Redshift Astronomy
Hello, I'm Bob Moody, and I'm an amateur astronomer. I'm also currently president of the Arkansas Oklahoma Astronomical Society, or AOAS of the Van Buren/Ft. Smith, AR area. I'm standing beside our club's Celestron 14" SCT telescope (CGE1400XLT), which is the primary instrument here on-site at our club-owned Coleman Observatory. As caretaker for Coleman Observatory, I'm always here to help visitors who want to see the universe, or some of the equipment we use and get some idea of exactly what we do as amateur astronomers.
I visited with the 3rd thru 6th grade Gifted & Talented students at Hackett schools on several occasions in the '06-'07 school year. Photo by Gayla Edwards, Hackett Gifted & Talented coordinator, used by permission.
AOAS members (myself included) make frequent visits to area schools where we make both structured and free-form presentations on astronomical topics. With a simple email or a phone call, any area teacher may request a visit from us at their school or in their classrooms. We can also do "star parties" where AOAS members bring their telescopes to setup and provide views of the universe at a school parking lot or athletic field. We're here to help with all kinds of assistance regarding anything astronomical.
Coleman Observatory consists of two roll-off roof buildings and several permanent and temporary piers that are available for members of AOAS to use. We don't discriminate, though, and even the public may use our observing grounds with whatever equipment they may have at any time or for any type of use. Want a good, dark and SAFE place to lay out a sleeping bag or chaise chair to lean back and watch a meteor shower from? Everyone is welcome to use our yard at no cost whatsoever.
Telescopes abound at Coleman Observatory. Our primary instrument is a 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope housed in the large roll-off roof building. Due to this telescope being so large, we affectioantely refer to it as "CETUS" which relates with regard to the constellation of Cetus, the Whale. The smaller building houses (currently) TWO 13.1" Dobsonian telescopes, as well as my personal telescope, a 12.5" f/7 truss-tube Dobsonian which I call "Redshift" at the far right of the image above. Other telescopes and binoculars are on-site and available for AOAS members to use at any time. AOAS members usually participate in bi-monthly telescopic viewing events called "star parties", where any number of our 30-35 bring one or more personal telescopes to take advantage of our darker skies and for the comradery between good friends. Find out when these events are scheduled by going to the AOAS website at http://www.aoas.org and feel free to join us anytime an event is taking place.
