LIHU‘E — The Kauai Educational Association for Science and Astronomy (KEASA) is excited to announce that we will be resuming free public night sky observing events, beginning this Saturday, Sept. 17, at the softball field behind the Kaumakani School.
LIHU‘E — The Kauai Educational Association for Science and Astronomy (KEASA) is excited to announce that we will be resuming free public night sky observing events, beginning this Saturday, Sept. 17, at the softball field behind the Kaumakani School.
We will begin with an introduction and night sky overview at 6:30 p.m. Sunset will be at 6:40 p.m., and shortly after telescope viewing will begin.
Knowledgeable KEASA members will take you on a tour of the night sky through our own high quality telescopes.
This event will be informative and awe inspiring for adults and keiki of all ages. We do ask that if you bring any lights, please use those with a red light setting, as this is less disruptive to other people’s night vision.
Weather permitting, this will be an excellent viewing opportunity for the rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter. Saturn will be high in the sky after sunset, and Jupiter will be lower towards the east.
This time of year also it the last opportunity to see the area near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, with several bright and hazy star-forming nebulae immersed in the glow of countless background stars, too faint to see individually without a telescope, but together creating the glowing band seen across the night sky.
Rising in the east, will be the Great Square of Pegasus, with its four conspicuously bright stars spanning a large area of the eastern sky. Nearby our nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy can be seen.
A keen eye may find it without a telescope in a dark enough location, but through a telescope you will see a hazy area spanning the width of three full moons, an island of a trillion stars 2.5 million light years away!
