44 people. Lets see, no clouds, humidity is reasonable, no fog, temperatures in the upper sixties and low seventies - perfect night for viewing, right? Ooops the Moon is 98% illuminated. This limited our session to basically Venus, Antares, and oh yes, the Moon. Les and Steve tried for M4, M8 and M17. They were there but so poorly defined that they weren't worth being displayed. Still and all, it was a lovely soft night, and although the Milky Way was conspicuous by its absence, it wasn't a bad night for telling star myths and pointing out the summer constellations.

The recent poor weather has allowed me extra time to revise and bring the web site up to date. Nothing significant has been added but you will find the section on Links has been revised to point to current internet addresses. Sites no longer in operation have been removed and a few new sites have been added. The tables of numerical constants have been revised, and a few minor changes have been made. A number of the utilities (like the Moon Phase Map) have been modified to work better with certain web browsers. The Clear Sky Clock has some minor changes. You will notice that the weekly "Changing Information" now displays the skymap for next Friday at FDO about 9PM. The most significant changes are in the docents materials and physics materials, which have been updated to reflect changes in our science.

This coming Friday will be Rhythm and Roots. It means there will be a lot of light in Ninigret Park and lots of music. Perhaps deep space fans would be well advised to seek darker quieter climes for their big dobs.

Finally, FDO has lost (temporarily it is hoped) a lot of staff recently. We have had family illnesses, job demands and such like force staffers to leave FDO as regulars in the past but this summer has been a real bummer with five of our most active members forced to take extended leaves. If any of you think that becoming an FDO staff member would be something you would enjoy, please contact Les Coleman either at FDO or on the internet [les11@cox.net].

-Les Coleman

Author:

Leslie Coleman

Entry Date:

Aug 23, 2002

Published Under:

Leslie Coleman's Log