Wonders of the Night Sky

Wonders of the Night Sky - Astronomy Programs
conducted under the auspices of the Stow Parks & Recreation Department

since September 15, 1995

website last updated: Friday, September 05, 2008 05:27 PM

Past, Present & Future observing events in 2008

Dates with scheduled events are in YELLOW, dates in WHITE are not as yet scheduled
Dates in RED are not available for astronomy programs at Fishcreek School
Click on the underlined date or Status below for details & updates

*April*	*May*	June	July	*Aug*	*Sept*	*Oct*	*Nov*
	5/2/08 Outcome	6/6/08 Outcome	7/4/08 Outcome	8/1/08 Outcome	9/5/08 Outcome	10/3/08 Status	11/7/08 Status
	5/9/08 Outcome	6/13/08 Outcome	7/11/08 Outcome	8/8/08 Outcome	9/12/08 Status	10/10/08 Status	11/14/08 Status
4/18/08 Outcome	5/16/08 Outcome	6/20/08 Outcome	7/18/08 Outcome	8/15/08 Outcome	9/19/08 Status	10/17/08 Status	11/21/08 Outcome
4/25/08 Status	5/23/08 Outcome	6/27/08 Outcome	7/25/08 Outcome	8/22/08 Outcome	9/26/08 Outcome	10/24/08 Outcome	11/28/08 Status
	5/30/08 Outcome			8/29/08 Outcome		10/31/08 Status

'Outcome' - event color coding
Green:	Successful
Red:	Cancelled due to weather conditions
Blue:	Event occurred, but ended early due to clouds

General information you should know about our events...
location, time, what to bring, etc.

Common Names for Deep Sky Objects
Alphabetical listing of names commonly used for DSOs

Current & Predicted Weather
Latest information from AccuWeather for Stow, Ohio

My Favorite Links
Some of my favorite astro-related websites

Lost & Found
Did you leave something on the observing field?

The photos below were taken during our observing event on 6/22/07
behind Fishcreek Elementary School in Stow where the
Wonders of the Night Sky program takes place nearly every
clear Friday night during the spring, summer and fall.

Ray took these shots with a DSLR in almost total darkness with an exposure time of 30 seconds giving the images a
surrealistic quality. The long exposures are demonstrated by the motion of the people and the total lack of shadows. Just magical. Thank you, Ray!

Photo below, left to right: Meade 102ED APO refractor on a Meade LXD650 German equatorial mount belonging to Jeff Kreidler (who's hand is visible on the focuser), 12" LX200GPS belonging to and operated by Dave Jessie and TMB 130SS on a Celestron CGE German equatorial mount operated by Rosaelena Villaseñor. The 102ED was viewing Jupiter, the LX200 was on the Moon and the TMB on Venus. There were many more scopes and mounted binoculars of all types and sizes in use on the observing field.

Photo below: A gentleman holding his young son up to the eyepiece of the 12" SCT that was still pointed at the Moon. The phase was almost exactly first quarter which gave a wealth of visible detail at the terminator - the line between lunar night and day - where shadows show craters and maria to best advantage.
Perhaps this young fellow will be the next great astronomer or cosmologist!