News from the Ott Planetarium at Weber State University

Department of Physics, 2508 University Circle, Ogden, UT 84408-2508

Visit us on the World Wide Web at: physics.weber.edu

For Immediate Release September 3, 2002

WHAT: Antelope Island Star Party

WHERE: Antelope Island State Park, White Rock Bay Trail Head

WHEN: Saturday, April 8^th at 8:30 p.m. (Park gates close at 9:00 p.m.) Leave at any time.

(Note: There will be one more star party at Antelope Island this fall on October 12. )

WHO: The Ogden Astronomical Society and the Ott Planetarium at Weber State University with special guest speaker Seth Jarvis, director of the Hansen Planetarium..

COST: Free with park admission. ($8 per car.)

Information: Call 626-6855 or visit us on the Internet at http://physics.weber.edu/ 

See the stars and use our telescopes at Antelope Island State Park this Saturday night, September 7. Weber State University's Ott Planetarium and the Ogden Astronomical Society will be presenting the September monthly public star party at Antelope Island. There will be a large collection of telescopes available along with a special slide show, "A Tour of the Universe."

At about 8:10 p.m. Seth Jarvis, the director of Salt Lake County’s Hansen Planetarium, will present a slide show Tour of the Universe. Jarvis will take visitors on a whirlwind tour ranging from our local neighborhood in space to the deepest and grandest view of our vast universe. Meanwhile, the Ogden Astronomical Society will have numerous telescopes set to view the heavens.

The Antelope Island star parties are an excellent opportunity to see the stars and learn some of the myths and stories associated with those stars. But there are more than just stars out there. The planet Venus, the bright object in the west just after sunset, will have a nice crescent moon shape this month when viewed through a telescope. The Starshine 3 satellite, made in part by local Utah school children, will make a two minute pass a little below the North Star. Satellite Iridium 17, a communications satellite, will flair brightly for a moment as its antennas reflect the Sun’s light. There are two comets visible in small telescopes towards the west, comets Hoenig and Swan. With the new Moon less than a day old, we will have a dark sky. This means that faint and distant objects will be much easier to see then when there is a bright Moon in the sky. Thus, we should be able to see great gas clouds where stars are being born, globular clusters of hundreds of thousands of stars and distant galaxies from which the light has been traveling for 12 million years or more.

Also, for those who arrive early, at least one telescope will be equipped with a special solar filter. Currently there is a large and active set of sunspots, Earth-sized magnetic storms, on the side of the Sun that is facing us.

The Ott Planetarium will provide free star maps.

• Dress warm! Even on a summer night it gets cold. This is NOT an aerobic activity! You will be standing around enjoying the sky and getting cold in the process. Bring plenty of extra clothes, dress in layers and if you don’t need the extra layers then no harm is done in having them along. I suggest gloves and a warm hat too. (Baseball caps don’t work well, the long bill hits the telescopes while you are looking through the eyepiece and they don’t give much warmth anyway.)
• If you bring a flashlight, cover it with a piece of red plastic cellophane. The red light won’t ruin your night vision as much as a white flashlight will. A red transparent plastic report binder will work well as a filter for the front of your flashlight. It takes half an hour for your eyes to adapt to the dark, and only a few seconds of white flashlight light will ruin that dark adaption.
• Bring a snack if you think you might stay late. A warm cup of hot chocolate can really help the staying power of a cold child.
• Arrive early. This will give you a chance to look at the telescopes while you can still see them and we will have a specially equipped telescope viewing the Sun. You can also enjoy a hike on the island and bring a picnic dinner to really round out your day.
• Please no horseplay near the telescopes. Star gazing is a quite and peaceful activity where we reflect on the glorious vastness of the universe. All of these expensive telescopes are privately owned and the owners are bringing them out to share with you out of the goodness of their hearts. Many of these telescopes have electronics wires hanging on them that are easy to snag. Too, dust kicked up by running feet causes the optics to get dirty and results in risky, and time consuming, cleaning operations.
• Bring your binoculars they are, after all, just a "pair" of small telescopes.
• Bring a folding chair and/or blankets to sit on while watching the slide show.
• Please, don’t litter.
• Above all, don’t be afraid to ask questions! No matter how silly your question is, we probably asked it ourselves at one point in time. Astronomers love their hobby and delight in sharing it.

There will be one last star party after this one at the White Rock Bay trail head on Antelope Island on October 12. Overcast sky will cancel the star party, call the park gate at 773-2941 if in doubt. For more information about the star party itself you can call the planetarium office at 626-6855.

The Antelope Island Star Parties are co-hosted by the Ogden Astronomical Society and the Ott Planetarium. The Ott Planetarium is sponsored by the Department of Physics and the College of Science at Weber State University.

This file was last modified on September 3, 2002.