Night Sky Watching at Kissimmee Prairie - by Bill Nigg

Night Sky Watching at Kissimmee Prairie, by Bill Nigg
Dark skies make the Kissimmee Prairie central Florida's premier location for stargazing.

Kissimmee Prairie Night Sky ©Judd Patterson

When you come out to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve to observe nature you are not limited to one planet. The dark night sky is one of our natural resources and allows observers to see the nature of the whole universe. Most constellations can be remembered when all the dim stars make a picture of ancient or mythological characters. These stories add fascination to the beauty of a dark sky view. Ancient observers had no city lights to interfere. As their culture developed they created legends—the Big Dipper is an ox cart in China; a funeral procession to plains Indians; a useful kitchen tool to Europeans. Modern astronomy is international. Latin names and mapped areas now define the 88 constellations such as URSA MAJOR which includes the big dipper and contributes to the picture of the great bear when all the dim stars near it are visible.

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Bubble Nebula bi-color. 5 hours ha, 3 hours OIII, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, (Click to enlarge) ©Charles Lillo

California nebula, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, (Click to enlarge) ©Charles Lillo

• The California Nebula (NGC 1499) pictured above is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a H-Beta filter (isolates the H-Beta line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies. It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. —Charles Lillo, www.theastrogeeks.com
  

Amateur astronomers come to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve from more than a hundred miles away to do serious imaging with the latest astrophoto equipment— which often costs more than their car. Computer controlled electronic cameras and image processing allow them to find and take observatory quality pictures. Inspired by the Hubble, and in a quest and challenge to collect similar images for self education, they camp for several nights prepared for a clear sky. The new moon week is chosen each month to avoid the moon's natural light pollution. Dark sky is needed to find most unique objects between the dim stars and allow maximum exposure success. the Preserve has "the Astronomy Pad"—a separated site designed for astronomers, to minimize light from campers and campfires.

Equipment set up on the KPP Astronomy Pad, ©Bill Nigg

Brevard Astronomical Society (BAS) members at the KPP Astronomy Pad, ©Stan Czaplicki

When you get the opportunity to camp overnight at KPPSP, bring a star map. You can print one from your local astronomy club website, at the public library, or from an astronomy magazine. You will get to see the nature of the universe in a dark sky environment.
—Bill Nigg

©S. Czaplicki

Our guest blog author, Bill Nigg, spends his winters in Florida—telescope observing on every clear night from state and national parks far away from city lights. He recently retired from 13 years of teaching college astronomy and a daytime career servicing physics lab instruments. Bill is an honorary lifetime member of the Kalamazoo (MI) Astronomical Society. He always invites nearby campers to view interesting space objects through his telescope and will explain how it fits into the Nature of the Universe. www.kasonline.org/profiles/nigg.html

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Useful link for stargazers: Kissimmee Prairie Preserve Clear Sky Chart