Saturna Island
August 29 2009
As the sun set we could see the deep blue of Earth's shadow rise in the eastern horizon. A 10 day old moon was visible in the south east. Parks Canada's Athena and her husband Dave arrived shortly with a spotting scope and a SkyWatcher Mak-Cass. By now people were trickling in and gathering around the telescopes. Athena introduced us and we opened with information about IYA and the planispheres we had brought with us. Brenda talked a little about light pollution and why the night sky is so precious to us. We looked at the moon which remains a mainstay with public outreach and never disappoints. Like clockwork Jupiter appeared which allowed me to talk about Galileo's observations 400 years ago. As the sky darkened I pointed out the major asterisms and constellations, worked through some double stars, the Andromeda galaxy and the ET cluster. An almost perfect night for observing even with a bright moon and Point Roberts visible in the distance. Over the course of the night we had 37 visitors ... all with Galileo moments.