MIDSOUTH STAR GAZE & ASTRONOMY CONFERENCE!

Rainwater Observatory is gearing up for its annual Mid-South Stargaze and Astronomy Conference, April 22-25, 2026! This event attracts amateur and professional astronomers from around the country. It is held under one of the darkest skies in the southeastern United States and just off the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway near the village of French Camp, Mississippi.

MORE DETAILS TO COME!

FREE MONTHLY PUBLIC PROGRAM!

“Looking Deep into Fall Skies!”

Rainwater Observatory in French Camp Mississippi will be offering a free 4-County Electric Foundation “Exploring the Heavens” public program! This month’s presentation is called, “Looking Deep into Fall Skies!” and will be presented on Friday, November 14, 2025, starting at 7:00 p.m. by Dr. William Keel.

Our view of the night sky this month affords opportunities to contemplate a broad range of cosmic objects, from our neighborhood to the depths of space and time. Two ringed worlds, Saturn and Uranus, start the tour, furnishing great contrasts in their interiors and ring systems. One of the recent comets should still be visible, a visitor from the outermost frozen parts of our own solar system, while we look at some of the nearest stars far beyond. Many of the parts of our own Milky Way associated with summer viewing still appear, letting us see important markers in the life cycles of stars. This is the time of year when our neighbor galaxy in Andromeda is best visible, just more than a century after the discovery that it really is a separate galaxy. And beyond Andromeda, the is the deep vista of cosmic history traced by galaxies and their growing central black holes, traced even deeper in space and time with new views from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Bill Keel is a galaxy research astronomer and Professor Emeritus from the University of Alabama. He has conducted research on some of the most powerful telescopes in the world, including Lick Observatory, Kitt Peak, the 6-meter Russian telescope, the VLA radio array, and spaceborne facilities including Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ay Observatory. Much of this work within the last 15 years has involved the new capabilities of citizen science enabled by widespread internet access allowing a new breadth of public participation in data examination and discovery. He has also published two books - The Road to Galaxy Formation and The Sky at Einstein's Feet. He got his start in his backyard gazing at the sky, retaining a soft spot for amateur astronomy, and wants it known that he has only 3 telescopes at home.

Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium is located one mile east of the Natchez Trace Parkway off MS Highway 413 near the village of French Camp in Mississippi. Come early and enjoy dinner at the Council House, another support ministry of French Camp Academy.

For more information, visit Rainwater Observatory at: www.rainwaterobservatory.org, call us at: 662-547-7283 or email us at: info@rainwaterobservatory.org.

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