Joseph R. Grundy Observatory

Sorry to say, but tonight's observing must be cancelled due to poor weather. Hope for better weather next month.

Sorry to say, tonight's observing is canceled due to the snow on the roof possibly preventing the roof from operating and the forecast for high wind gusts and freezing temperatures tonight.

Fingers crossed for better conditions next month.

We are canceling tonight's observing mainly due to the prediction of overcast of about 90% at 6 PM, declining to about 55% by 9 PM. That would make observing very difficult. Too, it's going to be bitter cold and there's a possibility snow on the roof would prevent us even opening the roof.

Hope to see you in January.

We had a very successful night at public viewing Monday night.

Before sunset (and well before opening to the public) we thought it would be an extra and rare treat to try to find the comet "Lemmon". Since it is an object potentially taking up a large field of view, and because the two main telescopes are usually reserved for other objects, we thought we'd set up at least one of the observatory's 4" Meade scopes outside and dedicate it to viewing the comet for the evening. Shortly after sunset then we trained the scope where the comet ought to be and, voila!, it appeared in the field of view right away! This was good luck since the comet has not yet become visible with the naked eye. Then, inside we found the comet with the 16" as well, in order to have several scopes available for viewing in the brief time we had before the comet would set. So that was the first order of business.

Saturn was rising in the Eastern sky so we trained the Clark 11" refractor on the planet, with great success. The very novel thing about Saturn this year is that it's rings, from our perspective, are "edge on," meaning that what you can see right now is a thin, sharp line right through the middle of the planet, which gives the impression that Saturn is being barbequed like a round roast on a spit. Rare, in more ways than one! Also, in the same plane several of its moons were clearly visible.

The last object we pursued was the Andromeda Galaxy, our nearby twin galaxy. The big fuzzball of the central part of the galaxy was unmistakable. One of these nights we'll mount a camera body onto the 16" and take some long exposure photos so that we can demonstrate what the whole galaxy looks like. Come back and see for yourself.

We had a very good crowd of about 25 skywatchers. We love to see so many first-time visitors of all ages, but we also can't help but notice that we are generating our own informal club of repeat visitors. This is wonderful. Please join our growing club next month.

Unfortunately, the cloud cover forecast for the entire viewing period is likely to be 90% or more, so we are canceling tonight's session.

Let's hope for better conditions next month.

Sorry folks, but the weather won't cooperate today, so we'll have to cancel tonight's observing session. Fingers crossed for the July session!

We had a very nice evening of observing last night at Grundy. Your host established the theme of "M Night", since the month of May begins with the letter m, and we were hard-pressed to think of objects to look at other than "M"essier objects. The notion that there was a lack of objects to observe was a sloppy and unforgivable one arising from the fact that there were few planets out. But, in reality, "M"ars was out, though distant these days. First though, we were able to get some looks at Jupiter in the bright skies before he set. Despite the fact that the "M"oon was not up, in every arc second of sky there are always billions of things to look at, so we persevered. We could not find "M"101, but later were successful in viewing the spectacular "M"13 - the Great Cluster in Hercules, thanks to the efforts of Julian H. We had a HS astronomy club of 12 visit us from Dallastown, PA and several other visitors from Lancaster County, all of whom were enthusiastic observers. We hope everybody comes back "M"any times in the future!

We are canceling tonight's scheduled observing due to the prospect for near-total overcast, and the likelihood of rain.

Monday March 17, 2025

Monday, March 17, 2025

We have to cancel this month's public observing session, which routinely would be on February 17, due to the absence of the operator on that date. We hope you can join us in March.

CANCELING tonight's observing due to forecasts of extreme wind chill, and the roof's inability to plow through the 5 inches of snow on top.