While every pad at the Broemmelsiek Park Astronomy complex
had a scope on it way before sunset, with Kirk Steinbruegge/Jim Roe at the 16 inch dob, Chuck Simms in the Observatory with the 10 in SCT, the club was "ready to
rumble" with a show of the stars and planets, but visitor attendance seemed a
touch light this night, around 25. This was not surprising, due to
lateness of the evening this time of the year, with true Astronomical
darkness not starting till 10PM or so, and the number of families with children is slim at that hour of the day. But adults, both young and old, and couples who love the night skies, do show up to see the sights, even close to midnight. Regardless, visitors or no
visitors, with such unusual clear cool skies at the beginning of July in
the Saint Louis area, everybody who came was just having a great time
observing til around midnight. Some members, Jim Roe on the 10 inch, Mark Shea (with his new
C8) and Tom Richards, were even enjoying the night to do some
AstroPhotography, while Grant Martin was "in the zone" with his home-made dob and desk. After the moon had popped up, which was way past midnight, and the temperature dropped below 60, the fearsome foursome called it a night. What a beautiful cool
evening and night we all had. [It was so comfortable with low humidity, some visitors came early to just enjoy the sunset] |