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Not too sure if I should put up a ‘list’ as such as I don’t know if Astrofest has ‘sky tours’ as part of their program, and I don’t want to tread on toes. Anything going ahead on my part I will only do with Astrofest approval. Which is the reason for my asking if such a thing as ‘sky tours’ is a part of Astrofest.
A ‘list’ would depend on how many people come along as to how many different objects I would show. A lot of the time would be dedicated to discussing what each object is, what is visible in it, what is going on in the object, origins, eventualities, physics, chemistry, and all in a manner that I don’t intimidate and is easy to understand and follow by people who have little knowledge of things astro. I really want to make astronomy not about rocket science, but about how accessible it is, how easy it is to participate, and how amateur astronomers are making real contributions to real science even with modest equipment.
Some time would also be spent on how to use a scope and how to effectively look at dim objects with averted vision. Most of the people who came along to the sky tour I did at SPSP in may had little or no experience with astronomical telescopes, so it is important to be patient and take the time to make sure they don’t rush their time or experience at the eyepiece.
Much of the objects I will be showing are the sky’s show piece targets, and if the timing of the evening allows:
• Eta Carina has so much to examine, from screaming hot new clusters, a giant dying star, cosmic bubbles, and dark pillars hiding protostars
• Omega Centauri with its exotic extra-galactic origin
• Centaurus A, the Hamburger Galaxy and its massive collision that’s resulted in its odd appearance
• M83 galaxy with its soft arms
• Jewel Box, a lovely chest of diamonds with a couple of rubies to spy out
• M20, the Trifid Nebula with its petals
• M22 globular cluster as an example of a ‘normal’ GC
Also if there are any other objects that people would like to see I’ll do my best to bring up or some other example of a similar object that would be easier to see or is actually visible at the time of the session. That I’ll leave to you to consider!
All this though depends on such an event being given the thumbs up.
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