Stargaze With The Audubon Astronomers

SOUTHBURY — The Audubon Center at Bent of the River and the Astronomical Society of New Haven are co-hosting an event titled, “Giants of the Solar System and Beyond,” scheduled Saturday evening, May 7at approximately 7:30 pm.

The stargazing event will take place at the Good Hill Farm Preserve on the Woodbury/Roxbury town line, but participants will meet ahead of time at the Audubon Center in Southbury for carpooling to the preserve.

With Earth’s moon not visible at this time of the month, and given a relatively dark observation site, the stars and deep sky viewing should be spectacular at Good Hill Farm Preserve –– especially because state-of-the-art telescopes will be set up for viewers’ use.

Stargazers can expect to see the rings and moons of Saturn, including Titan, which is the first extraterrestrial moon ever visited by a human spacecraft earlier this year.

The planet Jupiter is near opposition, making this is the best opportunity of the year to view the giant of the solar system and its four Galilean moons and Great Red Spot — a centuries-old storm system that is larger than Earth.

Other objects that will be visible include M44, the beehive cluster — a spectacular loose grouping of hundreds of young blue stars spread out in the constellation Cancer over an area about the size of three full moons; M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy — a distant example of the same type of galaxy as our Milky Way, which is a pinwheel of billions of stars so distant that the light that will be seen started its journey here 37 million years ago; M81 and M82, a famous pair of galaxies also millions of light years distant from earth; the globular cluster M5 — a giant ball of untold thousands of very old stars all circling our own galaxy.

While all eyes are on the distant stars and planets, all ears will likely pick up the sounds of migrating birds much closer to home. The Good Hill Farm Preserve is one of Audubon Connecticut’s designated Important Bird Areas. If the weather is right, flocks of migrants may be heard flying overhead as they make their way north to their nesting grounds.

Interested stargazers should meet at 7:30 pm at the Audubon Center at Bent of the River for carpooling to the observation site at Good Hill Farm Preserve, which is about ten minutes away.

Stargazing will be cancelled in the event of clouds. Please call 264-5098 for reservations (there is no charge for this event, but reservations must be made), for directions, or for cancellation information. Anyone bringing a flashlight should cover it with red cellophane so the light will not interfere with night vision.

The Audubon Center at Bent of the River is at 185 East Flat Hill Road, South Britain section, about a half mile on the left from Connecticut Route 172 off of I-84 Exit 14.