Burrell Observatory

Went to the Baldwin-Wallace College open house at Burrell Observatory in Berea. The sky had just cleared after a full day of overcast. I arrived there before anyone else (skipped the pre-observing lecture) and talked with the student operators about the telescope -- a grand 12-inch refractor -- in the fading daylight from about 9:15 to 9:30 PM. Sky conditions were marginal or fair. Still, very nice views of the 3/4 Moon. Good detail, low contrast, through the big scope. Looking at Jupiter, though, no detail at all. At home viewed the same with the 90mm and got high-contrast, brilliant (dazzling) views of the Moon. Jupiter was still disappointing, however, apparently due to the Earth's atmosphere. Galilean moons were all on one side: O * * * * Shut down my scope at about 11:15. Nicest experience of the evening was the beautiful views of the lunar Apennies and Carpathian Mountains ringing Mare Imbrium -- especially lovely through the B-W scope. The Meade excelled in showing details on the surface of the Mare.

Comet and Jupiter

Observed comet NEAT (a fuzzy ball) at about 10:45 PM at the north end of Cancer. Found it easily with the binoculars but had to fish to find it with the 90mm telescope at about 85X. A murky sky tonight thanks to the atmosphere and nearby Strongsville, Ohio. Did get a nice view of Jupiter with the scope. I could see the two cloud bands well and the Galilean moons were arranged: * * * O * Well that's pretty much what my handwritten note showed! Sky got worse and time progressed and shut down at only 11 PM.