Cloudy skies started to clear just as we were making a go/no go decision on Saturday. Satellite imagery showed the clouds over the gulf were dissipating so we headed on over to Topsail Hill State Park early enough to set up our solar scopes. Dennis Hausch set up his IOptron Maksutov with a white light filter and Tom Haugh set up his H-alpha scope. Several early birds got to see the few sunspots and a fairly large prominence that the Sun was sporting.
There were a few clouds still drifting in from the south, but they were not a serious problem and ultimately the skies cleared. By then, the skies were darkening and the solar equipment was stowed. Dave Halupowski arrived with his binocular chair as a novel alternative to the tripod mounted scopes. As the nighttime alignments were underway we were joined by several of the staff of Emerald Coast Middle School. They brought one of the schools telescopes and were looking for a little assistance with a recalcitrant mount.
Venus was the first object to draw our attention. Jupiter quickly followed, but it quickly became apparent that although there were no clouds, there was still some high altitude haze; both Venus and Jupiter had halos. The haze did little to effect the views of the planets but definitely put a damper on any deep sky objects. Dave pointed out a couple of bright satellites that graced the skies. Our group of guest observers were sparse but enthusiastic and we look forward toward the dark skies that we usually enjoy at Topsail Hill.