Open Night at Stephens: May 24

Some 45 visitors of all ages came out to observe through our telescope on this clear Saturday night with good seeing! While many may have been drawn by the opportunity to see Mars, sadly the minuscule Red Planet put in a poor showing compared with last month's. Mars and Earth are rapidly parting company and the extra distance, plus only "good" seeing conditions disappointed. Those who stayed a bit longer, however, enjoyed very good views of Saturn with several of its moons. Traces of color banding in Saturn's atmosphere were visible and the Cassini Division could clearly be seen; the planet's tilt displayed the rings excellently. We were one week from Saturn opposition which also helped! Finally we viewed the globular star cluster M13 in Hercules and it was a grand sight -- blue diamonds set on a field of white diamond dust -- the first time I've been able to show off that wonder through the vintage scope!