A small patch of blue sky tempted us to roll the dice and head out to Henderson Beach for the Friday night sky view. By the time we got set up, the blue patch was a little larger and it continued to get bigger throughout the evening. Frank brought is 8″ SCT, Tom had his ancient and trusty 6″ Newtonian, new member Brian Richey brought his 8″ dob and Tony unleashed the college’s 12″ SCT.
Early birds examine “The Evening Sky Map”
Brian and his 8″
Over 100 guest observers braved the cloudy skies and were rewarded with views of the ever popular Saturn, Mars and several deep sky objects. The ‘Walmart’ haze kept the sky bright enough that low contrast objects like the Ring Nebula were difficult to see, but bright star clusters were obvious and plenty. The great globular cluster in Hercules (M 13) as well as the colorful Alberio were viewed as well. Carefully using his LASER pointer, Tony conducted constellation tours while the guest observers viewed the evening’s sights through the college’s Meade.