Programs are on clear Friday and Saturday nights from March - Late November. By noon on the day of each program a forecast and a note on whether or not the program that evening will go forward will be posted on the JGAP website. And on it's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JohnGlennAstronomyPark/.
March 17-18: Dark Skies! The Orion Nebula, Brilliant Sirius, The ghostly “Beehive” cluster, Gemini right overhead. Plus, the spring equinox is nearly here. 7:45 PM EDT
March 24-25: The Messier Objects. Most of the best and brightest celestial objects in the deep sky (nebulae, star cluster, and galaxies) are listed in the Messier Catalog (M1, M2, etc,.) This is the perfect night to see many of them. In fact, dedicated astronomers can see all of them in a single night if they stay up. Plus, a thin crescent moon. 7:45 PM EDT
March 31-April 1: The Mountains of the Moon. 7:45 PM
April 7-8: A nearly full moon. The brilliant moon washes out the sky, but we can still look at it, and a few double stars and bright star clusters. 8:00 PM
April 14-15: Galaxies! The constellations of Virgo and Leo are rising, allowing us to see some of the brighter galaxies in the heavens.
April 21-22: A thin crescent moon will join brilliant venus in the evening twilight. After that, we will explore deep space- really deep space- by looking at galaxies. 8:15 PM
April 28-29: The moon at its best. When first quarter is upon us, the mountains, craters and valleys of the moon are most visible. Come explore its surface! 8:15 PM
May 5-6: The full moon rises. Watch the moon rises in the east. Learn about the “moon illusion”. 8:15 PM
May 12-13: The Big Dipper! Ursa Major, the most recognizable constellation, is directly overhead when it gets fully dark. Come learn about its stories and explore its treasures with our telescopes. 8:30 PM
May 19-20: More Big Dipper! Beyond the stars of the Big Dipper are some of the brightest galaxies in the sky, including the spectacular “Whirlpool galaxy”, M51. It looks great in our 28” “Wow!” scope. 8:45 PM
May 26-27: Apollo 11. These two days put the Apollo 11 landing site on the moon right along the line between night and day, the terminator. While you won’t see the flags (or any other equipment on the moon) they’re far too small and the moon is astonishingly far away, you will see its rough surface and be able to pick out where the historic landing took place. 8:45 PM
June 2-3: The bright moon. Come watch the moon rise over our eastern horizon, and experience and learn about “the moon illusion” with us. Also, brilliant Venus in the evening twilight. 8:45 PM
June 9-10: The Great Virgo cluster. Straight over our heads on this evening, there is a galaxy cluster that is so enormous that our Milky-Way feels its tug from over 60 million light years away. Also, Venus is brilliant. 9:00 PM
June 16-17: It gets dark late! We’re almost to summer solstice (and the alignment of our plaza will be nearly perfect. If you have the stamina, and can make it to 11:00 PM when it is fully dark, you can explore the galaxies in Virgo, Leo and Ursa Major with us. 9:15 PM