Saturn shows but not students

Tonight (Saturday) I had the observatory open from 9 to 11:00 PM at the behest of the student environmental group at Hiram College. This open night was to be a part of their Earth Day activities. Unfortunately --or not-- this was also the college Springfest and the poor old observatory was up against a pop music concert, an orientation day, and other activities. We had only two visitors --a student couple-- at Stephens the whole time. Gave them a look at Saturn with moons Titan, Rhea, and Dione visible and told them about the observatory, telescope, etc. Sky conditions were clear but seeing was generally not very good with high-altitude water vapor preventing the sky from being very black. I couldn't find dim objects, not even M44 (The Beehive star cluster) but Saturn looked surprisingly good; the shadow of the ring system could be seen on the planetary body. Maybe a hint, now and again, at cloud banding on the planet. I took a look at Mars but between seeing preventing high-power views and Mars receding and becoming quite small, it was not very interesting. That was about it for observing! A bat had moved back into the dome and/or shutter as had a nest-building bird or two. And one of the shutter closing ropes snapped when I slammed it shut for the night! It looks like this one will be an easy fix but I fear future breaks will be higher and harder to repair.

Not tonight you don't

I thought it rather optimistic! Monday night was clear and lovely but not a good night for me scheduling-wise for an Observatory session. Tonight my schedule is clear but the sky is not. Rain is expected tomorrow. That's life, I guess! I did confirm the position of Saturn last night, floating beautifully beside bright Regulus, found Mars, and watched Orion sinking into the Western sky. If we are able to open to the students and public Saturday night, Saturn is going to be tricky... the big refractor is going to be tipped high, very high, which means the eyepiece is going to be very low. Still, it will be worth the effort -- it nearly always is.

Clouds, rain, it's springtime in Northeast Ohio

We were unable to open the Stephens Memorial Observatory (SMO) for the scheduled March public night due to clouds and snow. We were unable to open the SMO this past Saturday night (April 19) due to clouds and rain. Yes, it's springtime in Northeast Ohio where, it seems, most nights are unsuitable to astronomy which is, for one reason, why our best observatories closed years ago and/or our best instruments moved to more suitable climes. The student environmental group at Hiram College requested we open SMO this coming Saturday night as part of their Earth Day observance. Will we be lucky and have decent skies? Meanwhile, there's a possibility of good skies Tuesday night --rain forecast for Wednesday so, of course, clouds may be moving in-- and I hope to get out to SMO for practice and testing of some imaging techniques.