May 10, 2025 Seagrave Observatory Night
by Jim Hendrickson
Our first open night starting at the summer hours of 9-11pm to accommodate late darkness occurred on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Clear skies prevailed throughout the session and the evening was brightly illuminated by the 97.6% waxing gibbous Moon.
Bob Horton operated the Clark telescope, giving views of the Moon, and later, Mars.
Jay Baccala operated the 12-inch Meade scope in conjunction with a Seestar S50 and viewed a variety of objects, including globular clusters M3, M5, and galaxies M51, M81 & M82.
Jim Hendrickson set up a Seestar S50 in the front yard and pointed to M67, open cluster in Cancer, NGC 4565, edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, M64, spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, M104, spiral galaxy in Virgo, and the Moon.
Francine Jackson greeted visitors, shared her knowledge of the sky, and gathered everyone to view a very favorable pass of the International Space Station that was observed at 9:36pm.
About ten guests came to observe with us, including a local couple who are friends of Skyscrapers member Terry Turner. They expressed interest in returning and becoming members.
