Virtual Star Party – October 6, 2013

Another wonderful Virtual Star Party, this time with 6 astronomers broadcasting their view of the night sky live. We had amazing views of Saturn, the Ring Nebula, M27,  and M17 the Swan Nebula (also known as the Lobster or Horseshoe Nebula). We also caught great views of NGC-896, NGC-869, and the M56 Cluster. Then we got some beautiful views of the Veil Nebula and discussed the benefits of image-stabilized binoculars.

This was also the first time were joined by Scott Ferguson, who delighted us with his dark sky views from the west coast of Florida. His views of the Pelican Nebula (NGC-6996) were gorgeous and unique.
Then, we were entertained by Roy’s view of the Pac-man Nebula.  The group entertained the idea of renaming it the Sharknado Nebula. And finally, Fraser gets to see his first image of the increasingly green Comet ISON thanks to Thad’s amazing equipment.

As the evening continued, we had lovely images of the Blue Snowball, M27 the Dumbell, IC1396 and the Triffid Nebula through local clouds. Finally we wrap up with lovely views of the North American Nebula, Andromeda, NGC-7078, the Propeller and the Heart Nebula in color.
Astronomers: Gary Gonella, Roy Salisbury,  Scott Ferguson and Bill McLaughlin

Commentary:  Dr. Thad Szabo, David Dickinson, Scott Lewis

Hosts: Fraser Cain, Scott Lewis

We run the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout. Want to find when it’s happening next? Just circle the Virtual Star Party page on Google+. Visit the Universe Today YouTube channel to see an archive of all our past events.