A night of gazing into the cosmos is planned for Saturday.
The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh is hosting a free “Dark Sky Star Party” at 7:50 p.m. Saturday at the Wagman Observatory in Deer Lake Park in Tarentum.
The event is open to the public, and astronomy experts will be providing space enthusiasts with a guided tour of the night sky. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own telescopes to the event.
Tom Reiland, director of the observatory, coordinates its star parties.
He said that the association tries to plan the events around the lunar cycle so that it is not blocking the telescopes’ view of the night sky.
“Usually we schedule our star parties around first-quarter moon,” Reiland said. “We try to do a star party where people can see the sky without the moon interfering.”
Clouds can also impact visibility, he said.
Visitors will be able to view Neptune and Uranus through the observatory’s Brashear Refractor and Manka Memorial Telescope. Gazers could also get a glimpse of the Milky Way, Hercules Cluster, Ring Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy, he said.
The Wagman Observatory, going into its 29th year, is owned and operated by the AAAP, Reiland said.
Founded in 1929, the AAAP has grown to over 300 members and is one of the oldest astronomy clubs in the nation, according to Reiland. He said that the AAAP is currently experiencing a growth in membership, following a post-recession decline.
“Because of the economy we started losing a lot of members,” he said. “People had to budget what they were doing and they didn’t have money to buy telescopes.”
Reiland, who is credited with discovering a new asteroid as well as a supernova, said discovery is what draws him to look into the stars.
“I like to go out and try to find things I haven’t seen before,” he said. “I’m just looking for something different, something new that might have occurred.”
