Well, it is certainly dark at Cherry Springs PA. Here's me and my
Obsession 20 waiting for full darkness at the Cherry Springs Star Party. You
can see the conjunction of the Moon & Venus that happened on the evening of
May 19, 2007. As it got dark the two moved ever closer until their centers
were less than a degree apart. Image by my friend Art C.

Long time imager Alan Chen was set up about 50 feet away with his new
12.5-inch astro-camera doing a long shot of M-101, and bugging me to show it
to him in my Dob. About 300 amateur astronomers (many doing CCD'ing) amused
themselves observing this beautiful conjunction while waiting for a night of
dark-sky observing (cut short by clouds after mid-night). At CSSP 2007 the
weather was partly cooperative with one night of sucker holes, one totally
clear night, and the 19th that was good until the clouds moved in shortly
after mid-night. Alan told me that there was white-out snow on Wednesday,
and it was well below freezing on the night of 18/19, and nearly so the rest
of the nights.

I'll post more CSSP pictures over the next few days.

George N

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