I attended the Central Maine Astronomical Society public star party at Galaxy Quest in Lincolnville. A large crowd (by our public star party standards) of a couple dozen people showed up. Jacob had his 18″ Obsession (like) dobsonian telescope rolled out of the observatory. Also was a Celestron 6″ dobsonian telescope, a smaller refractor, and Jon had his antique refractor setup. Most people were there to look at the Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3). Reviewing my astronomy app on my phone, I eventually located the comet with my binoculars. I used a club member’s laser pointer to point it out in the sky to the public.
A very faint smudge, could definitely notice how much dimmer it had gotten in a month since the last public star party. Looking at it through the 18″ dob didn’t reveal a lot of detail. We did look at M31 Andromeda Galaxy and M42 Orion Nebula through the 18″ dob and views were good. I think the best views that night were surprisingly through the Celestron dob. Impressive little scope, Orion looked stunning.
Unfortunately due to the way people had parked, I was unable to setup my telescope. I also got to the event a bit late. And clouds eventually rolled in around 8:30pm and that was the end of the night.
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