photograph by jeremy veldman
A wide variety of telescopes are used when the Memphis Astronomical Society gathers to gaze at the heavens.
Editor’s Note: Nestled through the Memphis urban area are surprisingly tranquil green oases. If you’re ready for a break from the hustle for a spell, you don't need to travel far. From an otherworldly paddling voyage to the centering rhythm of a day on the trail, our hometown offers a wealth of opportunities to change your outlook — literally.
The safe return of Artemis II from its fly-by around the moon, sending us starkly vivid views of our own planet framed by the enormity of its rocky companion, may have more people than usual thinking about what lingers up there over our heads. Luckily for staycationers who lack their own rockets, one needn’t visit celestial bodies personally to appreciate them. Indeed, the variety of telescopes available at a typical star party thrown by the Memphis Astronomical Society (MAS) can give you views at varying degrees of magnification, all of them bristling crisply with the light of planets, moons, comets, galaxies, and nebulae. And, as we learned from Artemis II, that light has added value just for having reached your very subjective eyeball.
One goal of NASA’s lunar fly-by program was not only to photograph the moon with high-resolution clarity, but also to train human eyes on the moon’s features, with all the perspective and context an intelligent human mind can add to the view. That’s also what we’re doing as we gaze upon the mind-bending shapes of the cosmos, whether through telescopes or the naked eye. Even better, any MAS gathering offers other intelligent earthlings with whom you may compare your observations.
photograph courtesy memphis astronomical society
The Memphis Astronomical Society at Bobby Lanier Farm Park.
To make our contact with ancient light as profound as possible, MAS will go the extra mile — literally. Their star parties are held as far away as Mississippi River State Park near Marianna, Arkansas, escaping the blazing lights of the city. And, as activists in the dark-sky movement know well, simply experiencing the vast expanse of gleaming stars untouched by urban light pollution can be the greatest revelation of a star party, even before the telescopes are set up. Indeed, simple binoculars may offer the most stunning views, given the wide field of view they offer. The real point is to see the stars as only your eyes can see them, setting your mind free to wander, reflect, and imagine.
But if you happen to glimpse those four moons that seem to hang off Jupiter like earrings, and simply must have more magnification, MAS will help. Their monthly telescope mentoring sessions at Hinton Park Soccer Field in Collierville can have you deploying your telescope like a pro. Or you might prefer to focus on your fellow earthlings with events like the Father Son Campout at International Harvester Managerial Park in Lakeland on May 1st.
If you go observing at Pinecrest Camp’s Blue Ghost Firefly Festival near Moscow, Tennessee, on May 9th, you have a good chance of seeing Jupiter, the Beehive star cluster nebula, and that one guy who tells the best ghost stories. Because at MAS, it’s not just about the stars or the people, it’s about closing the divide between them. Suddenly, that distant star glow, touched by the gift of human sight, can offer you ways to see your fellow humans a little more clearly.
Visit memphisastro.org for more information.
