The September 2017 edition of the Huachuca Astronomy Club newsletter, Nightfall, is now available for download. Submissions for next month’s issue can be sent to , our Nightfall editor
The NASA Museum Alliance has provided some star gazing videos that may be of interest to our members. These are short videos that cover what is in the night sky for the current month.
The RISS Observatory is located just south of Sierra Vista, AZ. at an elevation of about 5000 ft. on the eastern slope of the Huachuca Mountains. The domed observatory sits on a rear deck extending from the second story of our home affording the dome with a fine low eastern horizon. The dome is an 8 foot diameter (kit built) Explora-Dome, manufactured of very strong, UV stabilized, polyethylene plastic. A fork mounted, Byers clock driven Celestron 14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope presently resides as the main scope, with an Orion 80ED refractor serving as a wide-field viewing and guiding scope. The C-14 can be configured as a high-power visual or photographic telescope, or as a wide-field photographic imager. The concrete pier holding the scopes drops down through the deck and deep into the ground below. The pier is isolated from the rest of the deck structure to reduce scope vibration. And the loft just inside the house serves as a convenient warm-room.
The HAC website now has a new area under ‘Resources‘ where we will be adding content regarding all manner of light pollution issues. Bob Gent has already penned a great article drawing on his prior experience as a past president of the International Dark-Sky Association. Please give it a read and pass the link along to your friends and neighbors. We welcome all contributions to our Resources page, no matter which astronomy topic you wish to address.