MnAstro Forums

I am hoping to come out for my first event this evening with the family.

I read the recommendation so far as weather appropriate dress, dimmed lights etc.

The two main questions i have is which location may be better for naked eye viewing?

d number two is there a site that is more "family" friendly?

Actually never mind all that, with further investigation it looks like we will be going to CGO.

In the cities the skies look good enough to go, does anyone know the weather down their?

Hello Eric

The weather looks poor for tonight. Probably will be no members there so unless you are keyholder you will have to bring your own equipment.

As you mentioned Naked Eye Viewing CGO is slightly darker than ELO.

You can ask in the forums if anyone is planning on going but I doubt they are even looking at the forum given the weather.

The Weather forecasts at facilities are linked here http://www.mnastro.org/facilities/weather/

Thank you, I decided to wait until the spring or summer for better conditions.

Hi Eric,

The general guidelines to follow:

For member star parties (CGO, Metcalf, LLCC, JJ Casby Observatory at Belwin), we do not have official "go/no-go" calls, but rather members can check weather sites like Accuweather (https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/kenyo ... ast/338836 for Kenyon near CGO), Clear Sky Chart (http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/ChrryGrvMNkey.html?1 for CGO), ClearOutside (http://clearoutside.com/forecast/44.27/-92.99 for Kenyon near CGO), and the National Weather Service GOES weather satellite images (https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/s ... sector=umv and select the color or infrared loop) and make their own determination as to whether to go or not. Sometimes for impromptu star parties members will post on these discussion forums their intent to visit an observing site on nights not scheduled for star parties (that is the usual case for J. J. Casby Observatory at Belwin).

As of this writing, ClearOutside indicates there may be an opportunity for observing at CGO on Friday November 9 which is the last scheduled star party at CGO for the year (with Saturday Nov 10 as a backup night). If it is clear enough, there is a good chance that a number of us will be there.

For Public Star Parties at Eagle Lake Observatory at Baylor Regional Park, 3 miles north of Norwood Young America, we publish a schedule of public observing nights, and both the public and members are welcome to join on any scheduled night, cloudy or clear. November 10 is the last scheduled public observing night at ELO for this year.

SEmert wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 2:30 pm November 10 is the last scheduled public observing night at ELO for this year.

FYI - I just posted the Special Event public star party for viewing Comet Wirtanen on December 15.

http://www.mnastro.org/event/2018-publi ... -wirtanen/

Cancelled if Cloudy event.



Merle