The University of Wyoming’s fledgling Astronomy Club hosted a “Star Party” last Saturday, March 8. The event, while small, brought together several astronomy lovers to view the night sky in what may be considered the most exciting season for it. As the weather warms up and the skies remain clear, Spring is a fantastic season to view celestial objects, especially in Wyoming where the skies are dark, and the weather is dry.
The event was primarily aimed at viewing galaxies, which is also what spring is best for in astronomy. During the springtime, the night sky of the northern hemisphere is oriented towards the “Virgo Supercluster,” the large cluster of galaxies that our own Milky Way is tangentially bound to. One of the brightest galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster is M49, an elliptical galaxy that shows up as a small fuzzy patch of light through an amateur telescope.
Another interesting galaxy within the cluster is M87, which is known for having a truly enormous black hole at its center. One of the astronomy club members, Anna, was trying to view this object for most of the night. When interviewed as to why she was so interested in it, Anna stated, “Well, I just think being able to see something so far away is really just incredibly fascinating… Those photons have traveled millions of years just to hit my eyeball.” When asked how she got into astronomy, she stated, “When I was a kid my grandpa would take me out to use his small telescope and I just fell in love with it after that. It’s a kinda . . . emotional experience for me. Just being out in nature in the night and looking up towards the night sky is a really special experience. I like doing it with the astronomy club, but there’s also something special about doing it alone.”
Arguably the most visually spectacular galaxy in the cluster is the “Sombrero Galaxy,” or M104. While the Sombrero Galaxy was somewhat harder to spot due to its location closer to the horizon, it has an incredibly distinct and bright appearance. Taking after its name, it’s a highly symmetrical disk with a large and extremely bulge in the center, although the disk is difficult to spot unless the sky conditions are correct.
While views of M87, M49, and M104 were somewhat sub-par on Saturday due to the presence of the moon, which is bright enough to disturb viewing of very faint objects, the star partygoers still had an excellent time out in the field and had a good time sharing their hobby with other like-minded individuals.
