Autumn is an underrated season for stargazing. Before temperatures get too cold, and after the late sunlight of an Edmonton summer, fall is a great time to catch sight of celestial bodies and night-sky events at a dark sky preserve, one of Edmonton’s dedicated observatories or in your own backyard.
Located in Coronation Park, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Edmonton Centre operates the public observatory at Telus World of Science Edmonton (TWOSE), and is open to the public on Friday and Saturday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is free.
Frank Florian, senior manager, planetarium and space sciences at TWOSE, oversees the observatory. He’s been with the science centre for most of his career, beginning as a part-time employee when he was a university student studying physics and astrophysics. Today, he continues to share his love for the night sky with people of all ages.
“What I really love is seeing people’s eyes light up when they see something for the first time,” says Florian.
University of Alberta physics and astronomy professor Sharon Morsink says the campus observatory is great for viewing everything from star clusters to nebulas.
“In October, we’ll see Saturn. And it’s quite a wondrous thing to see the rings. I encourage everyone to get a view of Saturn in their life,” she says.
The university’s observatory, located on the fifth floor of the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, offers free drop-in admission. It’s open to the public on Thursdays during the school year, from noon to 1 p.m. to view the sun, and 8 to 9 p.m. for night-sky viewing.
With the RASC observatory open Friday and Saturday, astronomy enthusiasts have multiple opportunities to see the stars throughout the week. Florian and Morsink both note that the observatories are weather-dependent — the sky has to be clear for anything to be visible. The observatories are both outside, so dressing for the weather is also important.
But observatories aren’t the only ways to explore the night sky.
Morsink recommends beginners try stargazing with a good pair of binoculars before investing in a telescope.
“You’d be surprised how good things look through good binoculars. Binoculars and a star chart are great to learn where stars are, and that can make using a telescope later easier to use,” she says. Dark sky preserves are a great place to bring out your binoculars and get acquainted with the night sky.
Elk Island National Park, Miquelon Lake Provincial Park and Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area all offer this experience, great for seeing more stars than city light pollution allows.
A little further outside city limits, the town of Bon Accord is an International Dark Sky Community (designated by an organization called DarkSky), which makes it a great place to look at the stars, away from the city lights.
For Florian, helping people of all ages explore the night sky is one of the best parts of his job.
“It’s a place where we help people experience the universe,” says Florian.
