The night of July 6 did not work out for me. I had high thin clouds here and did not observe. I did sleep out on the deck and woke up on the deck to see stars at 2 p.m.
Tonight was a different story. I got out there at 8:30 and had 9 locals to see Purbach's Cross on the Moon. We had to battle partly cloudy skies, but good Lord, what a night! It was a night of laser pointing, astronomical story telling, looking through the telescope and lots of WOW's and thank you's. Mike Schmidt's relatives from Virginia have very rarely seen skies like this and tonight wasn't all that good!
Purbach's Cross was the best I've ever seen. (Not saying much since when I saw it in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the NCRAL 2009, I had more than a dozen astronomers crowd me out after I pointed it out to them.)
But Saturn stole the show, everybody loves Saturn, and as fleeting as Purbach's Cross is, too bad. The public liked it, but did not appreciate seeing it like I did. That just goes to show….GIVE THEM SATURN and they won't forget it.
One young lady from Virginia named Jess, was pretty sharp on astronomy. Her Dad has a decent scope and she has the potential to be a good amatuer. It was AGNFA!