A nice crowd showed up for a public observing session on the soccer field at North Cary Park on Saturday April 4 from 8:30 to 11:00. The main objects shown were the Moon and Saturn because high clouds plagued us almost the whole observing session. Fittingly, the skies cleared after the observing session was over. Many guests asked about the large ice crystal halo around the Moon.
Over the two and a half hour event, I would estimate that there were around 300 guests with plenty of children present. Some members were still hanging around talking and observing at 11:30. This event was well attended considering UNC was playing its final four basketball game and the Carolina Hurricanes were playing hockey at the same time our event was happening. It seemed that most people heard about the event from the Town of Cary event notification mailing list. The event was publicized elsewhere, but no one mentioned the other methods.
The following Club members brought their telescopes and helped out. I would like say thanks to all of them.
Dan Lamson & Darice Frey – big dob
Mark Lang – 80mm refractor
Mike Foster – Astroscan
Mark Gibson – C-8
Richard Ossowski – small refractor
Pat Moore – 16″ Dob
Doug Lively – 10″ Meade SCT with imaging setup
Robert Fitzgerald – 11″ Celestron with imaging setup
Michael Keefe – 4.5″ Newt and 8″ f/6 Dob
Steve Goodman – 8″ Newt.
Jim DellaPenna – 6″ Dob
Mike Etkin
