Our May 22, 1999 overnight trip was a shortened version of our usual 2-night weekends which give us better odds for clear skies.  In spite of ominous skies right up to Saturday's sunset,  skies did clear!  A bright first quarter moon dominated the viewing well past midnight, along with views of Venus, Mars, a particularly bright meteor among several, satellite passages, and brighter Messier objects.  Projections of the moon's finer features using a B&W video camera on a Celestron C11 and Mr. Kevin Dehne's constellation tour ( thanks again, Kevin ) were conducted.  Once the moon set in the wee hours,  vigilant observers enjoyed wonderful views of the summer Milky Way.  Many thanks also to Saginaw's Sunset Astronomy Club members Paul Wysocki and Mary White for their sharing of  new Radian eyepieces - the summer globulars, and the Dumbbell and Ring nebulae never looked better.  Such detail - Wow!  Sunday morning sunshine greeted us for 10am breakfast, solar viewing, and walks in the woods.  Success again - we're on a roll!

Paul,  Kevin, and Mary stand ready for clearing skies.

John Haag gets an early C11 view of the quarter moon.

John Sr. and John Jr. enjoy Sunday morning sunshine.

Jeff Wilson with Schoolcraft student Paul Neiten.

Bob Justin and Dave Bush

Mr. Dehne's Delta College students Jennifer, Ann, Jennifer, and Kari
tackle astronomy class worksheets before departing.

Those with pictures from the trip, please send me copies or scanned images for inclusion to this page!
phy_vance@online.emich.edu