SatuSaturday, October 31
Weather: Clear, 32°
Participants: Mike Kerr, Mark Munkacsy, John Kocur, Jim Hendrickson
Attendees: 7
Observed: Saturn, Neptune, Vega, Double Double, M15, T Lyrae, Double Cluster, M31
Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD95hx
Reports by: Jim Hendrickson & Mike Kerr
As a Halloween treat, October 2026 closed with our fifth consecutive clear Saturday night.
John Kocur set up the 12-inch Dobsonian in the courtyard, and had also prepared a bowl of candy in the event any young trick-or-treaters came by.
Mike Kerr opened the 8-inch refractor, his first solo session on the historic Alvan Clark, which he handled quite well. The telescope also performed well, providing memorable views of Saturn.
I set up my 80mm refractor and the Seestar S50, aiming the refractor at M31 and the Seestar at M33.
Mark Munkacsy operated the 16-inch Meade SCT, and also brought a Seestar S50, sharing views of M33, M15 and a few other objects.
A favorable pass of the Tiangong space station (CSS) was observed a few minutes after 7:00pm.
We had seven total visitors. A woman from North Smithfield, who said she was a librarian in Burrillville, had been wanting to visit for some time, stayed a while and enjoyed views of Saturn.
Rusty and his wife, who had recently moved to the area, came by and stayed at my station for a while to chat. He volunteers at a science center in Natick and has been touring all of the local observatories. He came to Ladd Observatory two weeks ago, and had plans to visit Jacoby and Frosty Drew. We chatted for a bit about local observatories, antique instruments, and John Briggs’s Astronomical Lyceum, which he also plans to visit. He asked many questions, was interested in the equipment I brought, and requested to see the Double Cluster.
Another group of four came by and spent considerable time at the Dobsonian.
With Neptune coming into good viewing position, I turned my scope towards the distant planet, just a pale sky-blue speck of light in the 80mm, then John pointed the 12-inch Dobsonian and used higher magnification. Its blue tone was much more pronounced. John then put Vega in the scope, its beautiful blue-white brilliance always worth a moment’s gaze.
We ended the night by looking at T Lyrae in the 12-inch Dobsonian, always a pleasant sight to see the vivid red color of the carbon star that is 2,400 light-years distant.
As the Big Dipper set into the trees low in the north, Fomalhaut sat on the meridian, low in the south. A great horned owl called from the woods nearby in the northeast, the only sign of nocturnal wildlife audible on this chilly evening.
We closed by 10:30pm, ending October with nine successful events in the books: five Seagrave Observatory open nights and four off-site star parties.
-Jim Hendrickson
I am following in the footsteps of Bob Janus, who I remember would send a brief report after a night of public observing in the Clark. Last night, Jim Hendrickson, John Kocur, and Mark Munkacsy and I were on site for the October 31 (Halloween) public observing session – and I was on the Clark, taking my first ‘solo flight’ with the instrument (many thanks to Matt, Bob J., Michael, Bob H., and Mark for training me!). It was a beautifully clear night, but light duty as I think we had only seven visitors by my count…though, Linda – you should know that a person named Jen who said she had had an email exchange with you was there and seemed to have a good time.
As for the Clark, I had the scope on Saturn for the duration of the evening, first with the 40mm eyepiece, then the 25, then back to the 40 before closing up. The seeing was good and the telescope performed wonderfully. I did find myself outside the “sweet spot” on the RA slow-mo a couple of times, and my target drifted; but once I found that spot again, everything was stable.
For the record (so that I can take responsibility and be held accountable in case I messed up in any way), I was the person who unlocked the gate and club house and was the one who locked both of them up again on my way out at the end of the evening. I am confident that everything was in order, though. The only thing I’m not sure of is that I did not find a log book (the Clark instruction document says to log in and log out).
-Mike Kerr
