Nov
14
Sat
2020
Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park
Nov 14 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

NOVAC supports this event by providing remote telescope viewing capabilities to visitors in order to ensure safe social distancing. Please visit the official website for more details.

Dec
12
Sat
2020
Cancelled – Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park
Dec 12 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

NOVAC supports this event by providing remote telescope viewing capabilities to visitors in order to ensure safe social distancing. Please visit the official website for more details.

The December event has been cancelled. Please keep an eye out for events in 2021!

Feb
27
Sat
2021
Byron Bergert Imaging Group @ Online via Google Meet
Feb 27 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

NOVAC’s Byron Bergert Imaging Group will hold its Not-a-Leap-Year Processing Party online on Saturday, February 27 from 10am to 1pm. As our planet’s satellite moves into its springtime prime, when the first-quarter moon will ride high in the sky, this seemed like a good opportunity to take a step sideways from our usual focus on deep sky astrophotography to do a session on lunar imaging. Our Special Guest Processor for this meeting is Tom Glenn, a skilled lunar and planetary photographer who lives in San Diego. You may be familiar with Tom’s work from his fantastic APOD of the International Space Station transiting Mars, but if you look at Tom’s Flickr site you’ll quickly see that he’s equally talented at lunar imaging, and in fact he earned his first APOD for that work. Tom images the moon with a 9.25” Celestron SCT and an ASI183 camera.

We’ll be holding this meeting online via Google Meet. Follow the link below to join the meeting (you can dial in for audio only):

meet.google.com/xyc-bqav-stt

Phone: 414-436-7479
PIN: ‪891 623 500#

We’ll open the connection about 10 minutes before the meeting time.

May
8
Sat
2021
It’s On!- Sky Meadows State Park- Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park
May 8 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
It's On!- Sky Meadows State Park- Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park

NOVAC supports this event by providing remote telescope viewing capabilities to visitors in order to ensure safe social distancing.

  • Sky Meadows State Park (11012 Edmonds Ln.), behind the Mount Bleak House within the white fence.
  • Participation will be limited to 100 people (including staff and volunteers).
  • Social distancing is required and face masks are strongly encouraged.

Please visit the official website for more details.

May
15
Sat
2021
Astronomy Day @ C.M. Crockett Park
May 15 @ 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Astronomy Day @ C.M. Crockett Park

Event is confirmed! See you tonight!

RSVP here.

Join NOVAC members who will be on hand to share views of the night sky including Mars, star clusters, the Milky Way, and many other deep sky objects.

Activities during Astronomy Day will include a telescope meet and greet, solar observing, a guided sky tour, night sky observing, and other demonstrations.

Feel free to walk around and enjoy the views of objects through a variety of telescopes on the field. Please ask the owner before using a telescope. If you have young children, please watch them around expensive astronomical equipment. Remember, telescope mirrors are sensitive to cigarette smoke and bug spray. Pets should also not be brought onto the observing field.

No astronomy experience or equipment is necessary to attend. If you have your own equipment, feel free to bring them along, even if it’s just a pair of binoculars.

For lighting, cover a flashlight in red cellophane (the darker the better). Bring along water to keep hydrated and plan on staying the entire evening or as long as the weather allows. Please dim your vehicles headlights when arriving and departing.

Crockett Park charges $7 per vehicle if you’re not a Fauquier County resident. However the event itself is completely free. NOVAC members are admitted free upon presentation of a membership card (available from the members-only section of the website). If you’re not a member but would like to become one, you can join the club online and print your membership card in only a few minutes.

Note: Masks are required throughout the event. This event is also weather-dependent and may be cancelled because of significant cloud cover or precipitation.

Head over to the Astronomy Day page for more information.

Jun
12
Sat
2021
Sky Meadows State Park- Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park- It's a Go!
Jun 12 @ 8:30 pm – 11:30 pm
Sky Meadows State Park- Astronomy for Everyone @ Sky Meadows State Park- It's a Go!

NOVAC supports this event by providing telescope views to visitors.

  • Sky Meadows State Park (11012 Edmonds Ln.), behind the Mount Bleak House within the white fence.
  • For individuals who are fully vaccinated face coverings and social distancing are no longer required. Individuals who are not yet fully vaccinated will be asked to continue face covering and social distancing procedures.