The scheduled May Open Night looked to be another “no-go” due to weather right up until about 90 minutes ahead of opening. Forecasts had, for days, called for overcast skies and inclement weather, and the day of the event bore that out. Then, defying forecasters and expectations, the sky began to clear. What looked to be another canceled Open Night turned into a decent time to look at Jupiter and the Hercules Star Cluster! With little advance publicity we hosted 10 observatory visitors, mostly local people but one couple drove all the way from Warren to participate.
Though the sky was mostly-clear, seeing conditions were only fair to good. Through the grand Cooley Telescope at about 129X magnification, we were able to observe Jupiter and the planet’s distinctive north and south equatorial belts, the four Galilean Moons shining brightly in space nearby. As the night progressed we observed Jupiter’s Great Red Spot slowly rotate into view and even glimpsed its red color now and again! These were not the best views we have had of the “King of Planets,” but they were interesting, nonetheless.
The second object of the night was the Hercules Star Cluster (Messier 13) which, at first glance, looked like a cloudy smudge in the telescope’s wide-angle eyepiece. Now and again, however, with moments of good seeing and a little averted vision, we gained the impression of “graininess” as perhaps some of the globular cluster’s brighter stars stood out.
Stephens Memorial Observatory 