Saturday was a case of “third time is
the charm” in terms of scheduling a star party for the Santa
Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) as the first two attempts were
weathered out. Even Saturday evening when we were gathering at
Sedgwick Reserve seemed questionable. But as the Sun went down, the
clouds began to clear, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset
filled with many different colors.
The evening began a bit late since
there were some problems with the gate to reserve not wanting to
remain open, but we eventually got everyone in and were ready to go.
Several members of the group took a quick walk to the pond before
heading up to the observatory. Once up there we went over the safety
of the site and then fired up the telescopes.
In addition to the BOS, several
telescopes were set up by members of the SBAU. Many objects were
observed by the group of around 20 (including several enthusiastic
kids) while enjoying hot coffee, tea, and cookies. Some of the
observed objects included Saturn, globular clusters M3 and M13 (the
Great Hercules Cluster), and galaxies M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), M64
(Black Eye Galaxy), and M51supernova (Whirlpool
Galaxy).
with its recent
All-in-all, it was a great night with
great people!
