Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 9:00PM

Public Observing Event
at the ACA Observatory

Best chance to see Mercury
.
Best chance to see Mercury this summer;
and the best chance to try the
best free coffee in Akron while stargazing!

Event report from our Observatory Director on the morning after:

"The ACA had a great observing session last night with a turnout of about 40 stargazers, including many kids. The forecast for clear skies held true; although some stubborn clouds visited us early. Transparency & seeing conditions were pretty good. Saturn was the usual stunner revealing the Cassini Division and four Saturnian Moons: Titan, Rhea, Tethys, & Dione. Members Rick Burke, Fred Fry, Gary Smith, John Shulan, & Ed Howe had telescopes set up on the observatory grounds and both 14" observatory telescopes were cranked up with Greg Crenshaw operating the Celestron C14. This is a good time of year to view globular clusters with M3, M5, M13, M92, M10, M53, NGC 6229, and NGC 4147 all being well placed and making it possible to compare globular cluster classification. The Cat's Eye Nebula and Ring Nebula topped the list for planetary nebulae. Ghost of Jupiter disappeared over the horizon as the Space Station made a high pass at 52 degrees from WSW to NE, with a close approach to Polaris. We viewed double star 24 Coma Berenices (Albireo twin) early during the event and Albireo toward the end of the observing session. Galaxies M51, M104, and M87 stretched our eyesight to celestial objects millions of lightyears beyond our galaxy. We observed until midnight with sky conditions remaining good. The best free coffee in Akron was unusually strong and no doubt kept observers awake well into the morning."

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