Directions
Willingboro Astronomical Society
www.wasociety.net
Last updated 07.05.2010
Regular Club Meeting Site
NE Philadelphia Airport Clear Sky Chart:
Our regular meeting site is Resurrection Catholic School at Christ Our Light Church (formerly St. Peter Celestine), 402 N. Kings Highway, Cherry Hill, NJ, 08034. Currently, we meet in the Youth Center (lower level). The room can be accessed from a door in back of the school which is just across the parking lot from the maintenance building on the baseball field. After turning off Kings Highway onto the driveway along the north (right-hand) side of the church, drive straight back until you reach the field, then turn left and continue to the far end of the school. Click here for a satellite view of the church and school.
From NJ Turnpike: Exit 4 to 73 North. Take 73 North about a mile to 38 West. Go approximately 1/2 mile and take 41 South. Follow 41 past the Church Rd. traffic light (about 1 mile, cemetery far right corner). Pass the Lukoil gas station and then the Greenward Townhouses. Next driveway on the right is the entrance to St. Peter Celestine.
From Ben Franklin Bridge: After crossing bridge, stay in left lane and take 30 East. Follow signs to 70E/38E. At fork, bear left and continue about 2 miles on 38 East. Make right onto Chapel Ave. (Italian Bistro on corner). Pass Cherry Hill West High School and JFK Hospital to traffic light at Rt. 41 (Kings Highway).. Take a left and St. Peter Celestine will be 1/4 mile on left.
From Tacony-Palmyra Bridge: Follow Rt. 73 South about 5 miles. Just past Maple Shade Mazda, exit to Rt. 41 South. Follow 41 past the Church Rd. traffic light (about 1 mile, cemetery far right corner). Pass the Lukoil gas station and then the Greenward Townhouses. Next driveway on the right is the entrance to St. Peter Celestine.
From Betsy Ross Bridge: After crossing bridge, stay in left lane. Take Rt. 90 to Rt. 73 South for 2.5 miles. Just past Maple Shade Mazda, exit to Rt. 41 South. Follow 41 past the Church Rd. traffic light (about 1 mile, cemetery far right corner). Pass the Lukoil gas station and then the Greenward Townhouses. Next driveway on the right is the entrance to St. Peter Celestine.
From Rt. 295: Exit 34 to Rt. 70 West. Follow Rt. 70 West approx. 1.5 miles to Rt. 41 North (Kings Highway). Take a right onto Rt. 41. Church is approximately. 1.5 miles on left, about 1/4 mile after the Chapel Ave. traffic light.
Batsto Clear Sky Chart:
From the west, take Rt 30 (the White Horse Pike) east to Hammonton. About one mile past the intersection of Rt 206, just before Hammonton Lake, turn left onto Rt 542 -- there's a large sign for Wharton State Forest there. (Rt 542 is variously known as Pleasant Mills Road, Nesco Rd and Batsto Rd.)
Continue on this road about 8 miles to Batsto Village which is on your left and is marked with a sign for the entrance road. Proceed about a quarter mile, then turn left towards the Visitor Center. Our star watches are conducted on the large field adjacent to the visitor's center. Here's a satellite view of the observing site. (Note: The entrance road is known as Batsto Rd and Tylertown Rd.)
Click the Batsto Village link above for the Wharton State Forest site; it has a link for Mapquest directions.
The GPS coordinates for Batsto are: 39 deg 38 min 37 sec North, 74 deg 38 min 45 sec West
To check with the Batsto Village office for weather cancellation, call 609-567-4559 after 3:00pm.
Coyle Field Clear Sky Chart:
The entrance to Franklin Parker Preserve for astronomical events is on Rt. 532, just west of Chatsworth Lake, so these directions vary slightly from those listed at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation's Franklin Parker Preserve web page.
From the Four Mile Circle (the junction of Routes 70 & 72), take 72 east for 3.5 miles to 563 south towards Chatsworth. Go 3.8 miles to 532 (at the Chatsworth firehouse) and turn right. Go 1.1 miles, and just past Chatsworth Lake, the road curves right. The entrance road will be on the left immediately after the curve. There will be temporary signs in place.
From the Red Lion Circle (the junction of Routes 70 & 206), take 206 south for 1.2 miles to Carranza Rd (on the left). Go down Carranza Rd for 2.2 miles to 532 at the four-way stop in Tabernacle. Go left and take 532 east for 9.2 miles to the curve just before Chatsworth Lake. The entrance road will be on the right (with temporary signs in place). If you pass a large lake on the left, you missed it. There might be enough room to turn around along the lake, but there's plenty of room to turn around a little further down at the firehouse.
Click here for an annotated road map (150K), the spot is marked "NJCF Sky Tour." Click here for a satellite map centered on the entrance.
The GPS coordinates for FPP are: 39 deg 48 min 37 sec North, 74 deg 33 min 00 sec West
Carranza Field Clear Sky Chart:
Atsion Field in Wharton State Forest is on the east side of Rt. 206 about 10 miles south of the Red Lion Circle (the junction of Rts. 206 & 70) or 8 miles north of Rt. 30 in Hammonton. Enter through an opening in the guard rail about 150 yd north of Atsion/Quaker Bridge Rd. Here's a satellite view of the field. The address of the Ranger Station in front of the field is 744 Route 206, Shamong, NJ, 08088.
The GPS coordinates for Atsion Field are: 39 deg 44 min 32 sec North, 74 deg 43 min 28 sec West
To check for weather cancellation, call the Atsion office at (609) 268-0444 or the Batsto office at (609) 561-0024 after 3:00 pm on the day of the event. The weather decision is also posted on the WAS home page by 3:00 pm, but frequently before noon.
Coyle Field Clear Sky Chart:
Coyle Field is an informal observing site frequently used by WAS members (and a number of other area astronomy clubs). It is a vast open space in the West Plain Pygmy Pines of the New Jersey Pinelands.
To get there from the west (Philadelphia or the nearby New Jersey suburbs), take Route 70 east to the Four Mile Circle, which is the junction of NJ Routes 70 & 72. Take 72 east off the circle (towards Manahawkin / Long Beach Island). Go about 10.5 miles, slow down and be ready to pull off when you pass a service building set back on the right. You'll then see a Smokey-the-Bear sign on the right. About 100 yards past the sign on the right, take the sand road that veers off at a 45-degree angle (not the sand road that turns off at a right angle just after the sign). The 45-degree angle sand road is marked with a small government warning sign that everyone ignores (but remember, we have no formal permission to be there and observing could be preempted by military or fire fighting operations). Go down the sand road about 1/4 mile and it will curve sharply right onto the field. We usually set up perpendicular to the edge of the grass on the right-hand side a couple hundred yards down.
Here's a road map showing the general location of Coyle Field. Here's a satellite view of the field with the entrance road and set-up spot marked. Here's a bird's-eye view of the observing area.
The sand shoulder on Route 72, the sand entrance road and the sand runway where we usually set up are all firm and are not a problem to negotiate with an ordinary automobile (four-wheel drive is unnecessary). The shoulder, and the transition to the entrance road can be a little bumpy, so take it easy. Also, where the main path of the sand road curves right onto the field, a narrower branch goes straight -- don't go down there, it turns into sugar sand and you will need 4WD!
The GPS coordinates for Coyle Field are: 39 deg 48 min 47 sec North, 74 deg 25 min 20 sec West
Carranza Field Clear Sky Chart:
Caranza Field is a site in Wharton State Forest, NJ. There are several "back ways" there, but a good starting point for first-timers is the Red Lion Circle (the junction of Routes 70 and 206). Take 206 south for 1.1 mile to the turn-off for Carranza Rd on the left. Go 2.2 miles to the four-way stop in Tabernacle. Go straight at the stop sign and continue down Carranza Rd for another 6.7 miles to the Batona Campground sign on the left (across from the Caranza Memorial). Turn left onto the sand road and go 0.25 miles and it will turn sharply right at the campground; continue another 0.25 miles to the field that will be on your right. The entrance is through the "sand trap," which is not an impediment for 4WD vehicles; otherwise, there is a firmer path to the field through the trees about 50 yd before the sand trap. If Carranza Rd turns abruptly unpaved, you've missed the turnoff to the campground. Turn around and go back a quarter mile.Here's a satellite view of the field; the Carranza Memorial is just above the triple row of sand parking areas at the bottom.
Note: About 5 miles from the four-way stop, you'll pass the Youth Correction Center. After another quarter mile, just after the second bridge from the youth Center, the road bears sharply left very deceptively. Slow down as you approach the second bridge, otherwise you'll end up in the sand at the "Nasty Turn."
The GPS coordinates for Carranza Field are: 39 deg 46 min 52 sec North, 74 deg 37 min 41 sec West
Click here for a general list of GPS coordinates of observing sites we use.