Foss Hill Observatory
64 Foss Hill Lane, Rome, Maine 04963
Google Plus Code: H5Q2+PR Rome, Maine
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 9:00pm
Your host, Josh Zukerman, looks forward to seeing you! Weather forecasts are virtually perfect for a star party. There may be some clouds, but still with remarkably clear, steady skies.
Start time is set at dusk, leaving about half an hour to forty-five minutes to set up before the first stars become visible. Arrive as early as 7:00pm if you want more time to set up.
Previous star parties at Foss Hill have been held in Josh’s driveway. This one, for the first time, will be held at the site of the actual Foss Hill Observatory, which is currently under construction. So far, only the concrete pad has been built, along with some areas of packed gravel where portable telescopes can be placed on the ground. Meeting at the site of the future observatory, in the center of the large field, increases our horizon-to-horizon view of the sky.
The dark skies of Foss Hill Observatory are superb for viewing deep space objects. This is ideal during a summer when a coincidence of the orbits of the planets brings them into view only occasionally and at awkwardly late hours. We’ve had a number of requests for tours of the constellations; Foss Hill is ideal for those, too. Despite being central to Augusta, Waterville, and Skowhegan, Foss Hill feels wonderfully remote, as though it were much farther north. Everything about it is just perfect, or at least it will be, when your presence completes the party!
Usually, I have sent a final confirmation on the day of the star party, but with the forecasts so positive, this may be the last notice.
UPDATED DRIVING DIRECTIONS
Use the link to Google Maps above, as Foss Hill is one of those locations that mapping software often gets wrong when found from the street address. The mapping software does not yet show the access road to the new observatory. Josh’s paved driveway is the last on the left on Foss Hill Lane. The gravel access road to the observatory is also on the left, immediately after Josh’s driveway. Follow the access road to the center of the field.
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