Log, Sep 4, 2009
Although the evening began rather cloudy, we welcomed 110 people into the Observatory, the number helped by the Rhythm and Roots Festival; however, with the bright festival lights in the north and west, and the day-after-full Moon brilliance overpowering much of the rest of the sky, Jupiter was the only object observed throughout much of the night. At first, only two of its Galilean moons were visible; however, another popped out halfway during the night, and, by 10:30, all four of Jupiter's main moons could be seen. Also, for those who stayed later, we then went to the Moon. By limiting the viewing to the lower limb, we were able to actually see the curvature of the Moon's surface, thereby showing, just as Galileo understood 400 years ago, that the Moon is a spherical body and not just a flat circle orbiting the Earth.
