Saturday was a case of “third time is the charm” in terms of scheduling a star party for the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) as the first two attempts were weathered out. Even Saturday evening when we were gathering at Sedgwick Reserve seemed questionable. But as the Sun went down, the clouds began to clear, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset filled with many different colors.
The evening began a bit late since there were some problems with the gate to reserve not wanting to remain open, but we eventually got everyone in and were ready to go. Several members of the group took a quick walk to the pond before heading up to the observatory. Once up there we went over the safety of the site and then fired up the telescopes.
In addition to the BOS, several telescopes were set up by members of the SBAU. Many objects were observed by the group of around 20 (including several enthusiastic kids) while enjoying hot coffee, tea, and cookies. Some of the observed objects included Saturn, globular clusters M3 and M13 (the Great Hercules Cluster), and galaxies M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), M64 (Black Eye Galaxy), and M51supernova (Whirlpool Galaxy). with its recent
All-in-all, it was a great night with great people!
