The DC Women's Hiking Group will snowshoe at Weir Farm on Thurs., Feb. 27th.
Take Rt. 102 (Branchville Rd.) and follow brown National Park sign.
Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am.

The DC Women's Hiking Group will NOT meet on Tues., Feb. 18th due to no school.

We will meet Thurs., Feb. 20th at Bennetts Pond in Ridgefield to snowshoe.

Take Rt. 7 North, just passed the BMW dealership on the right.
Bennetts Farm Rd. will be on the left.
Follow road to State Park sign and parking area on the right.
We have extra snowshoes, so come and give it a try!
Meet at 8:30am. in the parking area.

The DC Women's Hiking Group will snowshoe in North Salem, NY on Tues., Feb. 11th and Thurs., Feb. 13th.
Take Rt. 116 past Ridgefield High School.
Follow to stop sign and intersection with Rt. 121.
Take a left staying on Rt. 116W and Rt. 121S.
(Vox Restaurant will be on left side).
Take next right on to Baxter Rd.
Continue on Baxter Rd. about 1 mile and park on side of road.
Meet at 8:30am.

With all the snow the DC Women's Hiking Group will snowshoe at the Ridgefield Golf Course off of Ridgebury Rd. on Thursday, Feb. 6th.
Snowshoes provided, so come give it a try!
Meet in the parking lot at 8:30am. 

February 2014 Constellation of the Month -- Orion

Orion, the Hunter, is the most prominent constellation visible to us in the northern hemisphere at any time of the year. It's easy to identify by the three equally-bright stars, arranged in a line, which form Orion's belt.

The two brightest stars in the constellation are at the upper left and lower right, called Betelgeuse (beetle juice) and Rigel, respectively. Both are giant stars --but of very different types. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star; it is nearing the end of its life. It has cooled and expanded to a size which is more than twice the width of the orbit of Mars -- about 500 times as wide as our own Sun. (In 5 billion years the Sun will be a red giant, its outer edge will expand out to envelop the Earth.)

Rigel, on the other hand is a blue supergiant. It is relatively young and is 10 times as hot as Betelgeuse -- and 5 times as hot as the Sun. It is 40,000 times as bright as the Sun, while Betelgeuse is 14,000 times brighter. Rigel is actually a triple star. The blue supergiant is orbited by 2 smaller stars, which orbit around each other.

But, the most spectacular objects in Orion are not the stars but nebulae. The Orion Nebula or Great Nebula of Orion is located between the two stars which make up the "sword" -- which are line up vertically below the belt. It is a huge cloud of gasses from which many stars are being formed. The equally spectacular Horsehead Nebula and the Great Nebula are just areas within a much larger nebula 1,500 light years (9,000,000,000,000,000 miles) away from us.

The DC Women's Hiking Group will hike Tues., Feb., 4th at Scott Lot Preserve in Redding, CT.

Coming from the north on Route 7 turn left onto Old Redding Rd. Right after going under RR bear right onto Mountain Rd. Follow Mountain Rd. to end and turn left onto Peaceable St. Parking for the open space will be on the left. If you come to an electrical substation, you went too far.

Meet at 8:30am.