Bullfrogs, fireflies and mosquitoes signal the start of summertime observing
by Matt White
Finally! Clear skies on a Saturday night! I arrived at Seagrave somewhat early and helped Conrad open the 16” Meade. We already had a few people gathered to catch a glimpse of the heavens. As Conrad trained the Meade over to Saturn, Dave and Alex arrived and we proceeded to open the Clark.
By the time we had Saturn in the eyepiece, a significant crowd had gathered in the dome. At one point we had 20 people in the dome.
After everyone had a chance to view Saturn, we trained over to Algieba, a double star in the constellation of Leo, which is about 170 light years distant.
The last target of the evening was M57, the Ring Nebula. This planetary nebula is approximately 2300 light years distant, and is located in the northern constellation of Lyra between the stars Beta Lyrae and Gamma Lyrae. It’s proximity to Vega, make it an easy target for most amateur astronomers to find.
By the time we closed out at 11:30, we had shown the wonders of the heavens to about forty guests.
