Trips
For the past several years astronomy club has taken trips to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) facility in Green Bank, West Virginia and the Allegheny Observatory, located on Pittsburgh's North Side.
NRAO's Green Bank site is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), as well as some older telescopes such as the 43 meter and the Green Bank interferometer. One of the highlights of the trip is being able to use the 40' telescope to observe neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
The Allegheny Observatory is home to three telescopes, a 30'' refractor built by famed local optician John Brashear, a 16'' Meade RX400, and a 13'' used for public viewings. We get a detailed tour of the historic buildings and if it is clear get a viewing session with the 13''.
Occasionally Astronomy Club also takes camping trips to dark sky sites.