Sidewalk Astronomy December 2018... IT'S A GO

[Jonathan Sabin]

WEATHER UPDATE FOR TONIGHT'S SIDEWALK ASTRONOMY AT THE CELERY FIELDS


Despite the fact that it's currently *completely* overcast, tonight's event is a GO!

With one caveat.

It appears that there's a good chance the clouds will start to break up between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., so even though we scheduled this to start at 5:45, chances are we won't even have telescopes set up until an hour or so later---and that's assuming it shows evidence that the clearing is actually happening.

If it does clear, it looks like we may have some decent observing for a couple of hours--and you'll get a chance to see the comet 46/P Wirtanen, which is just one day away from its closest approach to the Earth!

[Wolf Schutze]

The night turned out pretty good. Clouds cleared out around 7:30. The only problem that remained was the dew.

Wolf.

[Ed McDonough]

Gutsy call Jonathan. I never thought the skies would clear, great decision to call it a go. But by 9:00 that dew was a killer.

It was a good time to give my SW 120 ED a bit of a workout in lieu of the 8" SCT.  Nice sharp pinpoint stars but when it comes to visual astronomy you just can't beat aperture.