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Star Party at Robert Jacobs’

by Gilbet Bernardo

At last we enjoyed a decent night of star watching at a planned star party. The site at the Jacobs' place is more than adequate. There is a nice border of trees to block local lighting, but they are not so high as to obscure the usable horizon. It is about as good as we can get this close to Gainesville.

Several club members were present. We enjoyed views of Mars, and although the disk is small, the club six inch showed the polar cap nicely and some wispy dark features. Bruno brought his newly acquired Meade 12.5 inch Dob and Dale brought out his big Odyssey. It was interesting comparing the two instruments.

Bruno commented on the differences in paint jobs, his being a stark white while the Odyssey being red; under red light, the Odyssey appears almost white.

There was no suitable recipient for the five inch refractor that Jan donated to the Science Fair, so for the time being, the club will have a new rich field refractor. John and Gilbert where using it to explore open clusters and nebulae in and around the region of Orion. They also compared it to a 4.25 inch Astroscan. The refractor was by far the superior of the two.

Many thanks to Bob Jacobs for the use of his site. He kindly extended future invitations. I am sure they will be generously accepted.

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