it's...

This Friday, July 3rd, is my final date for public observing at Dearborn Observatory. The 9-10pm slot is all booked up, but from 10-11pm anyone who wants to come see the stars and hear me blather on about the history of Dearborn is welcome.

Provided mother nature cooperates and we have clear skies we'll be able to check out the following celestial targets:

• Saturn
  
• Moon
  
• Great cluster in Hercules
  
• Double-double (epsilon lyrae)
  
• Alberio (in Cygnus)

Hopefully there is time to cover all that! And if it's a really, really great night (don't get your hopes up, those are rare in the summer) we could check out deep sky objects like the Ring Nebula, the Andromeda galaxy and M51 the Whirlpool galaxy (it's actually two galaxies).

I'm also intrigued by whether or not we'll be able to watch the Chicago "Independence Eve" fireworks from Northwestern's lakefill. They are scheduled for 9:30pm, again weather permitting. Anyone have experience with this? I suppose I could figure it out with some pretty simple geometry...

I'm definitely going to miss Dearborn, but right now, too busy to feel sentimental.

Aliens aren't responsible for crop circles...
Far more sinister forces are at work

I have decided to wrap up this blog. There are a few more posts I want to get in first. And not to worry, there's that other blog I'm on which could use some more active posters.