Lincoln, RI
Tuesday, October 27
Weather: Clear 40°
Participants: Francine Jackson, John Kocur, Bob Janus, Jim Hendrickson
Attendees: 52
Observed: Waning gibbous Moon, Saturn, Mizar & Alcor, Albireo, Coathanger
Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD8HA1
Report by: Jim Hendrickson
Our streak of favorable weather continued into Tuesday, October 27, 2026 for our second Moonrise event of the week: the autumn edition of our semi-annual “Starry, Starry Nite” event in conjunction with Lincoln’s Great Road Heritage Campus and Friends of Hearthside.
Moonrise was at 6:24pm, and with its northerly declination, our usual setup location just west of the Visitor Center would have kept it behind the large sycamore tree for much of our session, so we decided to set up farther west, on top of the small hill towards Butterfly Farm. Throughout the evening, an occasional very light breeze brought in the scents of the farm.
John Kocur set up his equatorially-mounted 80mm refractor, and Bob Janus brought his 8-inch Dobsonian. Jim Hendrickson also brought an 80mm refractor, and helped set up Francine Jackson’s Astroscan reflector while she was getting set up for her presentations in the Visitor Center.
We had two sessions, the first being a group of young Girl Scouts.
After a brief introduction by Friends of Hearthside president Kathy Hartley, Francine Jackson provided a brief presentation in the Visitor Center highlighting the sights of the autumn sky and current events in space.
As twilight faded, and with the familiar sound of the killdeer swooping out over the fields, we were able to pick up Saturn before the first group arrived on the observing field.
As the Moon was about to rise over the hill towards the back side of Chase Farm, the sky beyond it glowed a deep shade of orange, which beautifully silhouetted a tree on the ridge. This is where having a small telescope provides the best view, as just before and for a few seconds after the limb of the Moon appeared, its light could be seen back-illuminating countless blades of grass right along the ridgeline.
The young visitors enjoyed watching the Moon move through the tree, as well as views of Saturn.
By the time Francine completed her presentation for the second group, the scouts had finished their time at the observing field. She then joined us with the Astroscan telescope pointed at the Moon.
The Moon retained a subtle golden color when it was well above the horizon. Seeing conditions were very steady, making this an ideal night for lunar viewing. Copernicus crater was exceptionally bright, and many of the visitors remarked on the abundance of craters visible along the terminator.
An occultation of the Pleiades cluster by the Moon was in progress during our event, but the brightness of the Moon so greatly overwhelmed even the brightest stars in the cluster that no one could notice any stars in the field of view around the Moon.
The presence of Saturn during these events certainly makes them memorable. Many visitors saw the ringed planet for the first time, with at least a half dozen “wow!” responses. Some of the adults even admitted that they had never looked through a telescope before.
We also looked at Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major, Albireo, and the Coathanger. Francine spotted a slow-moving Taurid meteor of magnitude -1, low in the north.
After closing the Visitor Center, Kathy came up to the field to enjoy views through the telescopes.
By 8:30pm, the last of the group had left, and we concluded another successful observing event, our fourth observing event in five days. We had a total of about 50 visitors, and John handed out several business cards inviting those present to visit Seagrave Observatory on Saturday nights.
A date has not yet been scheduled, but watch our announcements to join us for the next Starry, Starry Nite at Chase Farm in spring 2027.
