Summerqueen mentioned that I have access to an observatory. Indeed, I do. I am a member of the Louisville Astronomical Society. We have an observatory in Crawford Country, Indiana, which is about an hour's drive west of Louisville, Kentucky. I'll post a link to our site at the bottom of this post. We often invite groups to the observatory, which is situated on 45 acres, and not only has an observatory, but a multi-purpose building with classroom, kitchen, his and her bathrooms, running water, etc. We have two observing fields as well, which can double as camping spots. If you guys are interested, I can make arrangements to have the site available. Becuase of the distance from Louisville, it is well worth it to plan to spend the night there, and if you like to camp somewhere with some amenities (we don't have a shower, sorry), this could be a place where we could have a group meet.
I will say though, that the society does charge for such group gatherings, though if we have more than a couple of people who want to attend, the cost will be minimal per person. If it is just a couple of people who want to come, I can take you there as a guest, at no charge.
Our observatory has some rather impressive telescopes, including a 16 inch newtonian mounted on an german equatorial mount (GEM), a Celestron C14 on a Celestron obvervatory-grade GEM, an astrophysics 144mm? aperture refractor (one of the best refractors on the market), a Celestron C8 on a fork mount, and an astrophotography set up that uses the same brand of mount I own (A Losmandy G11 Gemini) with a Williams Optics 80 mm widefield Megrez refractor, and a profressional grade astronomical CCD camera. In addition to these goodies, we also have a 16 inch dobsonian, a 14 inch dobsonian, aa 10 inche dobsonian, and an 8 inche dobsonian. We also have vrarious and sudry accessories such as binoculars. And that is what is generally available to members, not to mention the scopes each member owns (there are about 180 members). Anyway, this is my offer for anyone interested. Like I said, if we have a decent sized group, the society would have to charge a small fee per person for the use of the facility, and would expect that everyone would clean up after themselves, and not destroy or steal any of the equipment (though on the clean up part has ever been an issue).
Guys, let me know if anyone is interested, and I can make arrangements.
Here is a link to our web site:
http://www.louisville-astro.org/
Here are some photographs of the observatory:
http://louisville-astro.org/gallery/main...emId=18562
One of our public nights at the Observatory:
http://louisville-astro.org/gallery/main...emId=17445
I will say though, that the society does charge for such group gatherings, though if we have more than a couple of people who want to attend, the cost will be minimal per person. If it is just a couple of people who want to come, I can take you there as a guest, at no charge.
Our observatory has some rather impressive telescopes, including a 16 inch newtonian mounted on an german equatorial mount (GEM), a Celestron C14 on a Celestron obvervatory-grade GEM, an astrophysics 144mm? aperture refractor (one of the best refractors on the market), a Celestron C8 on a fork mount, and an astrophotography set up that uses the same brand of mount I own (A Losmandy G11 Gemini) with a Williams Optics 80 mm widefield Megrez refractor, and a profressional grade astronomical CCD camera. In addition to these goodies, we also have a 16 inch dobsonian, a 14 inch dobsonian, aa 10 inche dobsonian, and an 8 inche dobsonian. We also have vrarious and sudry accessories such as binoculars. And that is what is generally available to members, not to mention the scopes each member owns (there are about 180 members). Anyway, this is my offer for anyone interested. Like I said, if we have a decent sized group, the society would have to charge a small fee per person for the use of the facility, and would expect that everyone would clean up after themselves, and not destroy or steal any of the equipment (though on the clean up part has ever been an issue).
Guys, let me know if anyone is interested, and I can make arrangements.
Here is a link to our web site:
http://www.louisville-astro.org/
Here are some photographs of the observatory:
http://louisville-astro.org/gallery/main...emId=18562
One of our public nights at the Observatory:
http://louisville-astro.org/gallery/main...emId=17445
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
