February's Star Party in the Park

The weatherman could not have cooperated better tonight unless it was a bit less windy but the wind at least kept the mosquitoes at bay.  The temperature was a balmy short-sleeve shirt 70° and the sky was clear as a bell.  I talked to about 30 people of all ages, both local and winter texans, from about 6:00 to 7:00 and we then moved out to the patio where we had three telescopes set up.  While the group admired the Mars/Venus conjunction and Jupiter's moons, I got the scopes aligned on the conjunction and Jupiter. I then pointed out several features in Orion, the Pleiades, Taurus, Canis Major and identified Canopus low in the south. I found comet Lovejoy and several were able to find it with binoculars. A satellite passing overhead thrilled the young cub scouts that were present.
I did a three star alignment of the Celestron goto which was successful but when I set Jupiter as the target it slewed in the opposite direction.  Not sure what was going on there. I next did a solar system alignment on Jupiter which was a quick way to keep Jupiter in the FOV. Many in the group were at least somewhat familiar with the sky so everyone seemed to keep each other entertained and a good time was had by all. We shut down and were home by about 8:00.
I arrived about 4:00 to get set up. The finders were all finicky as usual.  I replaced all three batteries in the three scopes we used and had to put a penny under one battery to make a decent connection. Once I got them all aligned and tightened up they all performed pretty well.  Roy mentioned that the park has a modest budget for a new goto scope for next year.  Today was Melissa's last day. She is moving to Mother Neff state park near Waco TX.

Venus, Moon, and Mars Conjunction

It was clear tonight again and the big conjunction was high and bright at sundown. I could barely make out Mars in the glare of Venus so I grabbed my 10x50s and got all three in the FOV.  It was a gorgeous preview for tomorrow's Star Party in the Park at Bentsen RGV State Park.