Join Libby (Wilkinson) Strong and Robert Strong of the SMART-Center in Wheeling, WV on Saturday, October 15th, 2022 from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm at Grant County’s Echo Park for a public StarWatch event for the Grant County Dark Skies Project. The Grant County Dark Skies Project will focus on the inherent natural beauty of the dark sky of Grant County with the aim of promoting Dark Sky Awareness and Dark Sky Tourism.
If the skies are cloudy or there is inclement weather on October 15th, 2022, Libby and Robert will lead StarWatch attendees through several interactive and family friendly astronomy activities. There will also be astronomy related discussions based on current astronomy events and your astronomy related questions.
At this Dark Sky StarWatch event from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm, we will view multiple Deep Space Objects. Milky Way, our home-galaxy, is brightest in the low south western sky. The Milky Way’s central bulge and brightest areas are home to many galactic Clusters, open Clusters, and a variety of Nebula – gargantuan clouds of gas and dust from the remnants of ancient stars now long gone and where stars and star systems are being formed as we are watching.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot will on left side of the planet at 7:30 PM and will rotate out of view by 8:00 PM. All four planetary moons of Jupiter are visible at 7:30 PM. Ganymede (largest moon of the solar system, larger than Saturn’s largest moon Titan and larger than the planet Mercury) will start to be eclipsed by Jupiter at 8:11 PM..
The ringed-planet Saturn is 32 1/2° above the horizon at 8:00 PM. Saturn’s largest moon Titan, second largest moon in the solar system and slightly larger than the planet Mercury, is located one ring diameter above Saturn’s cloud tops from the perspective of the Earth. Saturn appears as a non-twinkling star of magnitude 0.57, the brightest object in that part of the sky.
Uranus rises in the East north eastern sky just after 8:00 PM. Uranus is just visible to the unaided eye from a dark site.
The Earth’s moon will not be visible at this event.
We invite all persons with telescopes to bring their telescopes to the StarWatch event. Other telescopes will also be available for viewing. Come celebrate the night sky!
The Grant County Dark Skies Project is a joint effort between the Near Earth Object Foundation, Wheeling’s SMART-Center, and a generous grant from NASA’s West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, grant #80NSSC20M0055. The Grant County CVB, City of Petersburg, Grant County Chamber of Commerce, Grant County Development Authority, Grant County Schools, and Grant County Parks and Recreation are also partners in this project.