photo by Thomas Trostel 18 x 300 second exposures,Celestron AVX and Cannon EOS-R Using Baader Moon & Skyglow Filter

Many sky enthusiasts such as Thomas Trostel love phtographing the heavens.  Shown here is the nebulosity around Gamma Cygni (IC1318) taken near his home in Reston.  But light pollution is making it increasingly difficult to find a dark sky. 

Turner Farm Observatory Park is one of the best places to observe and photograph the night sky and recognition with the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) is underway by the Fairfax County Park Authority.

The Analemma Society has made public observing an important resource at Turn Farm Park with a collection of telescopes in the Roll-Top Observatory now available to the public every Friday night, weather permitting.  Equipment was made available through Mastenbrook Grants and the generous donation by Jean and Ric Edelman.

Efforts are underway led by by Andrew Hayes to purchase a new telescope with CCD imager and filters for remote control in the Remote Astronomical Telescope Observatory (RATO) next to the Roll Top Observatory and Class Room.  This will expand capabilities for public imaging of the universe.  Details of how this will come about is still in the planning stages.  But remote views of the deep heavens is coming to a computer near you.

And more to come.  Radio Jove and the One Square Meter Radio Telescope are being establishing to monitor the sun (solar flares), planets (Jupiter and its moon Io), and our Milky Way Galaxy (observing the 21cm radio transmission of hydrogen as a tracer of the spiral arms).  Stay tuned for participating in these exciting observations.