Watcher of the Skies: Stargazing in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere)

A view of Scorpius over Coudersport, Pa. in August 2015.

It was a good summer for stargazing, it seems like. We had a few conjunctions, with different planets (Venus, Jupiter, etc.) dancing fairly close to the moon. Back in July, I got to join the North Jersey Astronomical Group for a moon-viewing party in Verona. And there was a lot of excitement on the astronomy front about the Pluto flyby photos.

But let’s face it, being this close to New York, as I am, your chances at being able to stargaze are a bit limited.

Earlier in the year, I’d had a co-worker tell me about Cherry Springs State Park out in north-central Pennsylvania earlier in the year. Now, a lot of people come to this part of the Keystone State for one reason: stargazing. And we’re talking stargazing as an Olympic-level sport: this part of Pennsylvania has been designated as Dark Sky territory. What that means is, the levels of light pollution from nearby cities and towns are virtually nil.

So that’s what we did out in Pennsylvania in August, in addition to checking out rail trails and state parks. We’d timed the trip so that it would fall around the time of the Perseids meteor shower in early August.

Stars (and moons and planets) in our eyes

The North Jersey Astronomical Group gets their telescopes set up.

Shifting gears tonight, trail heads. And I highly recommend reading this post while listening to Holst’s “The Planets.”

The family and I have an astronomy-related hike planned for later on this summer (expect a blog posting on that one, boys and girls), so we’ve all been brushing up on our star-watching skills.

A few weeks back, the North Jersey Astronomical Group had one of their monthly telescope nights out on the town green over in Verona for a glimpse of the moon and Saturn.

A co-worker told me about it beforehand, so a few of us from the office arranged to meet up there.