Log, Jun 22, 2001
Friday June 22nd: 18 people. Despite having officially called off the evening's session, the sky was still clear at 7:45, so I knew that people would be coming to FDO despite the fact that fog, clouds and rain were on the way. The clouds were definitely on their way when I opened, but there was still a lot of blue sky, so I opened the dome and turned on the scope. The Moon, only a day past new, was low in the sky and the murky air made it a tough target. As it sunk further, the ever ready Albireo became the next object in the scope.We stayed on Albireo until Mars finally rose above the tree. The thick air obscured almost all detail - many observers commented on its shimmering in the eyepiece. All too quickly, the clouds rolled in and we decided to close up. Just as we were ready to lock the doors, a family of four showed up. We'd thought that there was nothing to see, but a hole had opened in the clouds right at Mars! Jack, one of our friends from Skyscrapers, had a spotting scope that he was able to set up quickly to give these folks a view of the Red Planet.By 10:30 we were locking the gate of the park behind us and on our way home.-Les Coleman
