Virtual Star Parties

In an effort to continue outreach during the pandemic, Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory has collaborated with other groups in Tennessee including the Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium, the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society, the Memphis Astronomical Society, Tennessee Tech, and the Sharpe Planetarium. We have even joined forces with friends all the way up in Canada at McGill University. During these “virtual star parties,” our presenters take turns showing views through their telescopes and discussing what is being shown or discussing another topic of astronomy. Viewers are invited to submit questions live and as many questions are answered as time allows.

CLICK TO VIEW past Virtual Star Parties – Hosted by Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory

Astronomy groups from all over Tennessee including Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory, Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium, the Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society, the Memphis Astronomical Society, Tennessee Tech, and the Sharpe Planetarium kicked off the first event of this kind for Tennessee.  We started off with an intro from Heather Gallagher of Metro Parks before switching over to live views of the Moon, Comet NEOWISE, Jupiter, Saturn, and then several “deep-sky” objects including nebulae and star clusters.  We even had some of our presenters discuss other topics such as constellation mythologies and how some observatories, even amateur, can now be completely robotic.  Special thanks to Friends of Warner Parks and Metro Parks of Nashville and Davidson County, Heather Gallagher for being our emcee for the evening, and Theo Wellington for running the tech behind the scenes.

July 24th, 2020 Tennessee Virtual Star Party [Disclaimer:  audio has been redubbed to counter technical difficulties from that evening.]