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The Bluewater Astronomical Society recently hosted a Members Meeting and Public Viewing Night at the FOX Observatory, welcoming both members and several first-time guests for an evening focused on astronomy education, community, and exploration.
While cloudy skies prevented telescope observing, the evening still proved to be a success. Attendees enjoyed an engaging presentation titled “Stargazing 101: Coma Berenices and Its Treasures” which explored one of the spring sky’s most fascinating constellations, along with galaxy clusters, deep-sky objects, and techniques for locating them in the night sky.
The presentation included:
- Greek mythology connected to Coma Berenices
- How to star-hop and locate the constellation
- Viewing targets including M64 (Black Eye Galaxy), NGC 4565 (Needle Galaxy), M53, and the Coma Star Cluster
- Astrophotography examples and eyepiece simulations
- Tips for binocular and small telescope observing
Despite the weather, the evening generated strong interest and excitement among attendees. Several guests toured the observatory facilities and connected with BAS members to learn more about amateur astronomy and astrophotography.
One family attending the event shared the following message afterward:
“We had such a great time learning and being able to check out the observatory… We had such a great time that we would like to get a membership for the year and hopefully get out and use the observatory next time.”
The Bluewater Astronomical Society is pleased to welcome new members and continues to see growing community interest in astronomy outreach and education throughout Grey-Bruce.
BAS regularly hosts public events, educational presentations, observing nights, and astrophotography activities for all experience levels.
We thank everyone who attended and look forward to clearer skies at the next viewing event.
Constellation Coma Berenices and Its Treasures
The 1824 star chart of Virgo is card number 10 from Urania’s Mirror; or, a view of the Heavens, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards published in London.
Greek mythology
Queen Berenice was the wife of King Ptolemy III of Egypt.
Berenice was beautiful, with long amber tresses.
She wanted to ensure Ptolemy returned safely from battle during the Third Syrian War.
An Oracle Advised her to cut her long hair and make it an offering to Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty).
Zeus and Aphrodite were touched by the gesture, so once Ptolemy returned safety, they placed her hair in heaven to be admired by everyone.