The last several posts have been centered around the moon - and perhaps, I can't help it. Even in the darkest of nights, this constant celestial creation orbits around us, shining back the sun and reminding us that the comfort of daylight is never too far away. Steady, stunning, keeping the tides in ebb and flow - that bright lunar orb is a friendly reminder that whatever new thing may come our way, the solution is as old as the time itself: be consistent, be bright, be faithful. Its very presence is peaceful to me.
We were camping at Brazos Bend State Park for this year's International Observe the Moon Night; unlike last year, when we set up our own telescope, this year we purchased tickets to the Star Party at the George Observatory that's on site. And it was well worth the price!
We wandered over a little before our 9pm time slot and spent a few minutes looking around the displays in the Challenger Learning Center.
It was added on to the telescope dome deck after the Challenger disaster as a way for the Houston community to grieve the loss of the astronauts and have a place for people to learn more about astro-adventuring in a hands on learning environment.
Speaking of hands-on - I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a telescope of that size for personal use someday! Ha!
One of the displays in the lobby enlightened me to something I have never seen before: the dark side of the moon! I had no idea that we actually had mapped it, much less that we had pictures of the lunar maria on that un-visible, far side. How cool was this?!
In no time, we were ushered up to the observation deck, with the three major domes and several amateur astronomers who had been invited to set up their personal telescopes as well. (I say amateur, but some of the telescopes that these guys had out were incredibly impressive; we saw the rings of Saturn in one and four moons of Jupiter in another!)
The 'main' attraction is the 36" Gueymard Research Telescope that was purchased from LSU, featuring a 500-pound primary mirror to reflect the light. IT. IS. IMPRESSIVE.
On a previous trip to the Observatory, pre-covid, we had the chance to view directly from the eye piece, and they hope to get back to that again soon, but tonight they had a digital display set up so that everyone could see what was being displayed on a computer monitor.
We were so grateful to the guys and gals who were there operating the telescope and ushering us around the observation deck - the entire facility is run by volunteers!
Having seen the moon up close, and a few of the other inhabitants of our night sky, RDB and I made our way back down the red-lighted path towards the park. I turned to look at the moon one last time and noticed, with the hazy cloud cover, a 22* halo circling it.
The moon truly is an orbiting angel smiling down on those of us here on Earth. I hope you'll take some time to stop and look up once in a while and smile back.
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