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All,<BR>
<BR>
Had a pretty decent time last night despite the sky closing in on us.<BR>
<BR>
Was able to show some newbies and not so newbies Saturn, Mars, the Moon, and the Orion Nebula. Had a great time chatting with Bunny Nua, David (See? I remembered) Blanchette and El Presidente Rob Lambert.<BR>
<BR>
I'm not sure how big the crowd was, but it was somewhere around 100 or so and they were enthusiastic. <BR>
<BR>
As for the sky, the Moon was a fat sliver and I noticed the shadows change in one particular crater as the night wore on. Don't ask me which one it was because I don't know. All I know as that it had a huge mountain in the middle.<BR>
<BR>
Mars was mostly a red blob but at 220X, I did catch a bit of polar cap and some markings between blurs. I've seen it much better.<BR>
<BR>
Saturn was, as David described it, a ball with a stick through it. Saw two moons, but was only sure of Titan.<BR>
<BR>
As for the Orion Nebula, it started as just the Trapezium and a few stars in NGC-1976. David was the first to notice the fifth star in the Trapezium and once he pointed it out, I saw it every time. I'd forgotten which two stars to look between to see it. The nebula itself was invisible at first, then it became a fatter and fatter glow, until the last time I looked at it and I could see the "wings" of nebulosity stretching out.<BR>
<BR>
Had a couple of people ask me things like distance and such, and I told them to ask the others because despite being at this 40+ years, I just don't pay attention to the math.<BR>
<BR>
David had his solar scope set up and I was wowed by the solar prominences at 2, 7 and 8 o'clock. Plus there was this black streak near the 2 o'clock position as well as several other sunspot like blobs. Quite a treat.<BR>
<BR>
Rob did the presentation on open clusters and had the crowd wowed when I dropped in for a listen.<BR>
<BR>
He had the Orion Nebula up on the Mallincam and projected on a screen agains the wall. It was okay because there was no way to get dark adapted with sky conditions. He kept the crowd going with his camera.<BR>
<BR>
Bunny had Rob's 10" Dob set up and after I helped her get the finder aligned, she was busy showing the night's objects. The times I looked over there, she had as big of a line as I did.<BR>
<BR>
A reporter and a photographer from the Review Journal showed up and interviewed us and took photos. I also showed them each a few things.<BR>
<BR>
A good night overall, especially when I almost went to Redstone where I would have wasted a bunch of gas. I had wanted to do this event but I didn't get he challenge for March and wanted to take a stab at it instead. Glad I opted to do my thing for Astronomy and Country!<BR>
<BR>
Here are a few photos of the event.<BR>
<BR>
Fred<BR>
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