Saturn, and Deep Sky Wonders
Stargazing activity is weather-dependent.
Enjoy a free public stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory from 8:00-11:00 pm. View the skies with our two observatories and several telescopes set out for the public. Kids learn how to use telescopes and identify objects in the sky!
Brocchi's cluster also known as the Coathanger cluster - Cr 399, this asterism is made of 10 stars that look like an upside-down coathanger, it's located in the constellation Vulpecula. The Double star cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 & 844) is visible to the naked eye but will look like a field of diamonds in the night sky in a telescope. Both clusters are 7500 light years away from Earth, they are also very young at 12.8 million years old.
NGC 457 the Dragonfly cluster is in the constellation Cassiopeia, it was discovered by William Herschel in 1787. It is 7900 light years away and is 21 million years old, it is also known as the E.T. cluster.
In the constellation Hercules, M13, the Great Cluster in Hercules is considered one of the finest globular clusters. Globular clusters are densely packed collections of ancient stars. Roughly spherical, they contain hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of stars.
Look for the Constellation Lyra where you can find the Ring Nebula (M 57) a planetary nebula that looks like a ring of smoke. The original star that created the Ring Nebula is thought to have been several times more massive than our sun but not large enough to explode as a supernova. This will happen to our star the Sun in 5 billion years, so we have plenty of time to find a new home.
The Ring planet Saturn will be in the constellation Aquarius. The Rings of Saturn will be tilted towards us so that we can see the Cassini Division. The rings are composed of lumps of ice from the size of tiny particles to boulders about the size of a car. Saturn has 62 moons, Titan is the largest, and Rhea, Lapetus, Dione, and Tethys are 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th in size.
Keep looking up, you're bound to find something new.
Rick
Parking: Free Parking after 6:00 PM in parking lot #9A.
For questions, contact Rick Francisco at ricardo.francisco@evc.edu