Hello astronomy fans! We had a great night at Eagle Bluff last night, but dew and high thin clouds were an issue off and on.
It was Jerome, Kirk, me and a young lady named Barb that is the librarian for the Preston Public library. I had never met her before, but she has been following the forum, and showed up to observe. She is a very sharp visual observer and owns an 8" dobsonian.
There were 10 Boy Scouts and about 40 music students and counselors there last night. Jerome did a great job of teaching observational astronomy while I was setting up. When they were all there at once it reminded me a little of the Chinese Communist hordes pouring over the hills of North Korea. But it went off pretty good. One of the Boy Scouts named Issac, spotted the 10:54 pass of the ISS. (Thnak you Jeff!) That really wowed 'em.
Saturn of course blew them away. "Is that real? Do you have a picture taped to your telescope?" But we got LOTS of Thank You's from the crowd.
After After the Chinese Communist hordes called it a night, we had a wonderful time together. Kirk spotted a fine pair of double stars just east of the Lyra rectangle that I had never seen before. Barb plotted their position in her star atals in seconds. Very impressive on both their parts. We finished the night with the waning cresent Moon. It was A Glorious Night For Astronomy!