After nearly two years, 21 months to be exact, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) has finally been able to hold another star party! The one scheduled for the night before, (Friday the 13th of Aug.) was cancelled due to rain, or possibly bad luck! Saturday had turned out to be a perfect night to hang out in a field and share the skies with others.
I arrived early, around 7PM, joining 7 or 8 other members setting up their scopes. We watched a weather balloon for awhile as we waited for the darkness to arrive.
A couple friends came up with a new telescope and the three of us started to set it up. Then some other members with more knowledge finished the job, getting it aligned and tracking correctly. They offered their help and then stopped by a few times during the night to make sure everything was operating properly. It is what our club does! Their help and concern was appreciated!
As the sun set and the skies started darkening, more and more people started arriving. Some had scopes, some brought their children and some were just here to get outside and mingle once again. We were more than happy to show them the stars while they were there.
Almost everyone started with the moon. It was the only thing visible! As the night darkened, Venus showed up in the west and Jupiter appeared on the eastern horizon. It wasn’t much later that Saturn showed up to join the party!
I would guess that there was over 100 people who came to visit. Groups of people were walking past, laughing and talking and every so often, yelling about seeing a meteor!
I showed most of the objects on my list; the planets,(Saturn is always a show stopper!) double stars, the Ring Nebula and the Coat Hanger Cluster to name just a few.
Just listening, I learnt a few things from the members set up on either side of us. I love looking through other telescopes and hearing about how they work and operate. I talked with people I hadn’t seen in years and met some people I know only by way of the list-server. People continued to come by as the night went on.
During a bit of free time, I went inside the observatory and took a look through the two big telescopes mounted there. What more can I say but…nice! M13, a globular cluster was in one scope, with thousands of stars looking like a mound of sugar. Jupiter was in the other scope, its cloud bands visible and its moons nice and crisp in front of the background stars. The seeing was great, all the views I saw were nice and steady.
The sky stayed clear until midnight neared. The public started to leave as the air got cooler leaving mostly members behind. Then they started packing up. It was a little after midnight when I left. A bright Perseid meteor was my last observation for the night, a lucky one, I just happened to look up at the right time!
This evening had done me good! I couldn’t help but be in a good mood the next morning, even though I felt like I needed more sleep.
Our next star party at the Wagman Observatory will be on September 11th, a Saturday and the one after that will be on September 24th, two weeks later. The second party will be a Moonrise Star Party. We will be able to watch the moon rising in the east during this party, something that's always nice to see and photograph.
Until the next time, keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and keep looking up!
1 comment:
Great time. I would have liked to be there
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