Saturday night clouded out

At first all looked good. Then the forecasts began to change. By early evening it was apparent there would be a generally opaque cloud layer over the region through midnight. No Observatory open night Saturday night. The Observatory will have probably only one more chance at a public viewing of Saturn --next month-- before it sinks into the trees that block our Western skies.

Getting ready for "Opening Night"

We were supposed to have our first Open Night of the year at Stephens Memorial Observatory last weekend. Threatening and thickening clouds, however, put a stop to that. Since it was to be our official International Saturn Observation Campaign event, it was one of the rare occasions where we announced a "rain date." That date is tomorrow. The weather forecasts have been changing as the weekend approaches and now, from forecaster to forecaster, the expectation is something between mostly clear to mostly cloudy. Tonight, however, is cloudless and beautiful even in our light-polluted suburb. I can only imagine how beautiful it is under dark skies. I had nice views of Orion, the Pleiades, M44 - "The Beehive" but no trace of little Comet Lulin. I've been studying the charts and ducking outside with binoculars to become acquainted with the night sky as it presents itself these times. It has been a long while since we've had a passably clear night and tolerable temperatures (it's 30 F degrees). With luck we'll have clear weather tomorrow (Saturday) night and get a very nice view of Saturn, the great Orion Nebula, and some star clusters. All we can do is wait and see what kind of sky conditions come our way.