Along with improved viewing with the new telescope, Keel hopes to improve communication between the astronomy experts and the public audience at the open viewing nights. As groups come and go, we may move telescopes. Keel plans to provide people with informational handouts, complete with sketches and charts of what they'll see, at Friday's session. The group's next public nights will be Oct. 28 and Dec. 1 in the dome of Gallalee Hall, focusing on Jupiter and Saturn. Keel will lead the October session and Ray White is speaking at the December viewing.
All public nights are free of charge.
The Orion Nebula is the nearest, brightest gaseous nebula. The familiar constellation of Orion the Hunter is about 1500 light years from the Sun. The center star in Orion's three-star belt is known as the Orion Nebula because, rather than an actual star, it is a cloud of gas and dust that glows brightly from he ultraviolet light of a very hot blue star. Scientists are currently studying the nebula for clues to the secrets of star birth.