Log, Sep 21, 2007
38 people. Well, I got to FDO early (4:30 PM) to do some maintenance work and attend a Frosty Drew Memorial Fund Board of Directors meeting. Clear as a bell. Even though it was daytime, I could see Jupiter in the big scope easily although its moons were hidden. By 7:00PM we were running for real and our first visitors arrived. With about 40 people, it takes quite a while to cycle everyone through but we did it. Then we went on to the Moon to look at the craters. Two craters Copernicus (the larger) and Bulliardius showed the crater with the central ejecta mass. The ejecta masses are a mixture of the impact meteor and the original lunar surface.With a sizable crowd, it was approaching 8:45PM when I called a halt to start a star identification and stories session but when I went out I was dismayed to find only three stars were visible - Vega, Deneb and Altair. Ten minutes before I could easily see the Dipper, Cassiopeia, and other northern constellations out the door of the dome. Now they were gone. The Moon was being obscured. It was dense fog rolling in above us. With the laser pointer I could see the fog layer was less than 200 feet above our heads with the heat of the ground holding the fog at bay for the moment. Yet when the temperature reached 64, even that paltry defense crumbled and heavy fog swept in. I was forced to close by 9:10. I was really bummed out on the behalf of all of our visitors.-Les Coleman
