LIGO and the Tri-City Astronomy Club (TCAC) departed from their August tradition of viewing the Perseid Meteor Shower and instead offered "The Deep Sky's the Limit" on August 25, an evening focused on star clusters, galaxies and nebulae in the distant night sky. Several hundred community members enjoyed deep sky views through more than a dozen TCAC telescopes set up around the darkened LIGO grounds. The night was clear, the star gazing was excellent and the participants and hosts shared great enthusiasm for the night's activity. The event's theme may return to the Perseids in future years when the mid-August shower isn't obscured by a bright moon as was the case in 2006, but certainly for this one year the program change brought satisfying results.

The event sponsors followed their usual practice of offering an auditorium program as the sky darkened. Following a showing of Einstein's Messengers, guests were treated to a multimedia presentation provided by Columbia Basin College (CBC) Astronomy Instructor Tony George. Tony and his wife viewed the March, 2006 total solar eclipse from the Libyan desert in the company of hundreds of other astronomy enthusiasts. His presentation included a striking collection of photos, one of which appears to the right, showing both the eclipse and the trip to see it, along with a video clip of the 'totality' portion of the event. In true high-tech fashion, Tony wasn't in attendance on August 25, instead providing a recorded audio commentary as part of the presentation.

Tri-City Herald Astronomy Columnist Roy Gephart, a regular contributor to LIGO/TCAC astronomy events, took the audience on a tour of the sky from our nearby environs, where distances are measured in astronomical units (1 AU equals the earth-sun distance), to the deep and deeper sky where light years and millions of light years become the units of measure.

An interlude in the program permitted TCAC President Wayne Henrikson to receive a certificate, sent by the Astronomical League, that recognized TCAC's Honorable Mention award in the 2006 Astronomy Day event competition. Representatives from Astronomy Day partners LIGO, CBC (Moore Observatory), the Association for the Advancement of Science Teaching through Astronomy (AASTA -- Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory) and the CREHST Meseum were pleased to join Wayne for a brief photo opportunity.

By 9:00 PM the sky was ready for viewing. TCAC scopes pointed to a variety of deep sky targets. The array of equipment was impressive, including a Dobsonian scope with a 25-inch mirror that required a stepladder to reach the eyepiece. Our vote for target of the evening was cast for the Ring Nebula, a faint but lovely and distinct ring-shaped structure resting thousands of light years away.