I had to call off Saturday night's scheduled Observatory open night due to weather. Overcast and thunderstorms moved into the area well in advance of our opening time which made the decision easy. Good thing, too! Months ago I determined that last night's target for viewing would be the M4 star cluster in Scorpius. Given that our open hours were to begin at 9 PM and that twilight, on a clear night, really seems to end after 10:00, we'd have had no chance of seeing M4 until maybe 10:30 — half an hour before closing! With no bright planets and no Moon to look at, that would have been a very awkward and disappointing 45 minutes or so! So I was saved from my faux pas and was actually relieved to cancel. Next year, the solstice open night will feature the Moon so that we'll have something to look at in a naturally bright sky!
Instead of spending the evening at the Observatory, we watched a movie at home. She chose the excellent Pixar film, Ratatouille and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Funny… my night's sleep ended with a dream that had something to do with a small restaurant, much the same as the end of the movie but no rats were cooking! This morning I made omelettes and toast for our breakfast and we sat at the table, looking out at a quite and bird song filled Sunday morning. Later we headed out on a small mission and enjoyed a relaxed visit to downtown Hudson and its cooking store and book store — both small, independents and both quite wonderful.
It was good to have a restful day. The week ahead will bring plenty of work and a couple of visits to the Observatory. Next weekend won't be nearly so quiet.
PhotonStopper 