Astronomy Articles from 2014

Passers-by of nearby shops plus people driving by on the streets saw my 4" f/15 scope, and it piqued their curiosity, so they came in to learn more. My attached photo shows probably less than half of the people we catered to last night.

People are surprised that they can see stars during the day that are not the Sun. “What? Really? How is that possible?” It is possible because bright stars are... well, bright! The trick is that you need to know the exact spot to look, because you won't have the crutch of a dark sky to make the star's contrast with the sky as obvious.

Sometimes memes go around stating things that are... well let's just say they are designed to get people to think, "WHAT?! OMG!!" But the facts... they are usually thrown by the wayside. Here's one example.

Members of the Kankakee Area Stargazers, the Kankakee Valley Theater Association, other members of the community, artist-in-residence for Kankakee Brandi Burgess and I put together a show for about 55 audience members at the Willowhaven Interpretive Center east of the Kankakee / Bradley / Bourbonnais area.

There are a number of Messier objects in Ophiuchus, along with some great double stars and other clusters. But two that are right near each other are Messier 10 and Messier 12, globular clusters both. While relatively bright as globulars go, they aren't exactly right next to any 2nd or 3rd magnitude stars, so there are a few techniques required to find them.

Do something. Change a bulb. Replace a fixture. Get politically involved, or call your electric company. Be polite, but be PERSISTENT. You probably won't get results on the first, second or even third try. The streetlights around me took four tries and over a year to get changed. Even if you just do ONE THING, it's made a difference!