From Ms. April Hall, BHS- In late February the Brantley Elementary Science Club participated in an amazing night under the stars. We had the North West Florida Astronomy Association from Niceville, Florida treat us with a star gazing party! The day began with the NWFAA’s coordinator, Mr. Tom Haugh, come to the school to meet with our club and share with us things we would be seeing during the night. He showed us pictures that had been taken by club members from their telescopes. We learned a ton of information that we would be using. We learned how to use a star map, the difference between stars and planets, what deep space objects we could see, and the different types of telescopes.
That night we gathered at Paul and Michelle Williamson’s pasture and enjoyed a wonderful hot dog cookout before we began observing. There were about 10 members from the NWFAA that brought their telescopes. We had a sky walk led by one member that taught us how to spot different constellations and gave their stories. Another member taught us how to read the sky maps. Another member taught us how to use a mirror and binoculars to see different objects. Then there were about 10 different scopes available for viewing different things! We saw Jupiter and its four moons, Orion’s Nebula, several different galaxies, a supernova that was at the center of another galaxy, and many star clusters. It was absolutely amazing! A special thanks to the Williamsons, the Brantley PTA, and everyone that made it such a special event! Our members had such a good time they want to hold the event yearly and a couple even want to build an observatory! For information about the NWFAA please visit their website at: www.nwfastro.org
A big thanks to Ms. Hall for exposing her students and for writing the blog.
