It’s decided: We *WILL* be meeting tonight, Saturday, January 17, 2015, for a quick-but-crazy comet-and-Mercury viewing at DRA. The plan is:
5:30pm — View Venus and Mercury before they set. Mercury is at half phase. Most people have never seen this, because Mercury is usually too near the Sun to be visible.
After that, we’ll hide inside DRA’s heated farmhouse, awaiting a tad more darkness, enough to see the stars that will guide us to…
~6:15pm — Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is at its brightest tonight (and clouds are expected over the next few days, so carpe diem). Wayne Barber has been imaging this, so he is experienced at knowing when it’s ready to be seen in a telescope through fading daylight. We do not plan to stay long enough to see it naked eye. Maybe finish with a quick sweep of the Orion Nebula, for old time’s sake.
After that, head for home. Temperatures are so frigid that we’ll be gone long before the clouds roll in by 8:00pm, but tonight’s objects are rarities worth the trip and a brief stay outside. Bring binoculars if you have them. At least three telescopes will be present; bring yours only if it sets up and packs away quickly.
Sorry for the late notice. I truly thought the cold would scare everyone away, yet a contingent has committed to this star party.
