While I'm not complaining too much about the recent rain in the Clovis, NM area, it is not been a great year overall for amateur astronomy this past year for yours truly. With only one video put together in several months mainly due to weather, work, and timing. We did get some folks out to the star parties for both June 9th and June 15, and we actually did setup on the 15th because believe it or not, as it got dark, viewing in various parts of the sky wasn't bad. A nice breeze kept the insects away and also the dreaded dew, given the humidity in the air. So what do amateur astronomers do at star parties when there's little to no viewing?
Well On June 9th, an active amateur astronomer who lived here in Clovis came down from Carlsbad and brought her IEQ45Pro Mount and as she hasn't had much opportunity to set up and use it..(again, work and weather, and timing). We assisted her in learning to set up and align the mount. I say we...but understand, not me! I don't have this type of mount and never used one. But two of our members are long-time users of this type of mount which is an equatorial mount. Well, the club members provided her with the understanding as to how her mount works and how to set it up. The club also enjoyed a very nice visit with each other and you know what. Believe it or not, when we have star parties, we really don't get a chance to just visit.
On June 15th, most of our members were able to come out and even had a young man named Ethan and his mom Carrie to come out, viewing his telescope and observing Jupiter with it. Another woman named Abigale and her daughter, who was visiting in this area, came out as they saw our event posted on FB. We were able to show them M5, M7, M11, M13, M27, M57, M92, and M104. Of course, we were able to show them Jupiter and Saturn as well. They also received a great deal of information from one of our more learned astronomers, Mr. Roy Uyematsu, who is president of the Clovis, NM Astronomy Club. Another member of our club, Mr. Kim Kimmerly, recently purchased a small camera and was learning how to align his equatorial mount using software called Sharpcap. Normally this isn't something that's done when we have a considerable amount of folks as much of the time is spent sharing the views, and answering questions. Another member of our club, Mr. Mark Brooks, took the opportunity to use his smartphone and get some images of the moon through one of the telescopes Images were posted on the club's FB page.
In the past, when the weather came in that wasn't best for viewing, we canceled the event. However, this year, the club decided to never cancel an event. I'm very glad we adopted this rule as for one, we really enjoy getting out and visiting and for another, we get a chance to help folks that may come out and enjoy the night sky while at the same time, enjoy learning to use our gear in other ways.
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