https://youtu.be/2clcPrri19g

Due to social distancing and self-quarantine procedures as recommended by the CDC and WHO, the Fort Worth Astronomical Society has canceled our public star parties since March, and we do not have plans to start them up again in the near future. Instead, I've been doing virtual star parties as our club's outreach to the public - instead of going to a local park, or a nearby state park with darker skies with a bunch of telescopes, I've been broadcasting since March from my backyard or from family land with darker skies, showing off the wonders of the night sky for 4-5 hours, as the weather and my time permit.

Deep into our Texas "winter", we will be looking towards the "Great Conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn, with the two planets apparently coming close together in the night sky. The closest point for the two planets will be on the night of the winter solstice, December 21st, with about a 1/10th of a degree if separation, but with clouds expected on Monday, and iffy weather on Saturday, we will try to see it Sunday night on the 20th. We are also starting earlier at 6pm, as Saturn and Jupiter will be very low in the sky at sunset, and we want to catch them before they are too close to the horizon early in the evening.

We will also be looking at the young waxing moon, and then some deep sky objects as well. If the weather holds, we will be at our alternate broadcast location in Grandview, south of the DFW metroplex, where darker skies make for better imaging, and cold nights reduce camera noise.

Planned equipment:

• Televue 101mm f5.4 apochromatic refractor
  
• Astro-Tech ATRC8C f8 Ritchey-Chretien reflector
  
• Orion 80mm f6 ED refractor
  
• Celestron CPC1100 f10 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector
  
• Various cameras, from dedicated planetary astronomical cameras to modified Canon DSLRs

If you've never looked through a telescope, if you're interested in the night sky and the universe around us, join us on Sunday night. You can ask questions, request to see objects (if they are in the sky at the time and if our telescopes are capable of seeing them), and see things most people don't even know are up there.

​