If you want to get a closer look at what's above Carson City, Western Nevada College is opening its observatory Saturday night for a free community Star Party.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Jack C. Davis Observatory located at 2269 Vanpatten Avenue, on the northern end of WNC's Carson City campus. Visitors can arrive early for Venus and Spica, then stay later for Saturn and deeper-sky objects. Visitors will be able to use the observatory's telescopes and get help from astronomy experts.
One of the first sights to look for will be Venus, which should be bright in the west-southwest sky about an hour after sunset. The star Spica will appear nearby, and binoculars may help as the sky gets darker.
Later in the evening, Saturn will become visible in the eastern sky, with the best viewing expected around 9:30 to 10 p.m., according to WNC Observatory Director Dr. Thomas Herring.
“We'll be able to catch Venus just as the Sun gets behind the mountains, and it will set pretty quickly after it gets dark,” Dr. Herring said. “Saturn won't be up until a bit later, maybe 9:30 or 10 p.m. for good views.”
The night also offers an opportunity to look beyond the planets. Herring said this time of year is particularly good for viewing globular clusters, which are large groups of ancient stars, as well as galaxies including Andromeda.
“This time of the year is great for globular clusters, collections of tens to hundreds of thousands of ancient stars in our galaxy,” Herring said. “Also, a couple of nice galaxies, including Andromeda, our nearest neighbor, at 2.5 million light-years.”
