[Chaos-l] Program at Medoc

[Allen Davis]

I know haven't met all you good folks from CHAOS but wanted to post  
this after a really surprisingly good night for the program at Medoc.   
I have read some of your posts when you have shown views to the  
public, and i always find it rewarding as you do.

I just got home from Medoc.  It was a real good thing I went prepared  
and took my stuff.  I decided to set up as it was getting dark...there  
was a suckerhole overhead.  But as it got dark, it got better and  
better.

We first looked at Saturn before I even lined up and cut the drive  
on.  I wanted to make sure people saw that.   I would rate it overall  
at that point about a 6.5, pretty good and actually better than I  
expected.  One of the kids, about a 12 year old boy told me he saw the  
dark area separating the rings from the planet.  And he was right of  
course.  Very observant and very good for someone not used to looking  
through a scope.  But I find that these kids are often very good  
observers.

There were two couples and their children there.  One group was from  
Chapel Hill.  The kids were very brainy.  In the very best of  
ways....nice and polite but excited and knowledgeable.  They all  
exclaimed about Saturn.  Then as the sky darkened I showed them M42  
before it went below the trees.  The next target was M81 and  
82....using the Leitz eyepiece so we could see both in the same field.  
Talked about light years at that point of course.  Then I moved to M3  
and everyone loved that.  If I had to pick one type of object that was  
my favorite it would be globs, not only to view myself but to show  
others.  Then to NGC 4565 the edge on.  Next M37 in Auriga as a  
wonderful example of the galactic or open cluster.

We did spend some time just picking out stars and constellations using  
the laser pointer.  That actually worked well because I put new  
batteries in it this week.

Then as an encore we looked at Saturn again, after it rose higher.  I  
predicted the view would be better, and it was.  This time an 8.5 or a  
9.  Nice and sharp with surface features quite obvious.  The boy once  
again described the "streaks" before I even mentioned them.  He was a  
good amateur astronomer.

Nicole had left after we looked at Saturn the first time....she needed  
to get home to her baby.  But I think she was very thankful that she  
didn't have to take the group on the promised night hike.  Instead we  
were able to look at a really beautiful sky....the moon rose later  
than I thought....and we benefited from that of course.

I felt very fortunate for all of us.  I must say I felt the night was  
a real blessing because I started with relatively low expectations  
that quickly changed to joy.  As you know, there are great rewards for  
us when we can share the views like this.

A good two hour session enjoyed by all.

Hopefully next time you can be there.

Have a great meaningful Easter!  allen