October / November 2014 Starmap

The latest starmap is here: MCAO October / November Starmap.

The next observatory guest night is this Friday 10 October from 8-9 PM. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. There are still a few open spots open for both the 10 October and 24 October events.

Reserve here: mcobservatory.eventbrite.com.

September / October 2014 Starmap

The latest starmap is here: MCAO September / October Starmap.

Just a reminder, there is no observatory night tonight (Friday 5 September). The next event on Friday 12 September is completely booked, but there are open spots for the 26 September, 10 October, and 24 October nights.

Reserve here: mcobservatory.eventbrite.com.

Finally a clear evening!

There were just a few wispy clouds in a moonless sky for last evening's observatory night. It was a full house, therefore we didn't get to transition to too many objects. Nevertheless, everyone got a look at Saturn and Mars at different magnifications, the double star Albireo, and Brocchi's Cluster (Collinder 399).

Saturn

We observed with one of the 14-inch scopes (the partner scope is still in California), an 8-inch scope mounted on the deck, and two sets of binoculars.

Before going to the telescopes, I talked a bit about the constellation Cygnus- in particular the beautiful bright star Deneb. The handout with the information I presented can be found as a pdf here.

Many thanks to everyone who came for the evening. It makes me so happy to see such interest and curiosity about astronomy! And of course special thanks to the bright and brilliant MC Stargazers for their hard work before, during, and after the event.

Albireo A (amber) and Albireo B (blue)