River Bend Farm, November 2024
by Francine Jackson
River Bend Farm, Uxbridge
November 8, 2024
By Francine Jackson
The sky looked beautiful all day, until we began to drive to the site on November 8th. Then the clouds filled the sky, making us wonder whether there would be any observing at all; however, as fast as the clouds came, they disappeared, and the Moon beautifully came into view.
About 18 hardy persons came, many with their children, which was nice, as we don’t often have many young people to these.
With her Astroscan, Francine kept her scope at the Moon, and it was amazing how many of the public kept coming back to see it. Also, as there were more children there than the normal night, they wanted to return, sometimes several times, to look at it.
Jim Hendrickson and John Kocur were able to scan the skies for a great many objects, including Saturn (everyone’s favorite), Albireo, with its two lovely colors, Alcor and Mizar, the Coat Hanger, M31, and others.
With us, too, were Sherine, the ranger assigned to the facility, and Allison Horrocks, part of the National Park system. They also enjoyed all the views, plus the number of children present – not a normal observing crowd – and both stayed through much of the night.
One of the fortunate parts of the evening was the temperature. In November 2023, in addition to the cold, the wind made observing totally uncomfortable (an understatement), so we were a bit wary of having a night so late in the year, but, although it was rather cold, it wasn’t unbearable, and, as everyone who showed up said to us, “This was great! See you in April!” For them, it had been a very worthwhile night.
