FAS Pilot Mountain Public Observation Saturday November 23rd

Update 11/29:

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear the weather will be cooperating for this weekend’s observation. The forecast is for clouds and 90% chance of rain. Our next observation opportunity will be the campers observation at Stone Mountain State Park on 12/21. Our 2020 calendar of events will be posted soon.

Update 11/22:

The observation scheduled for tomorrow evening has been postponed to the November 30th rain date. All forecast are in agreement that conditions tomorrow night will NOT be conducive to astronomical observations. Check back for a final weather call on the 29th for the event on the 30th.

The Forsyth Astronomical Society will be hosting a public observation on Saturday November 23rd in the upper knob overlook parking area of Pilot Mountain State Park. This is one our premier public observation sites due to its darker skies. We will be able to show you more dark sky objects at this location than any public event site we use. Sunset is at 5:09 pm. Shortly after sunset our first available targets, low on the horizon, will be Saturn, Jupiter and Venus. As darkness ebbs on there will be a host of star clusters, nebulae and even galaxies will be available to enjoy. With the moon setting before the sun the evening should be ripe for deep sky objects, if the sky conditions allow. New objects will be rising as the night progresses. If you’ve made your rounds and have seen “all there is to see”. Go around again, there will be new targets to enjoy. We will continue with the observation until 10 pm.

Being we will be atop the mountain the temps can be as much as 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding area, possibly more if the wind is blowing, so please dress appropriately, especially the little ones. Projected forecasts as of this post aren’t looking especially well with clouds and rain and lows in lower 40’s . Let’s hope that improves. This event is a weather dependent event so stay tuned to this post or the club’s Facebook page for a final weather call the Friday before the event. You can also call Kaleideum North after 5 pm on Friday for the weather call via their automated voice message system. In the event of weather canceling the observation there is a rain date of November 30th. We hope to see you all there.

If the observation is canceled, consider coming to the FAS Annual Telescope Workshop happening the 23rd from 1pm-4pm, it will happen rain or shine, more info for the workshop can be found via our website post for that event.

The view looking toward Winston-Salem from Pilot Mountain