HAL Public Star Party 6/27/2009

The HAL star party this evening was a success. By 8pm folks were already starting to show up. Don was one of the early birds...busy setting up his new 10" Intelliscope. By 8:30 there were already about 10 scopes ready and waiting for darkness. Soon after sunset at 8:38, folks began looking at the Moon and Saturn. Then as it got darker attention turned toward some of the popular deep sky objects such as: M57, M13, M5, M4, M53, M51, and M11.

Around 10:20 we had a pair of Iridium flares that seemed to thrill the audience. After that we had just about an hour before the clouds started to roll in.

By 11:30 almost everyone was packed and gone except Wayne and myself. When we felt a few drops of rain, we scrambled to get our gear loaded up quickly. Thanks Wayne for helping me! Of course as soon as we were packed up, it looked like it might clear up again! Jupiter peaked through the clouds just before we headed home.

All things considered, it was a good night out. Clear skies!
Aaron