Log, Aug 14, 2009
60+ people. We couldn't get a good count of people last night with folks wondering in and out from the Seafood Festival but there were about 60. They showed up early (in fact, while the sky was still bright blue) but soon after the Sun really set thin clouds coated the sky. There was very little air movement and what was over us stayed over us for many hours. It was so bad that early on, Les turned the scope on the bright star Spica above the western horizon. Now Spica is a fine star (and all that) but a single star simply isn't much of a target unless it is the only thing visible.Over time, we managed to see M4. About 60% of the people in line saw it before it went behind clouds for good. Grrrrrr! Then Les was able to get another 70% of the people to the scope before Jupiter disappeared. The Moon was bright but highly distorted by the clouds. The air was turbulent and the images danced wildly. However, Jupiter and the Moon took turns and we saw something most of the remainder of the night.-Les Coleman
