Keep Looking Up

The space inside our Solar System is littered with objects as small as dust to as large as miles across.  The history of the Earth and our Moon is proof of the existence of such objects.  Hundreds of craters on Earth and thousands of craters on the Moon plainly show us the marks of catastrophic collisions in the past.  Should we as the human race be concerned with the possibility of such a collision in our future?

People of all ages are invited to Northeast Nebraska Astronomy Club (NENAC) Friday, October 16 at the Lyons Library at 8pm and Saturday, October 17 at the Decatur Sears Center at 8pm.  There Pastor Gary Fugman will lead a discussion about catastrophic collisions in our Solar System.  Near-Earth asteroids, meteors of all sizes and collisions between comets and planets will be explained.  Current passages of asteroids within in the distance of the Moon to Earth will be illustrated.  Free star charts of the October night sky will be given and discussed.

Then, weather permitting, Friday we will travel three miles south of Lyons to the Corey and Tracie Martin residence, and Saturday to Fugman Observatory south of Decatur to view Solar System and deep sky objects through large astronomical telescopes.  The brightest asteroid in the Solar System, Vesta, now at it’s closest approach to Earth, will be the featured object of the evenings.  Vesta may now be seen with your unaided eye or binoculars if you know right where to look.  You are invited to bring your binoculars or telescope to the observing session.

For more information on this and future NENAC events, call Pastor Gary Fugman at 349-1953 or google “nenacstars”…and Keep Looking Up!

Questions to Consider:

Are you concerned today about asteroid or comet collisions with Earth?

What do you know about the extinction of the dinosaurs?