March 29th: First 2008 Public Star Party (Photos at Bottom)

We had about 10 scopes and maybe 25 or so visitors.

The ISS made an appearance. ATV-1 as it turns out was leading the ISS by about 20 seconds.

The clouds cleared a bit by 11pm. Altogether it was good start to the 2008 public star party season.

Don Gardner

Attendee Report:

About 14 scopes were set up and quiet a few quests showed up also. Though the clouds were in, we managed to see Saturn, Orion Nebula, some galaxies, open clusters, double stars, etc.  Most were still waiting for the weather to warm and finally get some clear skies.  We had fun in spite of the clouds and hope next Saturday will be better.

CS   Eddie

I was also at AR. I arrived shortly before 8 and was promptly treated to a wonderful ISS-ATV1 pass which we shared with a number of guests who had never seen ISS before. I then thanked everyone present for being there observing Earth Hour whether they knew it before hand or not. I explained a bit about the Earth Hour concept and voiced a hope that Howard County increases its observance next year with a little more timely planning. We hope to get some pictures from the internet this week showing sky photos with the lights off versus on to utilize in our poster presentation on light pollution for next Saturday's GreenFest at Glenwood Community Center (9AM-1PM).

Joel
 

Photos Compliments of Eddie Crawford, Garry Ingle, and JP Willinghan