Spring has been tough for our public observing programs. It seemed we would never see a clear night. On June 12 our public night consisted of peeking at Saturn through openings in the cloud cover; that offered some very good, if unreliable viewing! A week later, on June 17, Alumni Weekend was kicked off with an observing night for attendees and we had both good attendance (30 to 40 visitors) and clear skies for most of the night. We spotted several of Saturn's many moons and saw hints of the great storm raging in the northern hemisphere of that planet's atmosphere. June marked the end of Saturn observation from Hiram due to a line of tall trees just across the property line from the Observatory.
Our first break for the public happened last night (July 9) when we had skies mostly clear of clouds. There was, however, enough moisture in the atmosphere to help make the Waxing Gibbous Moon's glow make the sky glow. In all 23 visitors attended and were treated to our usual exquisite views of the lunar surface. Especially striking, due to the timing of our observation, were the inky-black unlit floors of several large craters. The low sun angle at the terminator also highlighted crater walls and cast long shadows from mountain peaks in the lunar seas. Simply glorious.
Next we viewed the sparkling beauty of the red giant star Antares, at the "heart" of constellation Scorpius. Twinkling from a brilliant star is impressive through a telescope.
The bright sky made locating the M4 globular star cluster very difficult and a less-than-impressive sight! Once found all we could make out was a faint spray of stars in a "Moon-glowed" field of view.
To cap off the night I swung the big telescope so that it pointed high in the sky, fished a bit in a slightly less murky sky, and found M57 -- the Ring Nebula. At first I believed Lyra was too high in the sky for observing with the big refractor but, as it turned out, the elevation put the eyepiece at a very comfortable level for everyone present. We viewed the "gray donut" first at about 100X and, as the hour was growing late, many guests left after taking a quick look. Once everyone had taken a look, however, I swapped eyepieces and boosted the power to 133X. Between the different optics and the slightly greater magification, the Ring looked clearer and brighter -- it was probably the best view of that object I've had to date.
So while the warm, humid summer night didn't provide optimal seeing conditions the sky was clear for a change. We did enjoy a very good night of observing: the Moon and the Ring did not disappoint.
