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Prime Night at Columbus 26 July 2014

Event Date

The forecast for this weekend is looking reasonably good, so hopefully we'll have an excellent Prime Night.

Who Can Come? All members who have done the dark site orientation are welcome to join us. I'll do a constellation tour and some training in star-hopping.

If this is your first or second time out at Columbus, there will be a short meeting for a light check at sunset, so make sure that you have arrived by then. If you have questions about the light rules, contact me before Saturday.

What to Observe?
1. If you're just starting out, try our own Texas 45 list or the AL Messier list
2. Planets - Mars and Saturn are good in the evening. Later during the night Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto are visible.
3. Ceres and Vesta 1.75 degrees apart in Virgo during twilight (don't wait too long)
4. Fabulous 5 globulars clusters are visible - M13, M3, M5, M22, M4
5. Sue French has a list of galaxies and other sights in Draco in July S&T - I really enjoy her lists
6. Alan Whitman has a list of dark nebulae in Ophiuchus that he calls the Snake and Its Egg in July S&T. It includes Barnard 68 that Bill Pellerin profiled in this month's club newsletter.
(Source - all of the above except #1 are taken from July Sky & Telescope)

I'm going to grab a burger at the Dairy Cone at 836 Walnut in Columbus. I will arrive there about 7:00 p.m. and leave about 7:45. If would be glad for anyone who wants to join me for a good burger or who wants to follow me to the dark site.

Ephemera
Moonset 20:07
Sunset 20:25
Twilight ends 21:54
Twilight begins 5:13
Lunar Illumination 0.0% (new moon is at 17:42 on the 26th)

The forecast for Friday looks better than for Saturday, so you might want to go both days. If the forecast gets worse, I will announce a change of plans as early as possible, but realistically that is Thursday or Friday afternoon.

Contact Steve Fast, Field Trip and Observing, at Steve Fast or cell phone 713-898-2188 if you have questions.