The Astronomers of Verde Valley (AVV) hosted a solar viewing and star party at the Red Rock Ranger Station. Solar viewing was well attended as visitors and locals looked through special dedicated solar telescopes to see sunspots and sun flares. The evening event started with a PowerPoint presentation by J.D. Maddy with AVV which included the latest technological advances, fun facts, and discussion of our Universe. After the presentation, Karen Maddy delighted the viewers with a laser tour of the constellations and Milky Way. The astronomers had their telescopes ready for viewing of the night sky. Viewers saw Galaxies M31, Double star Albireo, Eta Cassiopeia, Nebula Swan, Lagoon, Gas Giants Jupiter and Saturn, Globular Cluster M13, M22, beautiful open cluster Butterfly, Ptolemy Cluster, Sagittarius star cloud and more. About 155 visitors and locals attended this event.
The event was sponsored by Keep Sedona Beautiful Dark-Sky Committee (KSBDSC). The KSBDSC distributed dark-sky brochures, talked about ways to reduce light pollution and handed out material with examples of dark-sky compliant fixtures.
