Star Parties – Weather-dependent — as announced on www.roanestate.edu, the Astronomy Calendar, and emails to ORION members (no charge for registration)

Go ahead. Be in awe. The rest of us are..

Not our observatory, mind you. But it’s inspiring to look at!

Two gems in one picture.

An image from NASA

Go ahead.  Ask the question, because you wouldn’t be the first to do so.  ‘What is a star party’?  Well, it can be a lot of things.

Have you ever wanted to look through a telescope to see just how far you can peer back into our universe (we’re not NASA, but we can see some pretty amazing things)?  Maybe you’d like to see a grouping of ancient stars, bound together by gravity and orbiting our galactic plane?  Or a close up of the moon?   Perhaps you’d like to view a planet in our own solar system, or lie back and watch a meteor shower.  Are you a budding astrophotographer that just needs a dark place to work your magic?  Maybe you’d like to discuss – or learn about – the constellations and the stories of how they came to be.  Or, like most of us, perhaps you’d simply like to come and stand in awe of the Universe that surrounds you and learn about what it is  you’re seeing ‘out there’.    In the process, we suspect you’ll meet some new friends and learn a little bit more about yourself, too.

WHEN AND WHERE

Our star parties are open to the public, and you don’t need to bring a telescope.  We’ll let you look through ours.   We meet at Tamke-Allan Observatory in Rockwood, TN on announced evenings.  This facility has an indoor classroom (restroom facilities available) but we’re mostly outside to limit exposure to Covid.  You do not need to make a reservation but please contact us in advance if you are bringing groups of eight or more (please use the form at the bottom of this page).  You can find out how to get to us by clicking here.

Gates are open to the public at 8:30 p.m. summer hours and 7:30 p.m. winter hours (a bit earlier for astronomers setting up telescopes).    Not sure what time sunset is?  Check out the calendar here  (use the city of Knoxville).  To keep everyone healthy, we’ll be outside for observing most of the evening.  Generally, public viewing ends about 11:30 p.m., but astronomers are there until we’re tired and ready to go home!

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If you have questions about our public star parties, please feel free to contact us using the form below.

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