Telescope Viewing Nightly 7:00-10:00 pm

Hosted telescope viewing every night of the beautiful night sky through high power telescopes from 7 to 10 pm.

Night Sky Orientation Nightly 7:15-7:30 pm

Every evening as twilight deepens a local astronomer and night-sky enthusiast will introduce you to the star-filled night sky, pointing out the North Star, constellations, the Milky Way, planets, and other less-known objects such as star clusters and “dark clouds” visible to your unaided eyes!

Sunset Talk

Every Night: Thursday, September 21 – Saturday, September 23, 2017, 6:00 – 6:30 pm
Sunset Shadows and Circles

Every evening Brian Skiff of Lowell Observatory will have a “sunset” talk from 6-6:30 p.m. Weather permitting, he will describe the subtle transition from sunset into twilight, including the Earth-shadow and Belt of Venus in the east, as well as layered pastel colors over the Sun in the west. Join Brian and watch the tree shadows stretch to the eastern horizon!

Workshops

Thursday, September 21, 2017, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, NACET Accelerator parking lot

Telescope Workshop
Learn how to operate your own telescope to view beautiful objects in the night sky.

You have that telescope at home – but it never seems to get out of the closet… If you have been struggling with using your own telescope, dust it off and bring it to this workshop! Lowell Observatory Educator Jim Cole will coach you through setting it up, how to align it and find astronomical objects, what eyepieces work best for what objects, and all the rest to demystify your telescope and help you open the beauty of deep space to yourself and your family.

Workshop participants must bring their own complete telescope, including stand or mount and eyepieces. Please don’t bring broken or incomplete equipment.

SPACE WILL BE LIMITED so requires registration. Stay tuned for registration details…

Saturday, September 23, 2017, 5:30 – 8:30 pm, NACET Incubator and Buffalo Park

Night Sky Photography Workshop with Stan Honda

This extraordinary opportunity will allow participants to learn how to photograph the night sky with a master. New York-based Stan Honda was a photojournalist for 34 years, most recently for Agence France-Presse (AFP). Although he has photographed a wide array of subjects over the years, he has a special passion for starry skies and night landscapes, combining his interests in astronomy and photography. He has worked as an artist-in-residence at five national parks, and his photography of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and Wupatki National Monument were used in reports that led to them both being designated as International Dark Sky Parks. Honda will conduct a three-part workshop introducing basic techniques to capture beautiful night sky photos with modern digital cameras. The three-hour session will include learning about your camera and a short slideshow of Honda’s work.

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SPACE IS LIMITED so requires registration and a $25 fee. Register HERE.

Workshop participants must bring the following to the workshop:

• A DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) or mirrorless compact system or micro four thirds camera that allows manual adjustment including the following:
  • Manually adjustable shutter speed allowing exposure times up to at least 20 seconds duration – OR – or a “bulb” or “B” setting for the shutter speed and a remote cable shutter release
  • Manually settable aperture or F-stop
  • Manually settable ISO sensitivity, with ISO value of at least 1600 or 3200
  • Manually adjustable focus
• A tripod
• A small flashlight, preferably red LED or filtered with red cellophane

We recommend that you read your camera’s owner manual about using manual settings before the workshop.

Twilight Talks

Thursday, September 21, 2017, 6:45 – 7:15 pm, Buffalo Park pavilion

Roving on Mars: Curiosity’s exploration of Gale Crater

Dr. Lauren Edgar – U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center

Since landing in Gale crater, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has investigated a rich array of sedimentary rocks, while searching for ancient habitable environments. Over the past 5 years, Curiosity has traversed more than 16 km across Aeolus Palus to our current location in the foothills of Aeolis Mons. This talk will provide a brief overview of the MSL mission and the beautiful landscapes that preserve evidence for ancient lakes, rivers, deltas and dune fields, and will include a preview of where the rover is heading next.

Friday, September 22, 2017, 6:45 – 7:15 pm, Buffalo Park pavilion

Earth-like Planets

Dr. David Koerner – Northern Arizona University

The Kepler Space Mission has detected hundreds of Earth-size planets, some of which are the right distance from their host star to support life. Kepler observations tell us the sizes and masses of these planets, but little else. Theoretical modeling fills in the gaps and shows a widely varying assortment of rocky, icy, watery, and even steamy worlds. We will take a tour, and you can decide whether or not you’d like to live on one!

Saturday, September 23, 2016, 6:45 – 7:15 pm, Buffalo Park pavilion

A Walk Around Our Stellar Neighborhood
– A Comparison of the Nearby Stars to the Naked-Eye Stars

Dr. Gerard van Belle – Lowell Observatory

When we walk outside at night and are presented with the sparkling glory of the night sky, one might assume that the objects we see are those that are nearest to us in a large and varying universe.  In truth, only about 1 in every 10 of the objects we see with our eyes are amongst those that are actually nearby to our stellar system.  A examination of this contrast between bright and near will be presented, and highlights of both our boisterous stellar attention-getters and the quiet wallflowers will be presented.