fbpx

Skywatching

For decades, Morehead educators have left the perfect visibility of the planetarium to bring their telescopes outside to help skywatchers really connect with the stars.

People look at the stars.

The sky is always perfect inside Morehead Planetarium.

From under the 44-foot-tall dome, Morehead educator Amy Sayle can always show the night sky in optimal conditions. She can guide young students and adult starwatchers alike through the galaxy by drawing constellations and circling the stars, all while advancing the night sky by hours — sometimes time traveling months.

But none of it is real. That’s not the sky spectators see when they leave the dome.

So for decades, Morehead educators have left the perfect visibility of the planetarium to bring their telescopes to Durham’s Jordan Lake and Little River Regional Park to help skywatchers really connect with the stars.

“The great thing about a planetarium is that you can control the sky,” said Sayle, a Morehead educator. “It’s a really great teaching tool. When people ask questions of ‘Where’s that’ I can stick a label on the sky. But it’s not real. What’s great about Jordan Lake is it’s the real deal. No, it’s not perfect. No, I can’t control it, but I can show people how to make friends with half of their field of view.”

Each month, the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center — joined by local astronomy groups including the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society — hosts free skywatching sessions where the community can experience the cosmos with the guidance of professional and amateur astronomers.

Providing telescopes and laser-guided star tours, the sessions aim to spark interest in the sciences while helping people connect with the night sky and observe planets, moons, nebulae and other celestial objects.

“It starts opening up their mind to just how big the universe is,” said Jayme Hanzak, an amateur astronomer and president of the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society. “It stops them in their tracks and make them think about something other than what’s happening in the world. It just slows them down. Today, we really just need to slow down.”

As dusk falls over the parks, previously inconspicuous meadows come alive with amateur astronomers and skywatchers examining the night sky.

And while Jordan Lake and Little River Regional Park don’t provide the perfect night sky, it’s provides a close second. Despite light population and the occasional cloud, the views from the two parks offer plenty for the crowds.

“We do see the Milky Way out there,” Sayle said. “It’s dark enough to pick up that hazy band.”

Focusing on a particular subject each week, which ranges from the moon and stars to planets and meteor showers, sessions tend to draw several hundred community members to the telescopes. On a typical evening, Sayle said, between six and 20 telescopes provide different looks at the sky.

“It’s a lot of fun to show people the night sky,” Hanzak said. “It stretches from nation to nation, it covers all languages. The stars — the heavens — are just incredible.”

Among the group scattered throughout Little River Park for April’s skywatching was Amelia Nilles. Having recently visited the Morehead Planetarium, the 7-year-old already knew what she was looking for in the night sky.

With the help of two Morehead educators, Amelia was soon putting her new, handheld telescope to use, showing her grandfather Bill Staginer what she was seeing.

“This is great, we love it,” Staginer said. “It’s special to be out here.”

Staginer and his granddaughter were just two of the nearly 100 people roaming about the dark Durham meadow, all fulfilling Sayle’s skywatching goal: help create new memories under the stars.

“Everybody has a story about the night sky — some meteor shower they remember seeing years ago, or the first time they remember seeing the moon,” Sayle said. “I love the idea that we’re actually facilitating families and people making new memories together.”

<style>[data-ps-embed-type=slideshow] > iframe {position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;}</style><div style=”position:relative;height:0 !important;padding-bottom: 75% !important;width:100% !important;” data-ps-embed-type=”slideshow” data-ps-embed-gid=”G0000jEljdyuiATY”></div><script src=”https://unc.photoshelter.com/js/psEmbed.js”></script>
<script>_psEmbed(“https://unc.photoshelter.com”);</script>