Pilot Mountain State Park – past events

• Sunset: 5:11PM – Asto Dark: 6:40PM (True Dark)
• No Moon
• Jupiter – should be a one of the high points of the night
• Solar viewing before sunset.

Pilot Mountain: Events Calendar

• Pilot Mountain public observations for 2011:
  • March 5, 2011 – the night of Tri-Star Canceled
    • Rain Date – March 12th Canceled
  • March 26, 2011 – Special Viewing Night
  • Nov 19, 2011
    • Rain Date – Dec 3, 2011

• Sunset: 7:58PM – Asto Dark: 8:58PM (True Dark)
• No Moon
• Saturn – will be able to be seen late, but very limited
• Solar viewing before sunset.

• Join in and take part in this public event!
• Sunset: 5:06PM – Astro Dark: 6:38PM

• Rained out:
  • Jupiter – GRS –

• And a lot good stuff.

• This was a fun time, even with the cold weather about 15 members setup over 12 telescopes and showed the night sky to well over 150 people. There were plenty of oh’s and ah’s. Pictures and more to follow over the next few days. If anyone wishes to post pictures and their thought about this event please forward them to fas@fas37.org we are looking for others that took part to provide better input than we can!

• Just a short follow-up on TriStar – there were at least 10 FAS members there, if you have never been you should try to get there next year, we will follow up with some words about it also.
• What a great weekend – Friday night at the Club Site with a great sky and good friends, then all day Saturday talking and learn about this out of the world hobby, and topped off with a night to remember on top of Pilot Mt.

• FAS is planning for a great night for a public observation. This is will be our Spring visit to Pilot Mt.
• Times –
  • Sunset 6:21 p.m.
  • End civil twilight 6:46 p.m.
  • End Astro. Twilight 7:46 p.m. – True dark good view from then till 10:00 p.m.
• I’m sure if the sky is clear some one will be on top of the mountain by 4:00pm to show off the sun.
• Before Sunset FAS club members will setup telescopes for the public to view the night sky with.
• End of Observation – 10:00 PM
• Special note – The Triad Starfest, *Tri*Star* at GTCC is March 6th, many FAS club members are planning to attend both. All *Tri*Star* attendees are welcome, bring your scope, and join us.
  • Tri-Star Poster

• Orion, Ursa Major, Draco, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo

• M31 – At sunset will sink fast into the light dome! The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2,500,000 light-years (1.58×1011 AU) away[4] in the constellation Andromeda.

• M81 and M82 all night –
  • Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode’s Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. M81 is one of the most striking examples of a grand design spiral galaxy, with near perfect arms spiraling into the very center.
  • Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034 or the Cigar Galaxy) is the prototype[5] nearby starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The starburst galaxy is five times as bright as the whole Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy’s center.
• C14 the Double Cluster – Great in Binocular’s, The Double Cluster is the common name for the naked-eye open clusters NGC 884 and NGC 869, which are close together in the constellation Perseus. NGC 884 and NGC 869 are at distances of 7600 and 6800 light-years away, respectively, so they are close to one another in space as well.
• M1 – The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was observed by John Bevis in 1731; it corresponds to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054.
• M42 – Orion Nebula – The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south[b] of Orion’s Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years[2][5] and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. Older texts frequently referred to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.
• M35 – M37 – M36 – M38 –
  • Messier 35 (also known as M 35, or NGC 2168) is an open cluster in the constellation Gemini.
  • Messier 37 (also known as M37 or NGC 2099) is the richest open cluster in the constellation Auriga. It was discovered by Hodirena before 1654.
  • Open Cluster M36 (also known as Messier Object 36, Messier 36, M36, or NGC 1960) is an open cluster in the Auriga constellation. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654.
  • Messier 38 (also known as M38 or NGC 1912) is an open cluster in the Auriga constellation.
• M44 – The Beehive Cluster (also known as Praesepe (Latin for “manger”), M44, NGC 2632, or Cr 189) is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open clusters to the Solar System, and it contains a larger star population than most other nearby clusters.
• Messier 79 – (also known as M79 or NGC 1904) is a globular cluster in the Lepus constellation.
• NGC 6543 – The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets, bubbles and sinewy arc-like features. In the center of the Cat’s Eye there is a bright and hot star, which around 1000 years ago lost its outer envelope producing the nebula.
• NGC 2392 The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula,[4] is a bipolar[2] double-shell[5] planetary nebula (PN).
• C25 –

• Mars – Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the “Red Planet” because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide[7] prevalent on its surface.

• Saturn – Rise at 7:30pm – view will improve the later it gets – Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements.[12] The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer.

• Venus – Sets at 7:16PM so look just after sunset.
• ISS – 7:07PM – 7:11PM – Start in West ending in the North – Low in sky, Mag 0.3!

Pilot Mountain: Events Calendar

Scheduled observations Rain dates Notes Feb. 28 March 21 Check Out The Pictures and More April 18 – Canceled May 16 – Canceled Sept. 12 – Canceled Oct. 10 – Canceled Nov. 7 – This is a go!!! Nov. 21 –

Pilot Mountain rain dates are held only in the event of bad weather on the regular dates.

• Pilot Mountain State Park – N.C. State information about the park!
• Pilot Mountain State Park – What Wikipedia has about the park

Event photos thanks to Frank! – see Photo Gallery

• Times –
  • Sunset 5:19 p.m.
  • End civil twilight 5:46 p.m.
  • End Astro. Twilight 6:47 p.m. – True dark good view from then till 10:00 p.m.
• I’m sure if the sky is clear some one will be on top of the mountain by 4:00pm to show off the sun.
• Before Sunset FAS club members will setup telescopes for the public to view the night sky with.

• Deep Sky Objects –
  • C14 – The Double Cluster is the common name for the naked-eye open clusters NGC 884 and NGC 869, which are close together in the constellation Perseus.
  • Messier 31 – Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda.
  • Messier 33 – Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum.
  • Owl Cluster – open clusters in the constellation Cassiopeia.
  • Messier 15 – a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus.
  • Messier 27 – The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years.
  • Messier 57 – The famously named “Ring Nebula” is located in the northern constellation of Lyra, and also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720. It is one of the most prominent examples of the deep-sky objects called planetary nebulae
• Jupiter –
  • Moons
    • Io
    • Europa – Eclipsed till 21:16!
    • 
    • Callisto
    • Ganymede
• Neptune – Very near Jupiter –
• Sky Maps
• Heavens-Above – Check if ISS (International Space Station) can it be seen?
  • 17:49 – Will be hard to see for the trees one of the overlooks may provide a view but it is just after sunset also!
  • 19:23 – Can be seen but last only 1 min.
• Tonight’s Sky

• Chip and Vivian Observation Plan – print your self a copy and bring along. We may or may not see everything but we can have a lot of fun trying.

• This was a great night, clouds all afternoon but just as the Sun set the skies cleared and the view was great. More Pictures

• Club had a great turnout including the annual picnic One of our visitors has a message for us.