Places where you can observe the night sky

The Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville is open for public viewings with safety and social distancing requirements in place. Their planetarium is also open on a limited basis. Their planetarium is also open on a limited basis.

Here are some other places in north Georgia where you often can find public events that allow you to study the night sky. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many now are closed to the public, but say they plan to reopen. Check their webpages for more up-todate information.

The University of Georgia observatory in Athens is closed and no date has been set for a reopening.

The University of North Georgia astronomical observatory in Dahlonega is listed as closed due to its transition into a new facility as well as COVID-19 concerns and aims for to re-open in early 2021.

Georgia State University’s Hard Labor Creek observatory east of Atlanta has eliminated open houses until further notice due to COVID-19. The same applies to the observatory on their Dunwoody campus.

Bradley Observatory at Agnes Scott College in Decatur is closed until further notice.

The Ralph Buice Jr. Observatory at Fernbank Science Center in DeKalb County is closed and aims to reopening for viewing opportunities around the first of the year.

— Mark Woolsey

take a while even with advance planning and fancier computercontrolled systems.

For astrophotographers, taking one’s time is especially a virtue. Jim Ribble of Forsyth County, a retired broadcaster, has shot hundreds of pictures of the sky and said with fainter objects gathering the needed light and software processing can take hours.

“I enjoy the challenge” he said, “of pointing the telescope to a dark part of the sky and realizing that that it’s filled with incredible, colorful objects.”

At Tellus, Dundee wonders s whether renewed interest in the space program, with a return to the moon and a mission to Mars now in the planning stages, has jumpstarted recent interest in the night skies.

“I think any manned missions to space excite the general public. The Hubble space telescope and the robotic missions are exciting, but when you start including human brains in the exploration, it’s a whole different story.”

Back on Earth, increasing light pollution and Georgia’s typical summertime heat and humidity pose issues. “We are destroying the sky with useless lights,” is how Ribble puts it. Dundee said such pollution has increased greatly in recent years as metro Atlanta has surged northward.

Georgia State University’s Dr. Sebastien Lepine, who chairs the physics and astronomy department, said the school’s observatory at Hard Labor Creek likewise grapples with the issue. He suggests getting at least 30-50 miles away from downtown Atlanta for better views, or perhaps climbing Stone Mountain. Likewise, he said, spotting the bands of the Milky Way are a well-outsidethe-city experience.

For those willing to travel, Stephen C. Foster State Park in

South Georgia is a designated “dark sky” area, according to astronomy.com. Those come with lighting restrictions. And in general, the areas with the darkest skies are well west of the Mississippi, particularly in the southwest.

Those skies seemingly hold almost universal appeal for the public-as well as astronomers, whose painstaking, careful work sometimes keeps them up until nearly dawn.

“It’s rare you come across somebody who says, ‘Yuck I don’t like the stars.’”. Dundee said. “Everybody appreciates the beauty of the sky.”

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