Special Events

March 12th 2005 - Messier Lab
TAS will be holding a Messier lab on the 12th of March. This is for beginners and is open to TAS members only. The instructor will be Gene Kochanowsky. For those that have never been to StarHill, I will be in a blue Chevy Avalanche at the Subway in the truck stop next to the exit on I-10 for SR59. Please be there by at least 5:45PM since that is when I will be leaving for StarHill. If you already know the way to StarHill you can meet me there at 6:00PM.

If you are serious about participating in the lab please be prepared by procure at a minimum a copy of Peterson's star guide

Peterson's Star Guide

You should also get or make a red flashlight:

Orion Telescopes and Binoculars

You should familiarize yourself concerning dark sky etiquette for StarHill:

TAS Member's Handbook

And watch the weather. If there is a good chance of rain then the lab will be canceled. Also check to see if it will be cold that night and wear and bring appropriate clothing. It is also nice to have lawn chairs and snacks.

Please make yourself familiar with the Messier program:

Messier Club

And use your Peterson's guide to determine which Messier objects will be up, choose two or three of them that you would like to find and observe and use your Peterson's to plan your approach.

This may help you:

Messier Objects

If you have any other questions let me know. Hope for good weather. See you there.
December 2004 - January 2005 - Comet Machholz
See it now near Taurus with binoculars.
October 27th, 2004 - Lunar Eclipse
TAS will be observing the lunar eclipse at the Challenger Learning Center. We will be observing from 9PM to Midnight. It will reach totality at 11:06PM. Weather permitting, we will have telescopes and binoculars available for viewing by the public. It is free and everyone is welcome. Bring warm clothing since it may be chilly.
June 8th, 2004 - Venus transit of the Sun
For a brief moment as the sun rises Venus will be in front of the sun and will be visible as a black dot on the sun's surface. In order to observe this event you will need the proper gear for observing the sun. Unless you have experience with solar observing we recommend that you do not try to observe this event on your own. Please watch this space and the TAS message boards for further details on if, where and when TAS will be observing this event. Click this link for detailed information on the transit.
April 30th, 2004 - Southwood Stargaze
TAS will be presenting a sidewalk astronomy session at the Southwood Community Center starting at sundown. TAS members will have their telescopes setup with view of celestial objects. There is no admission fee and everyone is welcome.
April 24th, 2004 - Astronomy Day
In cooperation with the Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Sciences TAS will be at the Museum with solar telescopes available for the public to view the sun. We will also answer your astronomy questions and help you with your telescopes if you bring them to the plaza.
April 17th, 2004 - Messier Lab
TAS is holding a Messier Lab at Starhill on April 17th. This session is open to any TAS member that wishes to learn how to go about observing the messier objects in order to get their Astronomical League Messier pin and observing certificate. People interested in attending the lab please send an email to gene@stargazers.org to receive instructions on where and when to meet and what to bring.
February 27th, 2004 - Maclay Gardens Stargaze
In cooperation with Maclay Gardens, TAS presents a stargaze open to the general public. We usually have slide shows and lectures as well as a tour of the skies. There are star charts, telescopes and binoculars available to the public. Bring your jackets, blankets and lawn chairs.
January 30th, 2004 - Southwood Stargaze
TAS will be presenting a sidewalk astronomy session at the Southwood Community Center starting at sundown. TAS members will have their telescopes setup with view of celestial objects. There is no admission fee and everyone is welcome. The weather is likely to be cold so please be prepared and wear warm clothing.
November 8th, 2003 - "Moon Pie Night"
TAS will participate in the FSUS lunar eclipse event on Saturday, November 8, 2003 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM.
Faculty and students from Florida High and members of the Tallahassee Astronomical Society will be on hand with telescopes, information, and activities geared for every age group and level of interest.
Families are invited to come out any time after 6:30 PM and pick a spot on the southwest lawn of the school to set up for the evening. Bring picnics, blankets, folding chairs, binoculars or your own telescope. Snacks and drinks will be sold as a fundraiser. Students from FSUS astronomy and art classes will be on hand to assist with activities for every age group and viewing through our telescopes.
The partial eclipse begins at 6:32 PM and the total eclipse begins at 8:06 PM. The greatest eclipse will occur at 8:18 PM and the total eclipse will end at 8:30 PM.
For more information or to volunteer your services, please contact Harry Hawbecker at 245-3761 or hhawbecker@comcast.net, Cathy McQuone at 245-3811 or cmcquone@garnet.acns.fsu.edu, or Barbara Davis at 245-3745 or bdavis@fsu.edu.
October 31st, 2003 - Maclay Gardens Stargaze
In cooperation with Maclay Gardens, TAS presents a stargaze open to the general public. We usually have slide shows and lectures as well as a tour of the skies. There are star charts, telescopes and binoculars available to the public. Bring your jackets, blankets and lawn chairs.
September 12th, 2003 - Premier of Autumn Skies over Tallahassee & SkyQuest at the Challenger Learning Center Planetarium. TAS is proud to be a co-sponsor of this show. There will be TAS members there with telescopes for viewing Mars. All TAS members and a guest are invited to attend a complementary showing at 7:00 PM. Please arrive early and let the person at the ticket counter know that you are a TAS member. Please consult the CLC website for show times and prices.
August 29th, 2003 - Mars - Closest Approach
In cooperation with the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee, TAS presents a stargaze open to the general public. There will be telescopes and binoculars available to the public for views of Mars and other celestial sights. The event is open to the general public and admission to the Mars Viewing is free. Observations will begin at 9PM on Kleman Plaza. Mars is going to be at its closest approach in about 60,000 years and will therefore be extremely bright and extraordinarily visible. Telescopes will be setup on the Plaza and we will have a 3d slide show viewing the surface of Mars. Many surface features (ice caps, mountain ranges, dust
storms) will be clearly visible though small telescopes and local
astronomers will be on hand to answer questions and talk about Mars.

Visitors can also enjoy a Planetarium Show at the Challenger Learning Center. The current Planetarium Show "Summer Skies Over Tallahassee" features information about Mars, including a fully immersing view of Mars' surface as seen by Pathfinder and a view of the entire summer retrograde sequence of Mars in seconds, not months. The "Summer Skies Over Tallahassee" closes on September 12th and will be replaced by "Autumn Skies Over Tallahassee."

The "Summer Skies Over Tallahassee" portion of the show is followed by our presentation narrated by Lawrence Fishburn and is titled "Infinity Express." "Infinity Express" is a full 3-D digital masterpiece including a journey through the solar system and a tour of different parts of our gigantic universe. "Infinity Express" will take you to the stars and fly you around the universe
to give you an experience that you never thought you could get in a theater.

Shows are on the hour and tickets cost $5.00 adult, $4.50 student,
$4.00 children 12 and under. For more information contact the
Challenger Learning Center at 850-645-STAR (7827).
May 24th, 2003 - Work day at StarHill.
May 15th, 2003 - Total Lunar eclipse -TAS will be back at Lake Ella Thursday May 15 around 10:00 p.m. to view a total Lunar Eclipse. According to Stargazer Jack Horkheimer: Late Thursday night May 15th and early Friday morning the 16th North America will experience the first of two total lunar eclipses for 2003. A total lunar eclipse occurs whenever the full Moon glides directly into our Earth's shadow which blocks most of the Sun's light from reaching it, because moon light is nothing more than reflected sun light. There is always however some red sun light which is bent by our Earth's atmosphere into the shadow. So during a total eclipse the Moon will always turn some strange shade of reddish-copper orange. The eclipse begins at 10:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time or your equivalent and ends at 1:18. Go to our website for more. Keep Looking Up! It was nice of the eclipse to come during Astronomy week so come out and look up with us. Hoping for clear skies.
February 14th, 2003 - Maclay Gardens Stargaze
In cooperation with Maclay Gardens, TAS presents a stargaze open to the general public. We usually have slide shows and lectures as well as a tour of skies. There are star charts, telescopes and binoculars available to the public. Bring your jackets, blankets and lawn chairs.
December 14th, 2002 - The FSU Planetarium assisted by TAS will present "More than Meets the Eye". Show times are 6 and 7 PM. It is free and open to the public. Shows are usually well attended so arrive early to get a good seat.
July 20th, 2002 - The FSU Planetarium with the assistance of TAS is putting on a show called “Hubble, Space Telescope”. Show times are 6, 7 & 8 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Shows are usually well attended so arrive early to get a good seat.
June 15th, 2002 - The FSU planetarium with the assistance of TAS is putting on the show “Larry, Cat In Space”. Show times are 11 a.m., 12, & 1 p.m. It is free and open to the public. TAS will be there to answer your questions about our club and the hobby of amateur astronomy.
April 19th, 2002 - TAS 3rd Annual Astronomy Day
TAS is putting on a day of talks, displays of equipment, photos, books and periodicals as well as views of the sun. This year the event will be held at Lake Ella from 4-9PM April 19th, 2002. This event is free and open to the general public. Mark this on your calendar!
March 23rd, 2002 - Maclay Gardens Stargaze
In cooperation with Maclay Gardens, TAS presents a stargaze open to the general public. We usually have slide shows and lectures as well as a tour of skies. There are star charts, telescopes and binoculars available to the public. Bring your jackets, blankets and lawn chairs.
February 17th, 2001 - FSU Flying Circus of Physics
We will be at the FSU Flying Circus of Physics with our telescopes and solar filters to view the Sun and to answer your questions about amateur astronomy and TAS.
February 17th, 2001 - Maclay Gardens Stargaze
We will be there with telescopes available for visitors to look through at the gardens. A wonderful combination of gorgeous flowers and gorgeous stars.
- From: Jean Koch [rangerdude@hotmail.com]
  Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 2:06 AM
  To: jraymond@nettally.com
  
  To the great bunch of people who came and gave such a great show with their telescopes, slide presentation, and the star charts program. Juanita a special thank you for working with me in putting this together, and letting all of the rest of the group know when, where the star gazing was to take place.
  
  I believe you all put yourselves and our Park on the map, as far as a great place to do the star watching, and also for your expertise in knowing the stars and your equipment. You all turned a lot of heads and opened up a lot of young and old minds on what is out there in the sky. We are still getting feed back and I'm sure we will for a long time. If you will keep us in mind for any future happenings in the sky, I'm sure I can speak for all, that you would be welcomed back with opened arms. We usually do our programs every third Saturday of the month but I'm sure we could change it if need be.
  
  You made one Park Ranger very proud that she had made the right decision, and that all went well. It was our night even mother nature was on our side.
  I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, for working with me through some minor bugs that we had, also some of the no's that I had to say. I'm sure we could make it bigger and better each time. Thank You all for a job well done.
  
  Park Ranger Jean Koch
February 10th, 2001 - Starhill workday
Volunteers needed to help make repairs to the TAS darksite. Anyone willing to help with basic plumbing, carpentry, electrical and general fixing and cleaning is welcome. Bring your tools. Work starts at 10AM.
January 19-21, 2001 - Camellia Nights Star Party
This star party will be held at StarHill, our dark sky site in Lloyd, Florida where the skies in January are usually exceptional. Registration is $25 and includes camping sites, limited electrical hookups and a barbecue on Saturday afternoon. Jack Newton and Maurizio Di Sciullo will be our featured speakers on Saturday evening, followed by observing session until dawn. Come join us for some great speakers and some great observing! Space is limited, so register early. For additional information please contact Doug Culbertson at cdculbertson@hcsmail.com
December 25, 2000 - Partial Solar Eclipse
Special sidewalk astronomy session to view the solar eclipse. Members will be present to answer questions and share their telescopes.
November 25, 2000 - TAS 2nd Annual Amateur Astronomy Day
In cooperation with the Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Sciences (formerly known as Odyssey Science Center) TAS is putting on a day of talks, displays of equipment, photos, books and periodicals as well as views of the sun. Mark this on your calendar! This is a must see!
April 1, 2000 - Messier Marathon
A special session at StarHill to take advantage of the one time a year that most of the Messier objects can be viewed in one evening. Prizes and certificates will be awarded and there is a great grand prize.
January 20, 2000 - Full Winter Moon Eclipse
Special sidewalk astronomy session to view the lunar eclipse.
January 8, 2000 - Starhill work day
This is part of the StarHill renovation. There will be someone there starting at 9AM. Please come as early as possible since there is much to do.
November 27, 1999 - Amateur Astronomy Day - The Odyssey Science Center and the Tallahassee Astronomical Society will hold Tallahassee’s first Amateur Astronomy Day. There will be fun, refreshments, door prizes, interesting talks and exhibits that the whole family will enjoy. Starting at 10am on Saturday morning visitors to the center will be able to look at the sun through a telescope, explore the solar system, learn about the kinds of telescopes that amateurs use to explore the universe and much more. The talks and exhibits will only be available on November 27 until 5pm so don’t forget to mark this on your calendar. Admission to the science center is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children and seniors. Visitors will also be able to view the center’s new dinosaur exhibit as well as the regular science and art exhibits.
May 15, 1999 - StarHill Workday and Picnic