It was cloudy and rainy much of the week, even well into Friday afternoon and evening. But then the skies opened! The weekend would be cool, crisp, and CLEAR!!.... one of the best in several years. Two nights of star gazing took its toll on sleep but, ah, it was worth it. A near-record group of 60 enjoyed views of globulars and galaxies, plus planets Uranus, Neptune, Mars, Venus, and Saturn, even in the daytime. Jason Gibson and Bob Justin kept their goto scopes running so that we could enjoy peeks at Venus and Saturn in spite of the bright blue skies... or because of them. The first real frosts of the season soaked tables, charts, chairs, eyepieces, and scopes by dawn each day yet the trees were still surprisingly green. Autumn colors had not quite set in by this weekend. Hats off to the cooking crew. Dinner Saturday was lasagna, a change from the usual turkey feasts of the past several years, followed by Sharon and Doreen's Holloween fest- the costume and cookie decor contests. Kevin's Haunted Hike 'O Death through the back 40 was successful- no one lost, whew. And rockets flew off the pad on the hill into a sharp blue sky. First Pat's and Norbert's small "wind checkers", then Norbert's yellow G40 GLSG rocket and Jason's orange H275 bullet.... sacrificed to the trees. Perhaps they will be found by future rocket hunters as was the case with Jason's springtime offering, albeit a tad waterlogged from months in the woods.

The fleet of telescopes was impressive. A slew of Celestron 8 and 11-inch SCT's up to the EMU C14 anchored the field. Several Dobs also stayed busy including the Sunset's 25-inch "Dobzilla" which offered up distinct views of Stephan's Quintet, the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae, and fabulous M42, the Orion Nebula. Jason also took some nice astrophotos in between sharing eyepiece views of some less than usual objects for the ASTR 203, 315, and Delta College students on hand. A selection of Jason's beautiful images taken all the while people were buzzing about can be found below. Logbooks would be filled this weekend for sure! Laserpointers criscrossed the sky noting this star or that object and the occasional satellite. Plus numerous Orionid and Eta Aquarid meteors surprised us with their frequency and brilliance. Alas, Sunday arrived and it was time to go home all too soon. Clouds and rain moved in later in the day making our luck for having those two nights in between the clouds seem all the better. Thank you, Mother Nature! :)

Enjoy the pics...