Starry, Starry Nite at Chase Farm
by Francine Jackson
Up until May 1st, this year has been one of weather not conducive to observing; however, on May 1st and 2nd, we were finally able to dust off our telescopes and head outside.
May 1st was the rescheduled night of Starry, Starry Night at Chase Farm, Lincoln, from April 11. It was touch and go until the mid afternoon, but, fortunately we did go through with it, as the sky became totally clear.
Sadly, as often happens, only a handful of those who had signed up for the earlier program came, but those who did were all very enthusiastic to learn about the sky. At first, Francine gave a short PowerPoint presentation on visible constellations and planets, then ended with several slides on the problem of light pollution, and how it affects us all.
Following that the night was dark enough to venture outside where Jim Hendrickson, John Kocer and Francine had telescopes waiting. Francine concentrated on the Moon, and John and Jim showed Jupiter and Mars. Jim also showed Mars close to the open cluster M44, the Beehive, in the same field of view, a nice touch.
The night became quite cold, so the public left fairly early, after which we broke down our telescopes, just in time to see the clouds rushing in. Though it was a bit disappointing to only have a small number of the public show, it was very nice to have the clouds hold off until everyone was leaving.
