Friday, January 7, 2011

Ugh! Winter off to a poor start!

This area suffered moderate to heavy cloud cover for the December 10, 2010 total lunar eclipse. I'd been looking forward to it --even considered gearing up to produce a live webcast-- but we were disappointed in the end. I didn't even get out of bed to look out the window. Those who did take a peek largely saw clouds or got brief glimpses of the partial phases of the event.

I had to cancel the December Open Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory due to illness. I was suffering from a stomach "bug" and was well-advised to not stand out in the cold. Skies were mostly-cloudy that night so I hope nobody was very disappointed we did not open.

We're hoping 2011 brings good things for the Hiram observatory: we've a good chance of a construction site for a new observatory and there are plans afoot for a kick-off event in a funding drive! More on all of that later, as developments come.

The next Stephens Open Night is set for January 22 and we plan to show off the Great Orion Nebula. Skies this month have generally been cloudy and snow is currently in the forecast daily -- we'll make plans and see if Mother Nature cooperates!

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