At Cedar Bay in Dewitt, a whopping ten SAS members came together to volunteer their time and share their knowledge, experience, and equipment with members of our community, continuing to support our club’s mission to provide outreach and promote astronomy to the public. I believe we were successful in that endeavor last night. The Dewitt Parks and Recreation Department donated $300 to SAS as the sole sponsor for about 50 residents of Dewitt, a suburb of Syracuse. Attendees paid $10 each to the Town to offset the cost to taxpayers. A local bakery also donated some half-moon cookies to the […]
Jeff Higgins
17 posts
Last night, at DHO, our Public Session attracted about 25-30 guests. Most had never been to DHO before. Several families spread blankets on the central lawn, many brought binoculars, some even had telescopes. All were curious and engaged with our 6 members who’s telescopes were overflowing with colorful photons,as the warm dry summer night delighted everyone…including a private party of hornets who have built a 8″ paper nest, hung it from the soffit on the NW corner of the main building, and have set up housekeeping in their new residence. How RUDE! The mid-60s air was still, and dry as […]
Last night, July 26th, was one of the best transparency nights of the year. Chris, Evan, Rob, Mike F. and I trekked down to DHO for the evening. If I remember correctly, Mike resumed yesterday’s mission to observe the Milky Way, Rob observed Messier objects in the SE sky with his Dob. Evan and Chris imaged the Western Veil, while I slewed around looking for juicy Messier targets. The Milky Way’s dust lanes, Galaxies and nebulae observations and images were much crisper than usual. The Andromeda galaxy and the Comet C/2017 K2 were especially nice tonight. (See below). The cooler […]
On Friday, July 22, 2022, as the sun began to set, the threat and presence of strong winds and heavy rain hampered everyone’s setup efforts a few times, and the board meeting occupied an hour’s chunk of time, too. Gremlins plagued my telescope’s alignment for nearly an hour while spectators, more than 30, visited the 7 telescopes and binoculars stationed on the hill. Some sat patiently on the lawn while I frantically sought to get my EAA rig performing properly. Ray and Tony hosted a visual observing ‘song and dance’ on the Cave platform to distract from my woes, showing […]