Hazy cloudy skies greeted 19 visitors to Western University’s Cronyn Observatory Public Night, Monday, January 9th, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Since there was no slide presentation, visitors simply went upstairs into the dome where they were greeted by graduate student Robin Arnason and RASC London Centre members Everett Clark and Bob Duff.
Robin showed visitors the 4-day-past 1st quarter gibbous Moon through the big 25.4cm refractor in the dome, using the 28mm Meade Super Wide Angle eyepiece (157X). There were craters visible on the edge of the Moon despite the view through the thin hazy clouds. Everett set up the observatory’s 8-inch (20.3cm) Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, with the 12.5mm Ortho eyepiece (160X), inside the dome so as to view out the door to the roof patio for visitors to view the TV screen, visible through the windows of the Western Sports & Recreation Center. Bob later swapped in the 20mm Plossl eyepiece (100X) for a better view though the Schmidt-Cassegrain.
Everett distributed 4 “Star Finder” planispheres to interested visitors. The visitors were gone by around 8:45 p.m. and the observatory was closed down after an interesting evening viewing through the telescopes and learning about astronomy, despite the clouds.