Pretty successful night of working with the high school students of La Canada HS. A number of them were at La Canada Elementary School to do some astronomy viewing. Turbulent skies meant lower powered views of the moon and Saturn than we were able to manage on Monday. But if you've never seen those things through a telescope, even a lower powered view is pretty cool.
Some little league players and their parents also got a peek at the moon, as their game wrapped up just around dark--too early to see Saturn, but just right for the moon.
Because we were working with a pretty small group of students, I had plenty of time to do some seeking of additional objects. Of course, the things I found are actually pretty bright, but I'm still not all that great at finding a number of these objects. I know their general location but can not always center in on them if there are lots of people waiting at the telescope.
In addition to the Orion Nebula (easy to find, from even the most light-polluted of locations (I managed a nice view of M35, an open star cluster in Gemini, M81 and M82 (two galaxies in Ursa Major), and the Pleiades (an bright open cluster in Taurus, that is visible without optical aid but is already dropping pretty low into the evening twilight).
My next event is on Saturday, for a local Cub Scouts camp out at a local park.
My friends with the Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers will be in Monrovia on Saturday, at the corner of Myrtle and Lime. I think they will also be in Old Town Pasadena on Friday, on Colorado, near Delacey.
A week from Saturday (April 23), I intend to be in the Mojave Preserve, enjoying semi-dark skies (they'll be a waning gibbous moon putting a damper on things by around midnight or 11pm). That'll be at the Black Rock Equestrian/group campground. If you're in the area, swing by.
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