February 9, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
When you gaze up at the night sky, through the veil of stars and the plane of the Milky Way close by, you can’t help but feel small before the grand abyss of the Universe that lies beyond. Even though nearly all of them are invisible to our eyes, our observable Universe, extending tens of billions of light years in all directions, contains a fantastically large number of galaxies within it.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object readily visible to the naked eye. It is 2.5 million light-years away. The light from it that we see right now is 2.5 million years old. We are therefore seeing the Andromeda Galaxy as it was at a time long before modern humans existed!
Come out to The Heide Observatory and we will take you on a tour of visible galaxies going back in time millions of years.
Take turns looking through our 17-inch telescope at binary stars, dim planets, distant galaxies, and other sky objects. Between individual views in the observatory dome, receive a guided sky tour standing outside under the stars to appreciate the broader picture of what you see through the telescope.
This event is weather-dependent and will be canceled by e-mail 24 hours before the scheduled start time in the event of a cloud cover forecast greater than 40%.
Dress appropriately for lying still in nighttime cold outdoor weather. Warm beverages, many-layered clothing, and sleeping bags are all well-advised.
Questions? Feel free to contact us at observatory@hawthornhollow.org