[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Notes From The Field - Lighthouse Finale

[Mike McCabe]

Greetings Astro Folks,
I normally wouldn't say this, but if you couldn't make the lighthouse gathering last night, YOU MISSED IT!!! Simply put, from an observing perspective it was the most amazing evening at the lighthouse that we've ever had.
As expected, visitor traffic was light and it was almost entirely a club observing session. We had at least ten club folks show up, and maybe that number of guests over the course of the evening. Essentially everyone got their own personal astronomer. We had about four scopes set up along the sidewalk, along with some binoculars and cameras to round things out.

The evening started off with an incredible Moon and Venus setting in the southwestern sky. Several folks stopped what they were doing for the express intent of just gazing at or photographing the spectacle of it.

Scopes got set up quickly, and promptly laid on their sides for a gander at the Moon as it dropped into the trees.

Here's what Sue, as seen in the prior photo,  was looking at in the eyepiece. 
After the twilight spectacular, all attention got turned toward Saturn. As nice as that always is, the best was yet to come.
As time went on and darkness set in, something very strange started to become apparent - the giant lights that normally illuminate the parking area and half of Cohasset to the north, along with half of Marshfield to the south DID NOT COME ON, and it was amazing!
Constellations never before seen from the lighthouse location were suddenly rendered in all their glory. Star hopping to deep-sky targets all of a sudden became an absolutely viable option. The true potential of the sky was revealed, and deep-sky targets like M31, M27, M13, Webb's Wreath, NGC 457 (the Owl/E.T./Dragonfly cluster) Double Cluster, Alberto, Neptune and more were uncompromisingly rendered in our eyepieces. It was an observing session the likes of which we've never known at the lighthouse.
The fact that the constellations were more easily discerned for the harbor sidewalk than they are from my backyard just confirms in my mind that light pollution is actually a crime. People are being denied the awesome spectacle of nature due to the insecurities of some who fear the dark. There was actually one guest from the local area who repeated several times that she'd never seen stars like that from there. Gee, ya think?
But as things go, eventually those lights did come on, all those stars were erased, and out lighthouse series for 2024 came to a close.
When I got home I sat out for awhile and waited for the CME to come crashing in and paint our sky. Unfortunately that didn't happen - apparently the arrival estimate was off - but I took a couple of pics to check anyway.

Looking north, nothing but my usual skyglow there. 

And more of the same to the east, but this time with the Pleaides, the Alpha-Persei Association, Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy to add a bit of interest to things. 
Keep Looking Up!
Mike M.



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