The next Kartchner Caverns State Park astronomy program will be Saturday, October 1, 2016. The guest speaker will be Mr. Ken Zoll, the Executive Director of the Verde Valley Archeological Center. His talk will be given in the Discovery Center auditorium at 5:30 pm. Mr. Zoll will cover the results of his research in Archeo-Astronomy in Arizona. He has studied archeological sites across the region, and during his program, he will show links between pictographs and astronomical events.
Starting in the early afternoon, the Huachuca Astronomy Club of Southeastern Arizona (HAC) will have solar telescopes set up for observing the sun. If the skies are clear, we will see close-ups of sunspots and prominences through specially filtered astronomical telescopes. After sunset about 7 pm and weather permitting, everyone will have another chance to look through the HAC telescopes. Don’t miss the close-up views of the ringed planet Saturn, the red planet Mars, the Hercules star cluster (M13), and many other wonders of the night sky. Sunset will be at about 6:05 pm, and bring your jackets.
This event is open to the public. There is a $7.00 per-car entry fee (up to 4 adults). There is no additional fee for parking. The telescopes will be setup in the bus parking area.
For additional information about visiting Kartchner Caverns, visit: http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/
Solar Observing at Kartchner Caverns:
Here’s a recent photo of Saturn by HAC President, David Roemer:
2016 photo of the Hercules Globular Star Cluster, by HAC President David Roemer. This star cluster has over 100,000 stars and is 26,000 light years away:
