Donald Teuma-Castelletti
LUSKVILLE Sept. 8, 2018
The stars seemed much closer on Saturday night, when guests to Astro Pontiac’s stargazing event had the chance to see celestial matter as if they were mere kilometres away.
Volunteer astrologists had five telescopes available for peering through on Saturday night, when they held their Deep Space star gazing gathering starting at sun down.
“Tonight, because there’s little moon, we’re hoping for deep sky objects,” said Stephan Paape, founder of Astro Pontiac.
Met with clear skies and three visible planets to marvel at, the real show began closer to 9 p.m., as the sun fully set and gave way to night.
What the group had set out to find was terms that seem mostly to emerge from science fiction, including andromedas, globular clusters and the comet P21. This comet, Paape shared, was to be a highlight, as it was supposed to be the brightest it would be seen before it disappeared behind the sun.
Telescopes ranged in strength and size, with one powerful enough to clearly see Saturn, its ring and the space between it. Still, after spotting the reflection of a satellite’s solar panels briefly, it became clear that many impressive night sights were visible with just the guidance of Paape and his volunteers.
“Some of the neatest things are the things you can see with your own eyes,” said Paape, as the group distinguished more stars and planets in the dark above them.
As the sun set, for example, Paape identified the Ecliptic, pointing to Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the sky. He explained that this arc the planets made was referred to as the solar system’s equator.
He also broke down some of the other terms he used, including andromeda, which is a full galaxy seen closest to earth, and globular cluster, which is a mini galaxy, lacking a core. Of course, by the time anything is seen from the field in Luskville, at the entrance to the Luskville Falls, all of this is millions of light years away.
What wasn’t so far away though, was the newly added SkyShed to the field, featuring another powerful telescope. This was a project that Paape had been looking forward to last summer, as it allows the bulky base of a telescope to remain on the property, protected from the elements. With it, volunteers can show off the sights of the sky, without a cumbersome tripod for guests to trip over in the night and allow for more frequent group events.
Next up for Astro Pontiac will be two nights of events this coming weekend on Sept. 14 and 15, weather permitting. The group will be looking towards the moon and checking out craters, at the same location.
