RAC outreach program continues already the third year. Public observing is about once a month after dusk, when Moon is in about the first quarter. It’s mostly conducted from the Watson soccer field. This Winter we found, that soccer field parking would not be plowed, so we could not safely use it for observing, especially in such snowy Winter. Fortunately club member Dustin Ebert offered conduct observing form his plowed parking at Salem Glen. Visitors could warm up in his winery, and there was big monitor ready for presentation in case of bad weather. For each event, there were people interested in night sky, even in frigidit weather, ready to go outside to observer even for short time. Sometimes they came with own small telescope asking for advice or sharing their passion.
Observation for April 12 was planned again for soccer field, but due to cloudy weather it had to be cancelled. So the first public observation in warm weather with many visitors happened on Friday May 10. I was really joy to see people of all ages to be interested in observing. There were more then seven members with their telescopes.
Table of the Friday evening Public Sky Observing in 2019
| 2019 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | 11 | 08 | 155 | 12 | 10 | 07 | 05 | 095 | 06 | 04 | 01 | 065 |
| Start | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 9:45 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| End | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10:30 | 11:00 | 11:30 | 11:45 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| ☽ age | 4.3 | 3.7 | 9.1 | 7.7 | 6.3 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 9.7 | 8.3 | 6.7 | 5.1 | 9.8 |
| Planets | ♆,♂,⛢ | ♂,⛢ | ⛢,♂ | ♂ | ♂ | ☿,♂,♃;⚳ | ♃,♄;⚳ | ♃,♄;⚳ | ♃,♄,♆;⚳ | ♃,♄,♆ | ♃,♄,♆, | ♀,♄,♆,⛢ |
Symbols: Moon ☽, Mercury ☿, Venus ♀, Mars ♂, Jupiter ♃, Saturn ♄, Uranus ⛢ (or ♅), Neptune ♆; Dwarf planet Ceres ⚳
Day upper index5 means 5 weeks gap instead of regular 4 weeks