UPDATE – VERY successful party.  Miraculously the skies cleared and we saw a number of interesting sights.  We managed to pull Venus and Jupiter out of the murky atmosphere near the horizon, with three of Jupiter’s moons visible.  Mars showed an intense red/orange color and we could perceive some banding on Saturn.  Add in the moon, M57 (ring nebula), M8 (lagoon nebula), albireo (binary), M5 (globular), an Iridium flare, and an ISS pass and we had a great night.  Thanks to all that could come out!

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The APL Astronomy Club will host a star party tonight (Monday August 8th) starting ~ 8 pm.  The weather forecast is not good, but there is a chance we’ll be down to 50% cloud cover by 9 pm and if so we should be able to find some interesting things to look at.

If the weather is actually stormy we will cancel – watch this website for updates!

Where:  On the lawn in front of Building 200 (the new Space Department building on the opposite side of Johns Hopkins Road from the main lobby (Building 1).

Clothing:  Normally you dress as though it were 10 degrees colder than expected to allow for the lack of physical activity and the breeze.

PLEASE – NO FLASHLIGHTS (unless you have red filtered light)