McConnelsville, Ohio (Aug. 22, 2006) – Are you looking for a reason to go NUTS? It probably doesn’t get much better than this. Venus is 0.1 degree from Saturn on August 26, the date of this year’s NUTS celebration at American Electric Power’s (AEP) ReCreation Land.
 
NUTS is the acronym for Night Under The Stars, the annual event in which volunteers from the Columbus Astronomical Society (CAS) set up telescopes at Miners’ Memorial Park and allow the public to star gaze for free.
 
The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. to midnight. Bring your own lawn chairs. The park, where the historic bucket from AEP’s Big Muskie is located, is on State Route 78 about nine miles east of McConnelsville.
 
“This year we plan to set up 10 telescopes for the public to use,” said Dave Dingey, recreation program coordinator for AEP’s Forestry and Recreation group headquartered in McConnelsville. “CAS members deliver some pretty interesting presentations, and the telescopes are much more high-powered than the average person would own. It’s a lot of fun.”
 
The evening begins with a presentation on objects in the night sky and, if time permits, a helpful explanation of telescopes. After sunset, if the weather is clear, there will be star observations taking place through some of the largest portable telescopes in Ohio.
 
Participants can expect to see star clusters, nebulae and distant galaxies through the telescopes, Dingey said. He added that the event will take place, weather permitting. That means if there are few clouds, or no clouds, star observation is possible, he said.
 
In addition, the moon is at apogee on Aug. 25. If you don’t know what that means, come and find out.
 
For more information, contact Brad Haney, of the Columbus Astronomical Society, at 614-722-2372.
 
 
AEP Ohio provides electricity to 1.5 million customers of major subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio. It is a unit of American Electric Power.
 
American Electric Power (AEP) is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states.  AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.  AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.  AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas).  American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2006.

News releases and other information about AEP Ohio can be found at www.aepohio.com.