On Saturday November 9th the Raleigh Astronomy Club hosted a public observing session at North Cary Park. Despite some thick cloud cover the club proceeded with the event by delaying the start time one hour. The weather forecasts had estimated the clouds to clear by 9pm but is was closer to 9:45pm until there was a substantial enough amount of clearing, though there were pockets of clearing by 8pm.
Several RAC members (Doug L., Mark L, Fred F. and Mike K.) were on hand to provide views to the public. An estimated 60+ people attended the observing session from 8pm to about 11pm. A 44% illuminated waxing crescent moon was the most popular target of the evening, however attendees were also treated to views of:
- M57 – The Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra: This nebula structure, that appears as a donut in most back yard telescopes, is actually the cast off shell or layers of a red giant star in the last stages of its life. Through an 11″ telescope with a special astronomical video camera attached, we observed what we believe to be the central star at almost 15th magnitude.
- M56 a Globular Cluster in Lyra: Not a really great example of an globular cluster and conditions were marginal at best for viewing.
- M71 a Globular Cluster in the constellation Sagitta: Not a really great example of an globular cluster and conditions were marginal at best for viewing.
- M45 The Pleiades / Seven Sisters / Subaru in the constellation Taurus: This beautiful open cluster was a great target especially thru a pair of binoculars.
- M31 The Andromeda Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda: The moon light and some high, thin clouds kept us from getting a great view but the central core of the galaxy was still quite visible
- Jupiter: The King of Planets made an appearance later into the observing session. The 4 Gallilian moons were all visible and the banding across the disk of the planet was just visible even though it was still pretty low in the sky.
- M42 The Orion Nebula in the constellation Orion: Late into the observing session, the Orion Nebula started to clear the tree line. The few remaining attendees were treated to views of this amazing target.
We also answered lots of questions on equipment, astronomical objects, cosmology and general astronomy queries.
In closing a special thanks to the Town of Cary for allowing us to use North Cary Park.
