Construction Update
SVO is delighted to announce commencement of construction for Stellar Vista Observatory’s phase 1 facilities at Jackson Flat Reservoir! In partnership with the Kane County Water Conservancy District, SVO and KCWCD have selected Doyle Ray, a licensed contractor in the State of Utah since 1997, to perform the work. Doyle Ray’s firm, RBI Brothers, Inc has been building custom homes, commercial buildings, and specialized projects in the greater Kanab area since 2002. Construction site fencing and earthmoving are expected to begin in early September! Our architect is Robert Kaczowka, Mesa Design, based in Kanab, Utah, licensed in 5 states and sporting over 30 years experience.
SVO Receives $110,000 from Kane County for Phase 1 Construction
At their August 25 meeting, the Kane County Commission awarded $110,000 in TRT tax revenue to our partnering organization, the Kane County Water Conservancy District for SVO phase 1 construction! “TRT” is an acronym for Transient Room Taxes, which are taxes collected from hotels, restaurants, campgrounds and other short-term rentals in Kane County. These funds are used by Kane County to support and enhance tourism, recreation and public safety within the county. Infrastructure, such as installing utility electric service and Kanab City water to the Stellar Vista Observatory site, is an eligible use for this revenue.
With the approval of TRT funding by the Kane County Commission, total funding secured and committed to date for our project rises to $506,750. While SVO is pleased and grateful to each and every donor who has supported our project, an additional $58,000 is needed to close a remaining funding gap for Phase 1. Please consider making your contribution now by visiting: Donate | Stellar Vista Observatory.
Event Round Up
August 12 Perseid Star Party
by Michael McKeon
Despite the clouds going in and out, we had about 30 people stop by the Jackson Flat Reservoir boat launch parking area on August 12th to attend SVO’s Perseid Meteor Shower Star Party. Several friends and board members of SVO were in attendance. Enthusiastic participants ranged from local folks (who we’ve seen a bunch of times ❤️) to an excited family of six from Rochester, New York and two friends from Austin, Texas traveling through Utah.
I heard the “wows” about half a dozen times and personally saw two long fireballs. We were able to see the Milky Way, and, in the Celestron, we observed the binary star Alberio, Ptolemy open star cluster, Lagoon nebula, and the Hercules globular cluster. Just as we expected, the meteorites seemed to be a hit.☄️
August 27 Lunar Eclipse
About 25 people came out to join us to observe a partial lunar eclipse on August 27th. Persistent early cloudiness thinned out revealing translucent views now and then of the eclipsing moon and even our Milky Way galaxy! Unfortunately, because clouds reduce contrast in the night sky, we were not able to photograph the moon turning red, but there is always a next time and we will surely be there!
Join us for the International Observe the Moon Night
by Ella Elman, SVO
September 19, 2026 is International Observe the Moon Night, a worldwide event organized by NASA! Join SVO’s night sky interpreters at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park for our free monthly star party to learn more about Earth’s beautiful moon! (The State Park will charge a reduced $5/vehicle fee for those attending the star party).
On this night with the moon 61% illuminated, we will observe some of its more interesting and prominent features such as craters and Lunar Maria, smooth dark areas once thought to be oceans. These Maria (seas) are actually large, flat plains of solidified basaltic lava that can be viewed in binoculars or even with the unaided eye. There are 15 Maria on the near side of the moon. All are identified with evocative Latin names such as Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquilitatis, Mare Crisium, and Mare Nectaris, each of which will be visible on September 19th. At the edge of Mare Nectaris are two complex craters, Cyrillus and Theophilus. See if you can spot them through our powerful telescopes!
In addition, we may look for lunar landing sites used by previous missions, and features near the terminator line that separates the day and night side of the moon. This comprehensive PDF, created by NASA, shows a map of the moon with some of the most fascinating features.
Photo of the Month
This month’s featured photo was taken by Michael McKeon.
This image of the West Veil Nebula was taken on August 1, 2026 in southern Utah. The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus, a supernova remnant. The supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. When it exploded, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in the daytime. The remnants are approximately 2,400 light-years away from Earth.
If you have a night sky photo that you would like to share with our audience, we would love to include it in our monthly newsletter. Please send your photos to info@stellarvistaobservatory along with your name and a caption describing key objects featured in your image.
Telescopes New and Old: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
by Ella Elman, SVO
This month, we bring you two interesting stories and updates related to telescopes and space research.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
A brand-new telescope launched successfully on August 30, 2026, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will ultimately travel toward Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), located nearly a million miles from earth. At this location, gravitational forces balance to keep objects in steady orbits. From there, the telescope will be able to carry out extensive observations of the distant universe.
Nancy Grace Roman was NASA’s first chief of astronomy and the first woman to hold an executive position at the agency. Her revolutionary idea was to build and launch a large space telescope that could observe the universe without the blurring and light pollution imposed by Earth’s atmosphere. Today Roman is widely known as the “Mother of Hubble”. The Hubble telescope launched in 1990 and has provided groundbreaking data and images for more than 30 years.
It is fitting that the Roman telescope is the successor to Hubble, carrying on her vision. Roman has a 7.9 foot primary mirror that will be used to study the universe using infrared light, which cannot be seen by the human eye. The telescope’s field of view will be at least 100 times larger than Hubble’s, allowing for detailed observations of large areas and collection of data hundreds of times faster than Hubble.
Roman will have several main missions: To discover and investigate exoplanets (planets circling stars outside our solar system), to learn more about dark matter, dark energy and black holes, and to map how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos.
Julie McEnery, Roman senior project scientist at NASA Goddard explains the new telescope’s importance: “With Roman’s construction complete, we are poised at the brink of unfathomable scientific discovery. In the mission’s first five years, it’s expected to unveil more than 100,000 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies. We stand to learn a tremendous amount of new information about the universe very rapidly after Roman launches.”
Roman is expected to go into operation early next year. We wish it a smooth ride to its final destination, 930,000 miles from earth.
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
And now for a look at the other end of the spectrum. What happens to a space telescope when it reaches its end of life? Such is the case for the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which was launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts and was used as a multi-wavelength observatory, particularly for the rapid follow-up and characterization of astrophysical transients of all types. The expected mission length was two years, but the telescope was going strong for 21 years before problems cropped up.
Swift is located in low earth orbit. In the past two years, the Swift observatory has been losing altitude faster than expected due to an increase in solar activity. Solar radiation storms have expanded the Earth’s atmosphere enough to slow Swift due to atmospheric drag and were lowering the orbit. To try to save the telescope, an ambitious plan was formed. On July 3, 2026, NASA announced a joint venture with Katalyst Space Technologies, an aerospace start-up. The goal was to launch a spacecraft known as Link to nudge the observatory back into orbit. Unfortunately, on August 19th, NASA announced that Link would not be able to capture and boost the observatory. Swift will re-enter the atmosphere at the end of 2026.
Although the rescue mission did not work out, a lot was learned about this potentially groundbreaking new technology that would allow a spacecraft to capture another object and change its orbit.
Free Public Star Parties and Events
Please join us for free star parties and events this fall!
- Saturday, September 19, 2026 – Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. 8:30pm. International Observe the Moon Night. Events at Coral Pink carry a fee of $5/vehicle.
- Friday, October 2, 2026 – Jacob Hamblin Park. 8:15 pm. Grand Circle Trailfest: Stargazing in the park – come see the Summer Triangle, Saturn, Neptune, the Milky Way, double stars and more!
- Friday, November 6, 2026 – Jackson Flat Reservoir Boat Launch Parking Area. 7:00 pm. Saturn, Neptune, the Perseus Double Cluster, our Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy will all be on display along with Taurid meteors!
Our events calendar can be seen at: Public Star Parties | Stellar Vista Observatory.