Sadly, not much observing to report over the past months! The demands of "real life" helped distract me from the night sky. Weather - cloudy and rainy skies - have provided the worst issues. That is, if you ignore the fact that the handbox controller failed hobbling my six-inch Meade refractor! I was able to locate and purchase a replacement for the failed handbox and a recent test showed it to be an improvement; it's better than the original!

Most of my observing attempts have been through Open Night events I hosted, or attempted, at Hiram College's Stephens Memorial Observatory. The big refractor there isn't computerized but its nine-inch objective lens gathers plenty of light and is very contrasty. The sky in Hiram, on a clear night, is darker than in the cities allowing the Cooley Telescope to deliver excellent views... when weather permits!

Highlights of the year, so far, were observations from Stephens...

On May 20, on a night threatened by cloudy skies, I observed Jupiter and its Galilean Moons. The best sight of the night, however, was seeing the Great Red Spot rotate into view from Jupiter's limb. Cloud banding was also seen: the equatorial bands and traces of other atmospheric features.

The night of June 24, following evening storms, Jupiter would have been visible from Hiram but quickly dropped behind neighboring trees. Hit of the night was excellent viewing of M57 - the Ring Nebula. The view was clear and bright where usually the ring appears as a dim "gray donut."

July 22: Partly- to mostly-cloudy skies after daytime storms allowed brief decent viewing of Saturn. The seeing was unsteady but I was able to glimpse Titan and several of Saturn's smaller moons, the Cassini Division, and some atmospheric banding! The rings were tilted at an open angle allowing optimal viewing.

See the weather theme?

And that's pretty much it! Recent years and, particularly, last year and this (so far) have seemed increasingly cloudy at night. I'm hoping my efforts to improve observing from home will allow more opportunistic viewing; future efforts may include building a tall, permanent telescope pier or purchase of a new telescope of Cassegrain design ... the long refractor's eyepiece demands neck strain as I point the scope higher towards the zenith to avoid serious light pollution here!

Few show for spectacular view

The Moon: Mare Serenitatis (left, Sea of Serenity), half-lit Mare Iridium (right, Sea of Rainbows) 

I can't say as I blame them, the people who didn't show for our observatory open night Saturday. After all, the temperature was about 19 degrees (F), damned cold! But the sky was clear and the waxing Moon was high in the sky. Both Moon and Jupiter were sharing constellation Cancer with The Beehive star cluster (M44). Still, those sensible people who stayed home and warm missed a glorious view of old Luna. In my idle time waiting for visitors, I tried out a little afocal astrophotography using the observatory's 9-inch Warner and Swasey telescope (ca. 1901) and my little Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 all-in-one. Most shots were a little shy of sharp, and all had some degree of chromatic aberration, and all had a big chunk of image missing where our century-old star diagonal is missing a bit of glass. One shot, however, did work out well, especially after a little fix-up including conversion to monochrome to eliminate color fringing. Not long after our seven brave visitors left, I caught sight of the indistinct reappearance of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and that was it... time to close up and go home. My toes needed to be thawed.

Worth the risk, this time!

Simulated view of Saturn and some of its moons as they appeared at 10:15 PM EDT, June 16, 2012. Image generated using "Gas Giants" for iPad.

The afternoon and evening of June 16 offered up skies that were mostly-cloudy to overcast. I thought there was little chance we would be able to provide Public Night visitors with views of Saturn at Stephens Memorial Observatory. I arrived at the appointed hour and the sky looked poor but, in the distance, there appeared to be clearing. Just as twilight grew dim enough for Saturn and neighboring Spica to appear, the clouds thinned. A little late, the celestial pair began to twinkle through the milky sky and, with the help of a sharp-eyed attendee, was able to aim the telescope and immediately get decent views. Starting at low power then, at last, boosting the magnification to 208X, those who ventured out under doubtful skies were rewarded with fine views of the ringed world. Sightings of moons were difficult though one or two could be spotted near Saturn. We spotted Rhea and Enceladus, as best I can determine, in the high-powered, narrow-angle view. Despite the sky conditions, Saturn shown through and many of the same features seen on the previous night could again be seen! There were glimpses of atmospheric banding, Saturn's shadow was seen on its rings, the "F" ring was visible against the planetary disk, and --this surprised me-- we were getting glimpses of the Cassini Division within the ring system. While the Saturday night sky was not as clear as Friday's, the seeing was steadier which made up for some of the deficiencies. Temperature was about 80 degrees F. Only eight visitors passed through our doors but everyone got very nice views of Saturn, 858 million miles distant, and left happy they took the chance on the sky. Sky conditions did not allow views of fainter objects. Saturn began to fade from view at about 10:30 as clouds thickened, no other visitors arrived, so we closed up.

Thin clouds but a good night

Open night at Stephens Memorial Observatory: Thin clouds didn't keep 27 people from visiting this night and enjoying fine views of the giant planet Jupiter and its Galilean moons. We observed Jove's twin equatorial cloud belts, some additional bands of clouds, and a few sharp-eyed viewers caught glimpses of the Great Red Spot (actually, my first!). Adding to the experience, one of the four visible moons moved closer to the disk of the planet as the night progressed. Eventually moon Io began its transit across Jupiter, first visible against the south equatorial band, then disappearing into the planet's glare. Earth's Moon put in an appearance far later than I'd have wanted -- I got the timing wrong back at the beginning of the year whilst setting up our schedule! Most visitors viewed it as it rose through clouds and neighboring trees, then they headed home. They did, however, spy lunar seas and craters through a network of bare tree branches resembling eyelashes, said one viewer. Our last visitors of the night, however, were rewarded with our usual clear, bright, and astonishingly beautiful lunar sights as presented by the great Cooley Telescope. One, an experienced sky watcher, said it was the finest view he'd had of Earth's neighbor in 40 years of observing! As we left the observatory at the end of the event we looked up at our Moon floating in a thin sea of cloud and there, surrounding it at a good distance, was a beautiful halo... a fine way to end the evening!

Photo: The Moon as viewed through the Cooley Telescope of Stephens Memorial Observatory, Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio, November 12, 2011. Afocal technique with Canon PowerShot G11: ISO 400, f/4, 1/500 sec., at 8:57 PM. Photo by James Guilford.