COLUMBIA, S.C. — For folks in the Midlands, dark skies, astronomy and star gazing have always been big fascinations.
In fact, there's a group of local amateur astronomers that have information to share.
Hap Griffin is an astrophotographer here in the Midlands. He, along with several others, are a part of a unique group that's fascinated with stars, galaxies and outer space, the Midlands Astronomy Club.
"My first word was moon and now I've got actual images, some of my images shot with this telescope going to the moon next month as a time capsule of sorts on the new astrobotic rover that's going to be landing on the moon later this year," Griffin said.
Griffin tells News 19 his equipment here in a rural corner of South Carolina helps him capture some of the most spectacular images, that you could say are out of this world.
"We get the computers programmed, get the scopes going, get the roofs rolled back and let the computers run the show here while we usually grill out, grill something on the grill, and play guitars out here and we watch satellites go over and just have a good time out on the deck," Griffin said.
The Midlands Astronomy Club meets monthly at the Owens Field airport in Columbia, and twice a year, in April and October, the club comes to a rural location with five observatories to view the stars in a whole new light.
"Whenever we're looking out into space, we're looking across immense distances, and it takes light time to cross those distances, so when I'm looking at a galaxy that's say 60 million, at least photographing a galaxy that's 60 million lightyears away, that means the light that's hitting my camera now started 60 million years ago," Griffin said.
Some other observatories and dark sky locations exist right off of Lake Murray, in North and in Wedgefield.