At da Vinci Days on Saturday and Sunday, Heart of the Valley Astronomers looks at the Motion in Commotion in the sky, whether it's in the solar system or with the stars beyond. Our exhibit covers the topics of what's up there, what can we see, how do we see this, and many other things to explore in astronomy. We'll be setting up on the main da Vinci Days exhibit area on the Oregon State University campus and available on site from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days of the weekend.

During the last few years, one of the more popular astronomical attractions at da Vinci Days is solar viewing. This year, we'll present visitors with a couple of ways to look at the sun through properly filtered telescopes. Looking through one of our visual wavelength telescopes, you can see the array of sunspots that form on our nearest star, along with the possibility of finding a large sunspot cluster indicative of a pending solar flare.

Another look at the sun is becoming increasingly common in amateur astronomy - views in the hydrogen-alpha wavelength. Hydrogen-alpha telescopes offer spectacular views of the prominences that erupt from the sun's surface, illustrating the dynamic nature of a solar surface that's always in motion.

Kids interested in the solar system can put their curiosity to work in our solar system model. Discovery of the planets lurking that can be discovered on the da Vinci Days campus will lead to finding neat things to know about our cosmic neighbors along with making children eligible to winning a planisphere to use for their own star explorations.

How do we explore the sky in our group, anyway? Find out at our telescope display - there are many varieties of telescopes, mounts and accessories available for astronomers to use. Come and see the telescopes that we have on display, learn all about the strengths of each different type, and what you can expect to see with telescopes that we commonly use at our star parties. Of course, if you're looking for an instrument of your own, feel free to tap our free advice on what could work best for you.

In addition, one can discover how we make telescopes with our mirror grinding exhibit. Many telescopes use curved mirrors that are ground to tolerances finer than thousandths of an inch. Yet this is an activity that many amateur astronomers tackle successfully, as can be seen by the abundance of home-built telescopes in the region. Grinding a mirror is actually easier than you might imagine, you can even try out some grinding of your own at our display.

Finally, there will be an evening sky viewing session Saturday night at Central Park in downtown Corvallis. Starting at 9:30 p.m., join us for star watching through our telescopes. da Vinci Days beckons to be a treat for all kinds of interests, come and share your passion for the sky with us.

Contact Steve McGettigan at mcgettis@peak.org.

Star night

Interested in a telescope view of Jupiter, the Hercules Cluster, or any other great cosmic views? Then visit Heart of the Valley Astronomers at our next StarGazing night. If the sky is clear, we will be setting up our scopes at Adair County Park on Aug. 4. StarGazing starts at 9 p.m., and it is a free, casual and family-oriented event.