Heads up!
Star Party at Arsenault’s Arsenal Observatory
Saturday, October 13, 2018, at 7:00pm
6 Beaver Drive, Litchfield, ME 04350
As of twenty-four hours before the star party scheduled for tomorrow night (Saturday, October 13, 2018), this week’s shifting weather reports are culminating with the possibility that the thick clouds of tomorrow’s daylight may vanish on command at nightfall. Per usual, the forecasts are conflicting, but we aren’t beat yet. We may literally be driving to set up through pea-soup clouds, only to have the Red Sea part before our eyes at sundown. Turn your minds toward the possibility that the star party will happen after all, and await final confirmation tomorrow.
If all goes well, the ultimate gala star party will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2018, at 7:00pm (6:30pm or earlier setup), at Arsenault’s Arsenal Observatory. Our friend Lenny, Mr. Arsenault, has in his arsenal at Arsenault’s Arsenal Observatory a rare 16” f/6 Lightspeed reflector, which he has just recently finished refurbishing. Welcoming this telescope back into service is a major event, because it has one of the finest mirrors CMAS has ever seen, and the coolest, steadiest mount imaginable. Also in Arsenault’s arsenal is a classic 6” f/10 classic ATM refractor, with a Jaegers objective, a Unitron finder, and the cleverest home-built mount in our arm of the Milky Way—the ultimate CMASian homebuilt masterpiece. The Moon will be a setting sliver as the party begins, so we’ll likely begin the night with some highly detailed lunar observing. Upon moonset, we’ll hunt for every deep space object that passes through our patch of sky.
