The first Henderson Beach State Park sky view of the year was a great success. Club members arrived well before dusk as a dry run for June’s Venus transit. Sight lines and angles were verified to ensure as much visibility as possible for the very rare event. Early bird guest observers were able to take advantage of the daylight setup to safely view the sun. There was a nice sun spot group visible.
The public started to arrive in force around 6:00 P.M. and by the regular start time when the park rangers normally start off the formal introductions, one stopped by to tell us that cars were still backed up out onto US 98 waiting to get into the park.
The club was well represented with Tom Haugh, Bob Gaskin, Ken Leone, Dennis Hausch, Matt S. all bringing scopes. Chuck L. shepherded one of the library scopes as well. Once again the club passed out Evening Sky Maps curtesy of http://www.skymaps.com/. These have proven to be very popular with our guest observers.
Bob Gaskin answers questions during setup.
Tom Haugh conducts Evening Sky Map orientation.
The crescent Venus started off the evening low on the western horizon. It is quickly closing on the Earth in route to the transit on the 5th of June. As the sky darkened, Mars and then Saturn got the attention of the crowd. Saturn is usually the evening’s favorite object and more often than not elicits a vocal response from the observer. It did not disappoint. The library telescope targeted the moon and had a long line of observers.
Ken's home-made dew shield awaits dark skies.
Bob selects the next object.
Once the bright planets had been viewed by everyone, deep sky objects were attempted. However, as the sky got darker, the sky glow became more and more of a problem. The sky had been clear all week, but the heat finally got the best of the atmosphere and the gulf haze finally made an appearance. M-13 (the Great Hercules Cluster) was just barely visible; you could see a slight glow, but that was all. Luckily, by then the crowd had thinned and it was time to wrap-up the evening.
The park rangers reported an attendance in excess of 200 visitors. The guest observers kept us busy all evening and the club members had a very good time. We would like to thank the park staff for a well run event and we look forward to our next Henderson Beach State Park sky view in August.