🚨🚨🚨 STAR PARTY ALERT!! 🚨🚨🚨
** Saturday, July 19, 2025 - - 9:30pm ~ 12:00am
Greetings, everyone - Welcome to July!
Popping on here to let you all know of the next public star party at the Stephen F. Wessling Observatory this coming Sat. July 19, starting at 9:30pm, hosted by The Newaygo County Dark Sky Astronomers!
Sunset that evening is around 9:21pm, and the main focus for the evening's viewing will be the "Summertime Constellations", as well as various star clusters, nebulae, and the summer Milky Way.
The Waning Crescent Moon doesn't rise until a little after 2:00am, so we'll have a nice, dark sky for observing.
Mars is about 20° up in the W at 9:30pm, so we may get a quick glance at it before it sets.
And, we'll have our long-time visitor favorite, "The Constellation Tour" for July, highlighting the mid-summer constellations!
Incidentally, the Moon pairs up with the Pleiades Star Cluster in the early hours of Sunday July 20, settled nicely at about the 2:00 position of the cluster throughout the night. If you happen to wake around 4:00am and have a clear view of the eastern sky, take a step outside for a nice viewing treat - - the pairing will be about 20° up, and in the ENE sky. 🌘✨
Also, Sunday July 20th is both the 56th anniversary of the first moon landing (Apollo 11 - 1969), and the 49th anniversary of the Viking 1 spacecraft landing on Mars in 1976. Indeed, historic milestones to remember!
We'll be opening the doors to the Kropscott Farm Science Building for visitor sign-ins a little before 9:30pm, and observing the night sky till around midnight, as long as people are there, and the skies are clear.
(** NOTE ** - - Please stop by the Science Building *FIRST* to sign in before heading over to the observatory).
Currently, the forecast for Fremont on Sat is mostly cloudy skies with a chance of showers during the day, and partly cloudy for the evening - - Temps should be in the low-70's to mid-60's.
We'll be hoping the skies clear for the evening, and, of course, we'll be monitoring the forecast as the week progresses. (Any updates or changes will be noted in the "Comments" section here if observing plans are called off).
*** PLEASE NOTE: Observatory viewing is subject to cancellation due to cloudy skies/rain. However, on occasion, we'll have an inside program if there is inclement weather.
As always, any club members or visitors who have their own equipment (telescopes and/or binoculars) are encouraged to bring their setups. So feel free to bring your observing toys with you to enjoy and share your favorite sky objects with others! 🔭
Admission for the evening is:
Adults - $5.00
17 and younger - $2.00
Kids under five - FREE
(All proceeds go toward the maintenance and improvement of the Wessling Observatory and Kropscott Farm property).
The Dark Sky Astronomers team look forward to viewing the night sky with you on Sat. July 19!
Until then...
Clear Skies! 🔭🌑🪐✨
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