I have always loved looking up at the sky and star gazing at night and trying to match up all of the constellations. The night sky is beautiful and so mysterious especially to someone who doesn’t know much about it. Up until a few months ago I had no idea that you could actually see Neptune, Saturn and Mars with no other equipment than your bare eyes and a clear sky. During Bloggers Gone Coastal we all had the chance to meet with some amazing folks at the Escambia Amateur Astronomer’s Association and learn all about the night sky and even get to see the planets and moon closer than I ever thought possible. These wonderful people took time out of their busy schedule to bring out the top of the line telescopes so that we would all get the chance to experience something everyone should see and do at least once in their lifetime.
Eight different telescopes were set up on the beachfront. They were all strategically placed so that we could have the best visibility of the planet we were looking at. There were also several telescopes that were positioned so that we could see the moon up close and personal. The first telescope I looked through I saw a glimpse of Saturn, at first I thought it was just a picture but I was looking at the real deal! It was very small, of course, because Saturn is so far away but I could still see the circular shape as well as the rings that surround this planet. I looked through a few others and out of the 8 my favorite thing to look at was the moon. It was amazing to see the moon up close like this, I could actually see the details of different craters right on the surface of the moon. It was so close I kept thinking if I looked close enough I could see the spot where we landed on the moon.
This was such a great experience and I want to thank all of the wonderful and incredibly knowledgeable folks that helped us star gaze like the pro’s . If your in town you should definitely find out about when they will be out, because there is nothing more spectacular than seeing the planets, moon and stars up close like this. You can find out more information on Star gazing as well as a list of dates you can find them out and about by visiting their website at http://rlwalker.gulfweb.net/astronomy/index.html
