by Jim Van Nuland
Continuing a recently started tradition, I set up in my driveway on Halloween night [...] Thanks for the suggestion Jane and Jim.
Glad you're carrying on the tradition!
I set up myself, but the light sky did't permit the Owl. I showed the Coathanger (Collinder 399) using the 4 inch RFT at 15x, rotated on the mount so the hanger' bar was horizontal. It was well received by all who were old enough to understand peeking into a little tube.
Other targets: Albireo, the "Halloween Cluster" a.k.a. Pleiades.
A neighborhood boy hung around much of the time, full of questions and interested in everything. During quiet periods, I showed him how to focus the scope, then showed him Uranus and Neptune. At 185x, the latter was still a tiny dot, diameter 2.5 arc-seconds. He wasn't sure it was more than a star, but moving the scope to a star of similar brightness proved that the tiny dot was non-stellar.
I saw the usual range of costumes, none especially memorable. The most curious experience was with a next-door neighbor, who, earlier in the afternoon, had asked if I intended to set up the scope, and was happy to hear me say yes. BUT through the evening, she was in and out with various family visitors, never took time to look!
Prospects for 2005: no moon; Venus low to west, Mars low to east, Uranus and Neptune well placed.
Clear Skies!
Posted on sf-bay-tac Nov 05, 2004 14:24:45 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 16, 2005 08:56:12 PT