New

Well, I hope everyone else had as good a time tonight as I did! We had a great turnout, and I met several new members I'd never met before, and there were a number of non-members that came by as well. I didn't get an exact scope count, but we probably had about a dozen scopes and upwards of 40 people. The temps were comfortable, the bugs weren't bad, there was little sign of dew, and all in all it was a very pleasant evening (very unusual for this time of year).

While the evening was shortened by lightning appearing on the Northwest horizon at about 11:15, we had some wonderful views of the Moon and Saturn and some of the brighter summer highlights (e.g., Albireo, M13, M92, M57, and M3). As often happens when the transparency is poor, the seeing conditions were quite good (bordering on excellent), so I particularly enjoyed the views of the Moon.

The terminator was cutting through the Eastern half of Mare Imbrium, so the floor of Archimedes had wonderfully long shadows from the crater rim, and Aristillus and Autolycus looked great as well. Working from memory, I'm pretty sure I saw Rimae Bradley, Fresnel, and Archimedes, and had I realized where I was, I'd have gone hunting for Rimae Hadley (right next to the landing site of Apollo 15). Though now that I think about it, it might have still been in the shadow of the Apennines.

I tried hard to see the rille in the Alpine Valley, and I probably should have tried my 7 mm eyepiece, but at ~210x with the 10 mm, I couldn't convince myself it was there, despite the really stable air. The Apennines were casting long beautiful shadows, and there was lots of detail in Palus Putredinis and Mare Vaporum. Last night at Carr's Mill, Rimae Hyginus and Ariadaeus were easy to see, but less spectacular tonight (I think because of the higher sun angle). I didn't spend much time in the Southern highlands, but I do recall seeing a whole-moon view through Ben's refractor that reminded me greatly of one of Galileo's early lunar sketches, as there was a huge crater (I think it was Maginus) whose rim was illuminated, but whose crater floor as dark.

After the lightning appeared and the satellite view on James' iPhone indicated thunderstorms were moving in (lightning and telescopes don't mix), everyone packed up and I locked the gates by about midnight, considerably earlier than I had hoped, but having enjoyed yet another awesome HAL star party. Let's hope the clear skies continue!

Chris

Photos Compliments of James Willinghan and Ed Crawford

Cherry Springs Report - Ed Sabala

Here are a couple pics from Cherry Springs Star Party. Most are from the first day.
Chris Todd and I are in 2 pics. I didn't get a shot of Tim Laswell who was also there.

Vendors pics and one Session pic.

Ed Sabala