Just a reminder about the Local Group of Deep Sky Observers’ DARK SKY SITE:
We schedule observing at the Crowley Nature Center on two Saturdays each month. (The Saturdays closest to Last Quarter and New Moon).
The night sky from Crowley is DARK, so not only are far more stars (and the Milky Way!) visible to the naked eye, virtually every object seen through our telescopes and binoculars is significantly better and brighter when observed from Crowley rather than the light-polluted skies closer to town. For astrophotographers, the dark skies permit much longer time exposures...and thus much better photos of deep sky objects like star-fields, galaxies, and nebulae.
LGDSO members are welcome to bring guests... even kids! Please though, leave the pets and “adult beverages” for another time and place.
There are a few other guidelines, mostly involving lighting restrictions when attending a dark sky event at Crowley: Use of a ‘regular’ flashlight is off-limits; red lights are the norm. Also, if observers are on the field when coming or going, your car’s headlights should be turned off and parking lights only should be used
The LGDSO Forum (at
www.lgdso.com) is the place for members to check to see whether or not an event is a “go”. (Cloudy skies can cancel a Crowley event, but heavy rains leading up to a scheduled event can make the observing field unusable even if the skies are perfect.)
If you would like to participate in our Crowley events, join our club and monitor the Forum! More than likely, your favorite astronomy memories are going to come from a special night at a dark site like this one. When was the last time you saw the Milky Way from horizon to horizon, and fireflies too?
Here's a shot of the Andromeda Galaxy M31, along with two other galaxies... M110, and M32 taken from our dark site.
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