|
|
Tech Terrace Park, urban site – 20 April, 2007 Equipment: CDS: 6” F/6 StarMaster modeled custom
dobsonian Conditions: Mostly clear sky, not too windy, turbulent atmosphere, gibbous moon When I got there, Travis Brown and Tom Heisey greeted me. We went right to putting Venus in the eyepiece. Not too long and a college couple who’d seen the TechANNOUNCE about the 3rd Friday astronomy in the park session strolled on by. We gave them a shot at Venus. We then saw the wonderfully color double h3945 in Canis Major, the Winter Albireo. After this, we split Castor. M35 was too washed out in the moonglow and urban background. Even M3 wasn’t all that impressive to the college couple. The moon at low power, however, did wow them. I put the BO/TMB 9mm eyepiece in and showed them Saturn, always a crowd pleaser, and they were cold and off. But right after them came by an older couple and we showed them Saturn, too. Now they were hooked. We discussed how Saturn is the only deity of the Roman pantheon to have made it into our English week. Though Nordic gods dominate our days, Saturday still owes its name to the Father of Jupiter and last of the Titans. And Titan, rings and round globe put on quite a show, on this eve of the namesake’s day. Keeping my high powered eyepiece in, I moved back to the Nordic Monday’s namesake for another shot at Luna. This time with high power. And this couple liked that, too! It was bright, but such a nice sight. The couple left and Tom had had enough himself and began tearing down. I managed to put the Eskimo into the eyepiece and he said goodnight. I stuck around trying to put the Beehive into the eyepiece, but the skyglow and moonlight won that battle. I did manage to find Iota Cancri and behold that beautiful double, though. After that, I too left for a warm bed and some zzzzz’s.
|
|
|
