Cape Fear Astro Schedule of Events
April, 2025
The 2025 State Wide Star Party will be held at Carolina Beach State Park on April 25th. Please see SWSP CBSP web page for more info.
Monthly Meeting
The Monthly Meeting will be held at 7:00 pm on Sunday, April 13th 2025 in Room 212 DeLoach Hall on the campus of UNCW. We will try to "simulcast" the meeting via Zoom. For more info including the meeting link, please contact us via the contact page.
Dr. Barbara Becker will present " "Horrid Quasar": The Redshift Controversy"
It has been over sixty years since the discovery of the star-like radio sources we now call 'quasars'. Quasars' enigmatic characteristics and unusual spectral signatures sparked a lively and at times contentious debate within the astronomical community over the physical structure of these bodies and their rightful place in the universe. Most astronomers have come to accept the mainstream view that quasars are high energy, active galaxies located at cosmological distances. A vocal minority, led by the late Halton C. Arp, have argued instead that evidence shows quasars to be peculiar companions to nearby galaxies. The resulting controversy shows how a scientific community copes with the threat of conflict from within when alternative theoretical views are introduced by dissident colleagues.
“Gastronomy”
The “gAstronomy Society” meeting for this month will be at
Waffle House (just kidding, tbd) located at
Please join us at 5:00 pm for supper and astronomical conversation.
Public Observing
Our next Public Observing Session is
April 05 starting at 7:30 pm
and continuing until 9 pm.
Location: Carolina Beach State Park
We'll be observing the first quarter moon, the planets Jupiter and Mars, and some of the spring star clusters and nebulae. If you have a telescope or binoculars, bring them!
This viewing session will canceled if it is raining at the starting time.
Please take note: For safety and consideration to others, we ask that you refrain from using flash photography after dark. This includes cell phones. There are two reasons for this.
- Once a person's eyes are accustomed to the dark it takes several minutes for them to acclimate again. Eyes acclimated to the dark can see greater detail through our telescopes.
- A flash if seen directly through the eyepiece of a telescope could be blinding. While this blindness most likely will not be permanent, it is still quite painful.
Thank you.