Equinoxes and Solstices - Night Viewing at Robert Ferguson Observatory
Obliquity of the Ecliptic
Equinoxes and Solstices
Virgo, Coma Berenices, Corona Borealis
These classes are designed for everyone from total beginners to experienced amateur observers. Whether you are just starting out and want to learn the constellations, or have a scope and want to expand your knowledge of viewing objects, the classes have something for you. The focus is on learning to appreciate the night sky in a 'geographic' sense... appreciating our solar system, spiral arm, Milky Way, and local galaxy cluster neighborhoods... when looking up into the night sky!
Basic technical topics are repeated in each of the three seasonal series so that the ideas become clearer and more familiar. For each constellation, myths, history, star patterns, named stars, interesting and significant stars, and deep sky objects are presented and explained briefly. Major solar system objects are presented when they are viewable (and all are presented over the course of a year). One class in summer is devoted entirely to the moon. The observing time after class builds upon the concepts presented in the lectures.
Detailed informational handouts are provided at each class. These may serve as excellent reference materials for all types of observing. The handouts are compiled from a large number of sources, and the observatory strives to make certain that they are useful, accurate, and up-to-date.
Persons who take all three of the seasonal Night Sky series (18 classes altogether) will learn the entire sky viewable from our northern latitude. (The winter sky is split between the Fall and Spring Series.)
Kenwood, CA 95452
USA
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Phone: (707) 833-6979
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Robert Ferguson was an avid amateur astronomer who built telescopes and shared his enthusiasm for astronomy with everyone he met, especially children. He started the Striking Sparks program; a program that gives away ten telescopes each year to Sonoma County school kids through an essay competition. The telescopes are provided by the Sonoma County Astronomical Society, an organization that Bob was affiliated with for many years. Bob was the inspiration for the development of an observatory as an educational and public resource for the community and so it bears his name.
The idea of a community observatory was in the “dream stage” for about ten years. The Valley of the Moon Observatory Association was founded in July of 1995. Phase 1 of the Observatory (the West Wing) was completed in February, 1997. The second phase (the classroom, bathrooms, library and East Wing) was finished in May, 1999. The final phase, the construction of a domed observatory for our 8” refractor, was completed in early 2003.
The VMOA was allowed to build an observatory inside Sugarloaf Ridge State Park by the State of California. One of the former State Park District superintendents, an amateur astronomer, was an advocate for the idea. The State felt that an observatory would encourage/increase park visitation. The observatory was a community-supported initiative committed to strengthening local science and mathematics education, which also appealed to the State Parks.
The observatory is sited in a location that, on first glance, appears to be less than ideal. Although it appears that the surrounding trees obscure the field of view, it is actually the Observatory walls that limit the telescopes’ range. Additionally, being sited with a protective ring of hills decreases the influence of light pollution from surrounding cities.
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