#64: A Stargazing Spot, Part 2

The planetarium was fabulous, but we couldn't let this destination pass without seeing real stars. The OKC Astronomy Club hosted a Star Party in the Piedmont High School parking lot. The club members had their telescopes set up for the public to view the sky.

At first, SuperD was concerned about arriving too soon, but I am glad we arrived early to beat the clouds. The cloudy sky made for lousy stargazing but a beautiful sunset.

The moon was in its first quarter phase, and I have never seen it look so beautiful. It was set against a light blue sky as the sun set. I couldn't photograph it, but this is a picture I found online which appears just as we viewed it through each of the telescopes, the only exception being the background sky color. C took one look and said,"Wow! I can see the critters!" No, he did not spot life on the moon, just the craters which were clearly in focus.

There must have been a dozen or more telescopes set up for viewing, this being the largest. His magnification level was so high that the moon kept moving from view, and he had to readjust it often.

This was perhaps my favorite telescope. There were two of them in the parking lot. I watched as it automatically adjusted itself based on an internal compass. After finding north, I think it uses some kind of GPS to locate stars in the sky based on its location and date of the year. Chad, the owner, can program it to find all kinds of heavenly objects.

A:
I didn't think we were going to be able to see anything because it was too bright to see anything. But when we got to the stargazing spot, everyone had their telescopes set up and pointed on the moon. We got to look through a whole bunch of telescopes to see what the moon looked like. It was amazing! You could see all the craters and shadows from the craters on the moon. I think my favorite telescope was a telescope at all. It was a big pair of binoculars. I liked it because it made the moon really clear, and you could see it up close, but not too close. I also saw a shooting star and a satellite. I enjoyed looking at the stars.





C:
I saw the moon, Venus, and my sister saw a shooting star. It was fun! I didn't get to see the shooting star! We got some free stuff about the planets and the sun. A got a sun postcard that looks 3D. I got a DVD-ROM about the universe. I got to see the moon through tons of telescopes. The red one was a circle with a hole in it. There was a tube that goes through it.