Seeing stars

Astronomical society plans monthly gatherings for the public at Red Rock Canyon

K.M. Cannon/VIewJulie Rivera looks through a telescope during the Las Vegas Astronomical Society?s Star Party at Red Rock Canyon, March 20. K.M. Cannon/viewJustin Barraza, 10, looks through a telescope during the Las Vegas Astronomical Society?s Star Party at Red Rock Canyon, March 20. K.M. Cannon/viewFred Rayworth, right, of the Las Vegas Astronomical Society, prepares his telescope for a Star Party at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Visitor Center as member Bunny Nua, left, gives information to Andy Galvin, March 20. The society plans to host a free event at Red Rock Canyon on the third Saturday of every month. The next one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Advertisement

They see more stars than the Las Vegas Strip ... a lot more.

The Las Vegas Astronomical Society plans to host a Star Party at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Visitor Center, 1000 Scenic Loop Drive, on the third Saturday of the month. The next one will be about Saturn and is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The only cost is the park entry fee, currently $5 for vehicles and free for those arriving on foot or by bicycle.

The program allows the public to view the sky with telescopes.

"Club people love to show off their toys," said Dan McMahon, LVAS member. "(President) Rob (Lambert) will be out here until the last person leaves."

LVAS members set up their telescopes in front of the visitor center during daylight. The Star Party is not just about seeing stars, planets and nebulae. There's also an indoor educational lecture.

"Some people are not so interested in the indoor part of the program," said Kate Sorom, Bureau of Land Management Ranger. "They just come for the (viewing) and get a head start on everybody else."

The March 20 presentation was on star clusters. Lambert said they are relatively young formations, no more than about 1 million years old, normally found in spiral and irregular galaxies. They were formed from interstellar molecular clouds, essentially gas and dust drawn together by gravity. He showed examples of sky objects taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, including the Horsehead Nebula and the Great Orion Nebula.

"This is truly a nursery for stars," he said at the presentation. "You'll see that tonight, see the stars born of gas and dust."

Stars, he told the audience, do not "burn" but are actually a nuclear reaction.

He used some of the photos he'd taken of the Pleiades star cluster, the Wild Duck Cluster and the Beehive Cluster.

"Sometimes you can see the fuzz of it just with the naked eye," Lambert said of the Beehive Cluster. "But with a telescope, it's really pretty."

Before going outside, the rules of Star Party etiquette were explained: no flashlight to ruin one's night vision; no smoking to leave film on the lenses and mirrors; and children should resist the temptation to grab the eyepiece and pull it toward them.

Everyone trooped out to view the dark sky. There were plenty of stars to see. According to the Australian National University, there are 70 sextillion stars in the known universe. A sextillion is a number, in this case 70, followed by 36 zeroes.

About 45 people attended the March event. Some were LVAS members.

On the viewing menu were the Crab Nebula, the Cigar Galaxy, Mars and the moon. Not all of the sky objects were made by nature. There also was a chance to see a communications satellite glinting as it passed overhead. Lambert kept track of when it would appear, at 8:17 p.m., by consulting his touch-screen cell phone, loaded with applications for astronomers.

Everyone had the chance to look through various telescopes and watch the projector-type viewing taken from one, a 12-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain. It was hooked up to a computerized sky map. When the telescope was instructed to view a different celestial object, it immediately swung around and retrained its focus. Perie Rippa, 8, said it was her first time star gazing with telescopes.

"I want to see a shooting star," she said.

LVAS member Fred Rayworth has been into star gazing since his parents bought him a 2-inch telescope in 1966, when he was 15. On March 20, he brought his 16-inch diameter truss-tube telescope. It cost nearly $2,000. Asked if he was concerned that some child might collide with it, he said: "I'm not worried," adding that it could take a hit or two without being damaged. To demonstrate, he kicked it, just not too hard.

Las Vegas is known for its neon lights. That means it's not the best place for star gazing. It's known in star-gazing circles as having light pollution.

"There's a glow from the city lights," said Bunny Nua, LVAS secretary. "It can be a little discouraging."

LVAS members take trips to Valley of Fire, Temple Bar on Lake Mead and Death Valley to escape the manmade light. On the other hand, Las Vegas does enjoy mostly clear weather.

"But sometimes the skies will cloud up and everybody bails," Lambert said. "But by the time the presentation is over, the clouds are gone."

Francisco Corredor joined LVAS two months ago. The Henderson resident said he liked viewing nebulae. He said he got into star gazing "when I discovered Hubble. I like that you can see objects you didn't know were even there."

Julie Rivera, a teacher at Coronado High School, came to the event with friends.

"I've seen pictures in textbooks (of sky objects)," she said. "But I've never seen them for real."

Another viewer was Matt Jeanos, 17, who said he's been fascinated with stars his whole life. His girlfriend, Kaela Stender, brought him to the Star Party.

"I wanted to surprise him," she said. "I just told him we were going somewhere and that he'd like it."

On May 1, Red Rock Canyon entry fees are scheduled to increase from $5 to $7 for a vehicle day pass, from $20 to $30 for an annual pass and to $3 for those on foot or bicycle.

For more information on LVAS, visit www.lvastronomy.com.

Contact Summerlin View and South Summerlin View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.