least, it's fun to be in the park in the late afternoon and early evening. We get some great sunsets and interesting light on the surrounding hills.