by Denny Woolaghan
Albert H. and I arrived at Dino yesterday afternoon between 4:30 and 5:00PM. The skies were covered with thin wispy clouds that we have come so accustomed to. We set up by 6:00, had a lite dinner waiting for darkness and the clouds to clear. The KRON forecaster and weather clock said the sky would clear shortly after sunset. It hasn't let me down yet but I figured with these current conditions there was a first time for everything. There was a slight breeze maybe 10 mph.
The first to show their splendor was Jupiter, Sirius and Saturn. Albert commented that the seeing was decent even though it was still slightly overcast and we hadn't yet seen full darkness. Both of us were still a little pessimistic about the evening.
Well, just like the weather clock predicted, shortly after total darkness, the sky opened up and we had a very enjoyable evening. We observed most of the evening in just a sweatshirt, the wind completely ceased, the sky completely cleared to zero clouds and scud. I personally observer over 40 Messier objects and completed my viewing of every Messier object for the 3rd or 4th time.
It started to cool off around 10:30 and we both sought warmer clothes. The sky started to get soft again around 11:30. I continued observing until about 12:30 and decided to pack up. Albert was planning to finish observing for at least another 1/2 hour.
Is anyone planning on observing this evening?