Venus, Jupiter & Mars
by Tom Thibault, Steve Siok & Jim Hendrickson
Telescope Operators:
Steve Siok– 8” Clark
Jim Hendrickson – Helper
Tom Thibault – 12” Meade
Jim Brenek – Helper
Open: 7:00 – Closed: 9:00
What started out as a cloudy day and remained that way all day, cleared. The skies opened up around 5:30 and remained cloudless and beautiful all evening. As we opened up the observatories for viewing, Venus and Jupiter hung closely together to the west. As the skies darken, it became obvious we would have an excellent night of viewing. The public began to arrive as Mars rose from the east.
Our visitors numbered approximately 20 – 25 throughout the evening. They were treated to Venus which shined brightly and its appearance resembled that of the 1st quarter moon. Jupiter, slightly higher in the west, provided a great view with Europa to one side and Io, Ganymede, and Callisto on the other. A lone star in the field of view aligned with the moons making it appear Jupiter had gained another large moon. We had a good number of children accompanying their parents and grandparents this evening. All enjoyed the view of Jupiter and its moons. The clarity was such that all noted seeing the northern and south cloud bands as stripes. We then treated our visitors to the planet Mars. The clarity this evening allowed the darker areas of terrain to be easily seen, which was quite a treat.
The dark skies also provided a great opportunity to show our visitors the Orion Nebula in its splendor. All that viewed M42 noted seeing the four compacted bright stars of the Trapezium. The nebulosity showed nicely with a large amount of detail.
Throughout the evening we skipped around to a number of other Messier objects. Targets that evening included M36, M37, M42, M81 and M82 and of course our planetary visitors of Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It was a very enjoyable evening with many oohs, aahs, and wows heard throughout the night.
Submitted by Tom Thibault
