Well, I was determined to get out and get some observing in for a change. Luckily the weather cooperated - for the most part. Thursday evening was spent setting up camp during a light sprinkle. Two thunderstorms skirted south of the park and left us with a few raindrops. Just before sunset, the sky began to clear, displaying a nice rainbow off to our east. It remained clear until midnight, when fog rolled in for around an hour or so, and then cleared again. I continued on with my Herschel 400 observations for the night, ending up with ten more crossed off the list.

By Friday night, a pretty large group of observers were set up on the field. The conditions were a bit off compared to Thursday night, but with the way the weather has been, I'll take what I can get. I logged four more Herschels before I stopped due to deteriorating sky conditions. I spent the rest of the night scope hopping/socializing.

Saturday brought the clouds. With the NOAA weather forecasts looking bad for Saturday night, most of the observers left. It's a good thing I went a day early and had two nights of clear skies.

Field conditions for the weekend weren't too bad considering the extreme weather that plagued the area earlier in the week. The field was really wet on Thursday night but pretty much dried out on Friday.

The new power pedestals are in and were energized for use for the weekend. These power outlets are for charging batteries - not for heavy loads (RV airconditioning etc.) This is just one more example of the improvements being done at the park through the Cherry Springs Dark Sky Fund. You can help. Please contribute. Or buy a shirt.

Here are some images from the observing field. Click on an image to enlarge.

Ranger Tim and Ken	John looking over Fran's new Mak
Allen . and Fran	Gary and Dave at Hotel Honis
John and Gary killing time	Les and Elliott on Saturday afternoon
The Sun through Allen's SolarMax scope.	Closeup of prominence.
Rainbow on Thursday evening.