Our final star gaze of 2016 was sponsored by Eglin AFB’s digital library. The event was minimally successful at best. Even though the forecast was for mostly cloudy skies, it was perfectly clear when we made the go/no go weather call. The club’s response was outstanding considering the extra hoops we needed to jump through to clear base security.
Frank Atchison, Dean Covey, Dave Halupowski, Dennis Hausch, Tom Haugh, Kennedy Odom, Tony Russo and Ken Sharp all supported the event even though the skies had already started to cloud over. We decided to stick around for a while since satellite imagery showed an approaching break in the clouds. Eventually, Ken needed to leave for another event and sure enough, right afterwards, Venus started to peek through the clouds and slowly the skies cleared. Mars was well placed for viewing and the skies were dark enough to easily see M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. However, the weather kept the attendance down to a couple of active duty airmen and one student and his parent. By the time M42, the Orion nebula, rotated into view the clouds had regrouped and brought an end to the evening.
We would like to thank the library for the invite and assistance in gaining access to the base and we look forward to future events there.