A clear sky with cold weather greeted some 17 visitors to Western University’s Cronyn Observatory Public Night, Monday, October 16th, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Since it was a weekday public night, there was no slide presentation and visitors simply went upstairs into the dome, where they were greeted by graduate student Viraja Khatu and RASC London Centre members Everett Clark, Peter Jedicke and Bob Duff.
Viraja directed the big 25.4cm refractor (Meade 28mm Super Wide Angle eyepiece, 157X) towards Saturn, low in the western sky, early in the evening. She then directed the 25.4cm refractor to show visitors the yellow and blue double star Albireo and the “Double-Double” star system Epsilon Lyrae, with some assistance from Bob Duff. Seeing conditions were not very good despite the clear sky and Bob swapped in the 32mm Erfle eyepiece (137X) to try and get a sharper view of Epsilon Lyrae but the components of the 2 binary stars could not be resolved. Viraja then directed the 25.4cm refractor, with the help of Everett and Bob, towards globular cluster M13, which made a reasonably impressive view though the Erfle eyepiece (137X).
Peter called everybody’s attention to an International Space Station (ISS) pass (7:19—7:25 p.m.), reaching a maximum altitude of 35 degrees (7:22 p.m.) above the southwestern horizon, and an Iridium flare (7:44 p.m.), 48 degrees above the north-northeast horizon. (See: “ISS – Visible Passes” and “Iridium Flares” for London, Ontario, on Heavens Above: http://www.heavens-above.com/)
The visitors were impressed by the views through the big 25.4cm refractor despite the less than ideal seeing conditions. The observatory was closed down around 9:00 p.m. after the visitors had left.