Hello everyone,
If you have landed on this page you can see that the Dogstar Observatory website is under construction. Our new website will feature more content and will be easier to update giving yours truly one less excuse not to post new information about Dogstar, the nigh sky at Balsam Mountain Preserve and astronomy in general.
As far as the night skies go, the major astronomical events of the month can be captured in one word “COMETS”!. If you have not heard on the network news shows, we have two comets in route to the vicinity of the Earth – Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) and Comet ISON. Comet PanSTARRS may be just visible to the naked eye and certainly with binoculars in mid March and Comet ISON this fall and winter. Comets are notoriously difficult to predict and many times they simply don’t quite live up to predictions in terms of visibility. But you don’t want to miss a good one just in case the predictions come true. The Sky and Telescope website has the latest on both celestial visitors so be sure and check it out.
Thats all for now. Check back often and you should see a brand new look by the end of the month.
Jim Stratigos, Resident Astronomer